TORONTO—On August 18, Toronto-based design company AmoebaCorp launched a new website for soda brand The Pop Shoppe, complete with an interactive, rainbow-coloured world of eccentric characters.

Working in collaboration with OneMethod Digital + Design, and with animation by On the Chase Motion Design, AmoebaCorp has created a world within a Pop Shoppe bottle aimed at two audiences: the adults that grew up with the brand in the '70s and the children discovering it now.

“It was a really big brand back in the '70s and '80s, so a lot of people remember it and have a lot of nostalgic emotions about it,” says Mikey Richardson, creative director of AmoebaCorp. “We wanted to find a way to bridge the gap between those people and a younger audience because kids drink a lot more pop than adults do.”

AmoebaCorp contacted Pop Shoppe president Brian Alger about working together when the brand relaunched in 2004. The design company has been creating ads, packages and posters for the brand ever since.

“He could see that we really loved the brand, so we just hit it off immediately and started working together right away,” says Richardson, who grew up with the soda. “We have a great relationship with the client. He gives us a long leash and trusts what we do.”

Through a series of brainstorming sessions for the site, the designers came up with such characters as Steady-Eddie Brickerton, Captain Black Cherry Beard and Big Furry Bean. Instead of hiring voice actors, AmoebaCorp designers provided the voices for the creatures using the recording studios at Tattoo Sound + Music. Richardson recorded the voice of a green monkey who sings the old Newfoundland song “I’s the b’y that builds the boat.”

“We just wanted to create a place that really reflected what the brand is all about – that let-go-and-have-fun spirit,” he says.

Now that the website has launched, AmoebaCorp is working on a new, shorter, wider Pop Shoppe bottle, reminiscent of the “stubby” bottles the brand was famous for in the past. According to Richardson, the bottles will be available within the next couple of months. Contact: www.thepopshoppe.com  

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