Sarofsky Skrimps the Dearly Departed for its ‘In Memoriam’
Every year, there’s a wild debate about who gets in – and who gets left out – of the ‘In Memoriam’ video that runs during the Academy Awards broadcast. To help settle this yearly controversy, the Chicago-based creative and design studio Sarofsky has come up with the answer – its own ‘In Memoriam’ video tribute, with dearly departed luminaries rendered not as photographs, but as Skrimps. That’s right, Skrimps.
If you’re not acquainted with these animated caricatures, you should be. They’re the whimsical creations of the Sarofsky studio, and reflect the fascination with fabrics and textures of its founder and Executive Creative Director, Erin Sarofsky. (We touched on what makes The Skrimps so special in our Golden Time feature on Erin, which you can see here.)
Now the studio is ready to bring The Skrimps to the masses, and they intend to do so by partnering with brands and media companies to employ The Skrimps for their marketing purposes. Erin says The Skrimps are just right for resurrecting a beloved brand character or revising an icon that’s been dormant, or even introducing a new one. To this end, they’ve ramped up their Skrimps pipeline, and are now ready to put them to work for agencies, brands, media companies or whomever wants to connect to cultural moments fast, flexibly, and with craft.
For their ‘In Memoriam’ video, Sarofsky pulled out the stops, acknowledging everyone from Robert Redford to Frank Gehry to Hulk Hogan, with a few unexpected surprises in between (adieu, Technicolor!). The Howler tracked down Erin over the holiday break to ask her how this delightfully funny bit of morbid curiosity came about. Here’s what she told us.
When did you start putting this together? How long did it take to produce?
Erin: The idea came about early in December, but the actual production of it took just one very long day. Sarofsky created a proprietary production tool to create work like this, so that our brand-side clients are quickly able to respond to culture and engage with their audiences in near real-time.
How did you go about selecting the ‘in memoriam’ cast of characters? You’ve got saints (Pope Francis) and sinners (Hulk Hogan) all mixed in.
Erin: Ah, you just honed in on what’s so fun about The Skrimps. The name itself is a neologism (scraps + imps) which should tell you everything. We’re mixing the beloved and the bewildering, because that is the tapestry of culture.
We highlight the flaws and the contradictions. Sometimes that’s endearing, sometimes it’s repulsive. But that strange space in between? That’s the fun place we like to explore.
What made you decide to include Technicolor, Star Wars’ “The Acolyte” and the crafts retailer Joann in the mix?
Erin: Brands hold a strangely powerful place in our collective psyche. And that is certainly true for those we included here. Sometimes they are more vivid and emotionally charged than actual people. They carry legacies. They have personalities. They shape our aesthetics, our childhoods, our habits. When a brand like Joann’s disappears, it hurts. There’s real grief there.
But that’s the thing about The Skrimps. It’s not just people who can get skrimped. It’s anything. If it touches culture and can be talked about at the water-cooler, it’s fair game.
Was this the first year that Skrimps has done an ‘In Memoriam’? Will this be an annual treat?
Erin: This is the first year we've done one. It was a year of big losses and it just felt right. Stay tuned (and follow The Skrimps on Instagram and/or TikTok!) for more fun. The Skrimps are always cookin' up cheeky surprises. But, given the immediate response, it feels like a sure thing.
Finally, is there a strategic reason for doing this? Are The Skrimps going out into the marketplace to work for brands, media companies, networks?
Erin: The Skrimps is original IP that we created. We're in a couple interesting conversations right now about where they'll show up next. Part of what's so fun about The Skrimps, is how flexible they are. We can skrimp absolutely anyone, at any time. There are no limits to who they can be and what they can talk about. That's been really creatively interesting to us, and it turns out, to some potential partners as well.
Sarofsky has been expanding how we work – including developing original IP, proprietary production software, and expanding into experiential – in response to opportunities we've identified and client needs. We've enjoyed the challenges and new opportunities these areas have brought and look forward to what's to come in the new year.
