Aardman Animation and STORY recently teamed up for a new commercial for Serta in which the brand’s “Counting Sheep” break into a mattress factory in hopes of committing the “Perfect Sleeper” crime.
Conceived by Doner of Southfield Michigan, “Mattress Heist” marks the return of the animated Counting Sheep created by animation studio Aardman, which first appeared in the company’s ads more than a decade ago. In this case, the furry animals break into a factory showroom in the middle of the night to “see what Serta’s been up to.” Rifling through company files and computers, they learn that Serta’s Perfect Sleeper is “the only official mattress of the National Sleep Foundation” and has been shown to cure common sleep problems. In hopes of retaining their jobs as sleep inducers to insomniacs, the sheep make off with a mattress on their backs.
The spot was filmed at Serta’s headquarters in Hoffman Heights, Illinois. The production crew shot both the interior and exterior of the Serta facility, as well as a number of practical props, including file cabinets, computers and the “hero” queen-size mattress.
The animation and finishing was completed by Aardman in Bristol, U.K.