1stAveMachine Adds Pixelated Punch to Coors Light Recycling Campaign

Production company 1stAveMachine has teamed up with 72andSunny to craft a unique, animated campaign for Coors Light that both signifies the brand’s increased focus on recycling and celebrates one of its most iconic elements: its bottle cap.

Leveraging the campaign’s concept of “One Cap, One Pixel”, 1stAveMachine director Antonio Balseiro created a fluidly morphing 'screen' made up completely of 2D-animated Coors Light bottle caps. “The significance of the Coors bottle caps is both literal and symbolic,” Balseiro says. “What better way to genuinely spread the concept of recycling, than to use those familiar bottle caps to create the ad itself? While this was a different language than the usual Coors Light ad, we feel its innovation was perfectly justified.”

Produced over a period of nearly three months, The Coors Light #EveryOneCan campaign required 1stAveMachine and Balseiro to address challenges such as re-creating stop-motion animation entirely in CGI and finding the right balance in resolution. “Paying special attention to the wonderful nuances and delicate imperfections that are innate of stop-motion animation was a wonderful challenge,” the director adds. “This meant having each bottle cap move slightly in position within each frame, or even simplifying the 2D animations so that they were realistically feasible. With resolution, meanwhile, the challenge was to find the perfect equilibrium between realism and readability. After several tests and discussions on both of these issues, we’re extremely happy with the result.”

By inventively animating thousands of Coors Light bottle caps, 1stAve and Balseiro aimed to show all of the progress the brew brand is making through its recycling efforts while enticing viewers to join in on the cause. “Coors is doubling down on the recycling front,” the director states. “Bottle caps, cans, kegs and billboards are not only being reused, but they’re also being repurposed to create new products such as beer taps, umbrellas or coolers. The message of this ad is not only to explain this important approach towards the environment that Coors has proudly implemented, but to invite and motivate others to be involved in this extremely important subject.”

According to 1stAveMachine Partner Sam Penfield, the Coors Light project was a perfect fit for Balseiro. “Antonio is a skilled director with a rich history in both 2D animation and traditional stop-motion,” she says. “Applying the physics of stop-motion to the look and movement of the 2D bottle caps was crucial in getting this right. As if that wasn't enough, Antonio is a true environmentalist and has dedicated a portion of his Buenos Aires-based studio, Tronco, to environmental messaging. Producing the work there meant Antonio could work with his usual team of animators and designers making the whole production efficient and smooth.