The new spokesman for Lucky Brand jeans is a foul-mouthed puppet with a voice that evokes a Benzedrine addled Mickey Mouse. Mr. Happy Go Lucky, or Hap for short, is a "four leaf clover with attitude," created by Odiorne Wilde Narraway +Partners (OWN+P), San Francisco, for Lucky Brand’s first television spot campaign. Hap is verbal, brash, sometimes abusive and often self-loathing. Observing this puppet in action is a bit like watching Gumby become possessed by the spirit of Krusty the Clown.
The :60 "Hap’s Opus," is a bizarre minute of spoofing, gagging and vitriolic riffing by the puppet, as he establishes himself as Lucky Brand’s spokesman. "Hap’s Opus" is the launch for a series of 11 spots, all directed by Charles Wittenmeier of bicoastal/international Propaganda Films, and Essential Circus People, Pasadena, Calif.
Besides the irreverent humor of the puppet, the most notable aspect of "Hap’s Opus,"—and the other 10 spots as well—is its retro, black-and-white production. "Hap’s Opus" affects a kitschy, 1950’s feel—even the title sounds like an abandoned Arthur Miller script—providing continuity with Lucky Brand’s marketing strategy of relying heavily on the evocation of Eisenhower’s America.
"Hap’s Opus" begins with a shot of a curtained puppet proscenium and the superimposed logo "America’s Favorite." A Don Pardo-like voice bellows the classic intro: "And now, a word from our sponsor." Just as we begin to expect an ad for Chesterfield cigarettes, the picture and sound distort for a fraction of a second—as if to let us know that this spot is going to owe more to South Park than to Dobie Gillis.
Then the curtain comes up on Hap. We hear a whimsical melody being played by a tinny piano as the puppet launches into his pitch: "My name’s Happy! Give me a chance! Before you zap me, I won’t try to hide what everybody knows: This is a commercial for Lucky Brand Clothes!"
And this is, by far, the sanest portion of the spot.
Hap proceeds to launch into a haphazard soft-shoe routine and exclaims "I’ll try to make you laugh and (expletive deleted.)" The background music prattles: "[Lucky Brand jeans] are rugged and tough. We’re sure you’ll agree."
To which Hap ads: "Or we’ll hurt you!"
At this point the music changes to a mysterious, campy-western vibe, and a blonde, Howdy Doody-style cowgirl puppet slinks on stage and asks seductively: "Hey mister. Are those your … Lucky Brand clothes?" Happy replies a little too enthusiastically, "They sure are!" and then admits he’s "feelin a little funny down south!"
Then the spot hits its climax as we cut to a close-up of Hap firing a toy gun, which unfurls a flag that says: BANG.
The music changes again, this time to another Lucky Brand theme song: one of several retro jingles written by Phil Schroeder of Green Street Music, San Francisco. A chorus of cheerful singers proclaims: "From Maine to Kentucky, they’re the duds that everyone knows," among other cheerful advertising rhymes.
Hap goes back to his dancing, and a giant map of the U.S., emblazoned with the slogan "All American," is lowered onto the stage. "Woo Hoo!," shouts Hap, "That killed a whole f—-ing minute." Spotlights begin to flash across the stage, and glitter rains down as Hap offers his parting shot: "Buy Lucky Brand Jeans … Or don’t!"
"I get paid either way," the puppet concludes.
Graham Lee, creative director at OWN+P, is betting that the juxtaposition of the corny look and feel of the black-and-white spot, mixed with its acidic, 21st century humor, will be a hit with the Lucky Brand’s young demographic target audience. OWN+P specializes in reaching the 18-34 crowd, and Lee feels that the Nick (entirely too late) at Nite concept will strike a chord with hip youngsters—and perhaps a few oldsters as well. Spots will air on primarily on Comedy Central, MTV and VH1.
However, Lee admitted "We didn’t do any demographic research for these spots—it was more of a gut instinct that this style of spot would work. And, we were very fortunate in that our main creative guideline was simply to make some cool jeans commercials."
Fortunate indeed. When asked how executives at Lucky Brand responded to Hap’s foul mouth, Lee replied, "I’ve never had a client say: ‘Now make sure he’s mean, we like it when he threatens people.’ So the more disturbed Hap became, the happier they were."
When Lee first talked to Wittenmeier about the Happy Go Lucky spots, the director wondered if they could actually be for real. "Graham said he wanted the spots to look legitimately old … as if they had been laying around in the Lucky Brand vault for fifty years," Wittenmeier recalled, "And I asked, well how is that going to fit in with all the cussing?" Lee then assured him that Lucky Brand was, in fact, fully supportive of the madness. Because, after all, savage mockery is no less solidly American than vintage television footage.
"This is one of the most ‘out there’ projects I’ve worked on in a long time," continued Wittenmeier, who is best known for comedic work like "Singing Baby" for Little Caesars via Cliff Freeman and Partners, New York, and Budweiser’s "Mind Control" through DDB Chicago. Said Lee of the director: "Charles was a great resource for us. We knew that he would do extensive research, and in fact we looked at hundreds of old commercials together. But more importantly, Charles has a try anything attitude, an almost childlike quality to him—but twisted—like Hap himself."
Regarding the filming of Hap, Wittenmeier confessed: "We shot on a shoestring, and all the limitations we had gave the set an Ed Wood sort of quality, not to mention the spots. We had some in-camera mistakes and used those as slightly intentional after effects. We wanted to make it seem kind of dirty and … broken," said Wittenmeier, laughing. "But even when you’re making mistakes, you want them to be timed properly, and in that respect the spot was a bit like comic improvisation."
Wittenmeier let on that Chris Weldon, the OWN+P producer of the spots, handled Hap’s puppet. He also hinted that the voice of Hap was none other than OWN+P partner and creative director Jeff Odiorne. Lee later confirmed that the voice of Hap was indeed the namesake of OWN+P.
When asked what the most difficult aspect of directing the spots was, Wittenmeier replied, "The biggest challenge was probably for Chris [Weldon], trying to work the puppet, on his knees … on metal for 12 hours." Added Lee, "By the tenth hour of shooting, Chris no longer needed directing. He had become one with the puppet."
The first six Happy Go Lucky spots aired the second week of August. The next five will begin airing in November.
