Mountain Dew

Project overview

For Mountain Dew Baja Blast's Super Bowl LIX spot, singer SEAL became an actual seal and serenaded Becky G with a tropical-lime rewrite of "Kiss from a Rose." Directed by Taika Waititi, produced by Hungry Man for Goodby Silverstein & Partners, with VFX by Untold Studios, the film turned a very good pun into a surprisingly convincing character.

My contribution focused on some environment explorations and character concept work: exploring the anatomy, proportions, facial integration and whisker arrangements needed to make the hybrid recognizably SEAL, believably seal, and still capable of carrying a close-up. The process involved studying a small ocean's worth of seal references and repeatedly adjusting the exact ratio of soulful Grammy-winning singer to slippery marine mammal. It was part character design, part marine biology lesson, and possibly the strangest celebrity portrait session imaginable.

The campaign received a 2025 ADC Annual Awards Merit Honor in Television / Film / Online Video: Television Single. More importantly, the final character survived both the internet and an entire power ballad without losing his seal of approval.

I can't show the character design process here but if you see me in the pub then I'll sneak you a peek on my phone.