SBU 2.0 is a dark and cerebral comedy about an unassuming science teacher who invents a robotic version of himself to fill in whenever his craving for Chicken Licken Hotwings strikes. It shows the extreme lengths Chicken Licken fans go to in order to satisfy their craving.

In the secrecy of his garage workshop, Sbu uses a miss match of recycled metal and computer parts, to creates a functioning, somewhat autonomous, robotic version of himself. His very own S’bu 2.0. The advert plays out a variety of scenarios where the real S’bu has been replaced with his 2.0 version – confusion and chaos ensue. While some situations play into his robotic counterpart's strengths - doing the 'robot' dance and dutifully satisfying the needs of his wife - other situations breed odd and awkward hilarity.

We needed to find interesting and naturally funny characters. As this commercial was aimed at the South African target market, the primary search for the lead artist took place in two cities, Johannesburg and Cape Town. Our lead needed an impeccable sense of comic timing, mastering the subtle and demanding physical comedy required, even when wearing prosthetics. The robot characters’ physicality - his movement and expressions were critical in selling the idea that he was a machine. He had to communicate visually that he was using up energy or battery power, the basics like standing up, sitting down, turning a corner, all needed to occur in way that is counter intuitive to how a human would traditionally do things. Our lead's innate ability to bring these two characters to life through mirroring robotic movement, meant that little augmentation was required.