Background
Ole’ Shanky was a jockey with a colourful past, who broke the rules by winning a horserace… on an ostrich. He also invented Shanky’s Whip, a blend of whiskey, cream and stout, as mad as its creator.
The concept.
Let’s bring Shanky & Ostrich to life! Ole’ Shanky and his ostrich became our loveable duo.
An Irish Folk Legend
I developed the characters and wrote a series of daft shenanigans to convey the spirit of Shanky’s. The series of comedic scenarios formed our TV and social campaign. After building the Ostrich from scratch and casting an Irish painter & decorator with no acting experience to play Shanky himself, we’d found our duo.
The campaign saw TV spots across major US platforms as well as social channels across South Africa, US and UK.
Social folk tales.
As well as activations around the UK, our daft duo were the perfect characters to spread the word across social.
Crafting tales
No traditional storyboards. To sell the comedy I turned each script into a hand-drawn comic strip. This format let the characters and comedy shine through, helping the client envisage the final ads,