The 3 campaigns are examples of how Shell has used the sea as a communications backdrop for all their global advertising, over the last 5 years. All three use the analogy of fish performing as traffic. 'Traffic' and 'Asleep at the Eel' show how our hero fish, having filled up V-Power performance fuel, is able to use his new found responsiveness to avoid any dangerous situations. 'Defenda' (a fuel that protects your engine) shows how the fish's engine is better protected by comparing our fish's successful journey home with other, less successful ones.
Philosophie
Using the sea as a 'Brandscape' was the agency's solution. By developing advertising that used metaphors of fish as cars, consumers were able to identify with the advertising and see themselves as the driver - in whatever country the advertising ran in. Additionally, research has consistently shown that, given Shell's heritage, the sea is a natural home for their communications. This approach has had breakthrough results and has achieved global consistency for all Shell communications in over 70 countries.
Problème
The challenge in global fuels advertising is that people, cars and driving conditions are different virtually anywhere in the world. So showing actual cars and people will always be an issue. The challenge was to find a creative territory that could overcome this and could work across all Shell products globally yet allow for local differences.