Bringing Penny to Life for Pick n Pay

5 days ago

2 min read

We recently had the opportunity to bring a new kind of character to life for Pick n Pay: Penny, their AI shopping assistant.

Working alongside the teams at Pick n Pay and Halo, we created a TVC that introduces Penny and shows how she can help make everyday shopping simpler through the Pick n Pay app.

Pick n Pay asap! ad with Penny waving beside a phone; text says AI assistant in your pocket, available now in-app.

Snap It. Say It. Ask It.

The idea behind Penny is simple. Instead of having to navigate your way through the app, you can interact with it in a much more natural way.

See something you need? Snap it.

Know what you are looking for? Say it.

Need some help or inspiration? Ask it.

The TVC takes these different ways of interacting with Penny and brings them into a series of everyday moments, with Penny herself appearing as an animated character within the live-action world.

https://youtu.be/6wx-KDXq4Gc?si=YF3538KseuRv8F8V

Bringing Penny Into the Real World

One of the interesting challenges of the project was creating a world where Penny could interact naturally with our cast.

Because the character would be integrated later, we needed to approach the shoot with her presence already in mind. Performances, eyelines, framing and timing all had to account for a character who was not physically there on the day.

The goal was always for those interactions to feel natural and for Penny to feel like she belonged within each scene.

It meant thinking ahead throughout the shoot and working closely with the post-production and VFX teams to make sure everything came together seamlessly in the final film.

On Set

We shot the campaign over two packed days with an incredible cast and crew, moving through a number of different scenarios designed to show the various ways Penny can become part of everyday shopping.

There were plenty of moving parts, but it was one of those shoots where the collaboration between everyone involved made the whole process incredibly enjoyable.

A huge thank you to Pick n Pay and Halo for trusting us with the project, and to every member of the cast, crew and post-production team who helped bring it all together.

https://vimeo.com/1226523083

Behind the Work of Penny Pick n Pay

For us, the most exciting part of a project like this is finding a way to take a new piece of technology and tell a simple, human story around it.

Penny might be the technology at the centre of the campaign, but the films are ultimately about familiar everyday moments: figuring out dinner, finding what you need, asking for a little help and making shopping that much easier.