Written by James Westland, Head of Post-Production

When Hotglue was tasked with creating a new brand asset for Thirsty Camel, there was really only one obvious creative direction: take the compelling voice of Stephen Curry, the versatile lower body of Bernard Curry, and a CGI anthropomorphic camel head and mash them all together to create a new thirsty hero.

“We have wanted to bring the camel character to life for quite a while. The solution Hotglue developed is versatile, [a] very clever use of budget and stands out as completely different to anything our competitors are doing. Working with Matt and his team on this project was so much fun – you couldn’t really call it work.” 

- Lisa O’Donovan - Thirsty Camel National Trade Marketing Manager

We break down how we brought the 2023 Thirsty Camel campaign to life:

“The alcohol retail category is a cluttered one with many options from your big box outlets to your local high street retailer, and their approach to brand can be very much a cookie-cut approach. Consumers mainly shop on product and price, so through a collaborative approach between Thirsty Camel and Hotglue, we set about evolving the existing brand trigger to be one that stands out from the rest of the category. It was here that "Camel Man" came to life, which provides the brand versatility in message and brings the existing camel character to life.”

- Andrew Gough, Hotglue Business Director

We started with the voice of Thirsty Camel 

With radio being a large component of the Thirsty Camel media campaigns, we needed a voice that breathed life into our character with superior comedic energy and timing. We turned to long-time collaborator Stephen Curry. He’s a well-known comedic talent who brought his own personality, ideas and larrikin energy to the project. 

Finding a face

Coming up with the right look and physical personality for the new Thirsty Camel character was step two of this project. Being the face (and voice) of a well-known brand meant finding the right balance of comical charm and broad appeal. After initial anthropomorphic half-man/half-camel concept exploration, we partnered with one of our old collaborators, world-class character animation studio Flux to bring it to life.

Bringing it all together

With a face and a voice sorted, the final part of the puzzle was finding the rest of the body to make up our new character. Steve’s was unavailable, so we settled on the closest match we could find: his older brother Bernard who was tasked with channelling Steve’s voice and a CGI camel head into a torso. Luckily, Bernard has the acting chops to pull it off. 

The new Thirsty Camel in town

You would have heard Thirsty Camel in action across radio spots this year, with more to come over the summer break and festive season. Our versatile camel character has also launched on video, entertaining customers across social and programmatic screens over the summer, and outdoor placements in key locations. 

Watch the new Thirsty Camel brand video here: