What it had to solve
SixToes and TBWA\Singapore commissioned Cirkus to build a realistic pinball machine for the card, on a four-week production turnaround.
How it works
Working from TBWA\Singapore's script and storyboards, Cirkus asked how a craftsman would design the gadget. Tempted to build it by hand but boxed in by the four weeks, they made the contraption in 3D, with the illustration team determining the machine's mechanisms from the agency's layout so modelling stayed minimal. The hard part was look development: making it 'not shiny but real'. Juggler Christian Greet and Human Cannonball Romain Borrel chose to make the device 'not the same'.
What it did
The spot was produced in four weeks and carried the unlimited cashback proposition across the card's travel, shopping and dining categories; LBB featured the craft work internationally.
Background
In April 2017, LBB featured a spot Cirkus, the Auckland animation studio, built for Standard Chartered Bank's newest credit card, which gave cardholders unlimited cashbacks. SixToes and TBWA\Singapore commissioned Cirkus to build a realistic pinball machine where the ball hits and activates varying amounts of cashback in travel, shopping and dining areas, gathering points before the targets reset and the machine gets ready to play again.
Cirkus asked itself how a craftsman would design and build the gadget. Very tempted to make the machine by hand, the studio was limited by a four-week production turnaround and decided to create the contraption in 3D instead. Following the agency's layout, the illustration team determined the machine's mechanisms and design, which kept 3D modelling minimal and preserved the quirks only a human touch gives.
The challenge, the studio said, was making the machine 'not shiny but real', which demanded heavy attention to look development. In true Cirkus style, Juggler Christian Greet and Human Cannonball Romain Borrel chose to make the device 'not the same'.
Why it lands
A pinball machine is a mechanical score multiplier — the exact metaphor for unlimited cashback on every spend category.
Craft realism, not gloss, was what would make a CGI object feel collectable and trustworthy.
Designing mechanisms before modelling kept the four-week schedule from flattening the machine's character.
What you can take
When the deadline kills the handmade version, design the 3D like a craftsman would — mechanisms first, shine never.
Since then
The spot aired for the card launch; Cirkus continued its run of crafted animation work for global agencies, with LBB documenting the build.
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