Call it a restaurant, diner or whatever you will, but as we’ve said before, Steak ‘n Shake was a late-night blessing during those hazy days of college. Though it’s been 10 years or so since our last visit to one of their locations (plus, we can’t even find one close by anymore), we’re not sure if these new ads from KBS+P have us ready to wax nostalgic just yet. Still, it’s hard to complain, if you’re starvin like marvin, about $3.99 all-you-can-eat pancakes as promoted in the ad called “Tear” above.

Besides, there’s only so far you can go when promoting a restaurant chain’s deals and we think these executions are somewhat of an improvement over what Zimmerman put forth during their time with Steak ‘n Shake. KBS+P, if you recall, took over the account in March. See two more deal-promoting spots and credits after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Taking a cue from Jaws, Y&R New York sets the scene in this spot for the LG Kompressor Elite vacuum cleaner. Everything is all fine and dandy, as all the toys are enjoying a day at the carpet until a couple gets separated from the group. They start, well, having fun until (cue the score) things go to hell real quick when some uninvited guests show up for dinner.

The team at Psyop (with the help of Smuggler) built a set on a stage, keeping the CG to a minimum and shot all the plastic toy soldiers, Barbie look-a-likes, designer toys, stuffed animals, etc on that set and implemented CG to give the dolls different facial expressions. The sharks and other subtleties were obviously generated as well.

Psyop CEO and CD Marco Spier says in a statement, “We of course got personally connected with the toys, their characters and the story. Carefully placing them personally on set to get the best performance out of them, kind of like actors. We also liked the idea of having unusual combinations of different characters because that’s how kids play – free form, mixing and matching, and grouping things together based on what they have no hand, or what their siblings or friends have.”

We think it’s safe to say this turned out to be a nice spot with some good imagination – much better than an infomercial of a vacuum sucking up coins and marbles. Credits after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.