Love on the Rocks," a spot in the Gap’s new campaign created by Boston-based Modernista!, is inspired genius. It is a dead-on parody of Neil Diamond as portrayed by Will Ferrell of Saturday Night Live (SNL), who performs "Forever in Blue Jeans."
Directed by Paul Hunter of bicoastal HSI Productions, "Love on the Rocks" is predicated on the campaign theme of paying tribute to one’s first love. The package of six spots includes work featuring actress Juliette Lewis, who dances with members of Daft Punk; and singer/songwriter Carole King with daughter Louise Goffin, who sings "So Far Away" in honor of her mom.
Modernista! creative director Gary Koepke, who scripted "Love on the Rocks," said that the Gap wanted to re-establish itself as a denim brand. "We tried to move away from the ‘Everybody In…’ [previous campaign created in-house at The Gap]," said Koepke, "and more toward individual style, which I think was a strength of their marketing in the past. We’re trying to push forward again…the idea you can go into The Gap and not come out looking like everybody else. So we thought of people’s first love—everybody has one, and they were probably wearing denim [at the time]. The campaign grew out of that thought."
Besides Koepke, the creative team consisted of creative director Lance Jensen, copywriter Brian Lee Hughes, art director Anthony Sperduti and Gap in-house agency staffers Leigh Donaldson and Jill Young. Donaldson and Young served as agency producer and associate producer, respectively.
Koepke said he was inspired to write the spot after recalling an SNL episode a year ago in which Ferrell impersonated Diamond for a sketch parodying MTV’s Unplugged. In that skit, Koepke said, Ferrell’s Diamond relates that the inspiration for his song, "Sweet Caroline," grew out of his heavy involvement in child pornography.
"I thought, well, we can’t go there," said Koepke, "but we can certainly let him [Ferrell] riff on the idea."
The spot opens on a medium shot of Ferrell, who sits perched on a stool, microphone in hand. He is garbed in a pair of—what else?—blue jeans, along with a white shirt (with a large, pointed collar) and a denim jacket. He sports a hairdo that is vintage Diamond, circa 1970s, highlighted with long, dark sideburns. This look, said Koepke, was meant to reflect people’s perception of the archetypal Diamond, even though the now 60-ish singer’s appearance is today quite different.
"I wrote this song on the back of a Dixie Cup," Ferrell says by way of introduction, as we hear the opening bars of "Forever in Blue Jeans," whose music was re-recorded and produced in a Vegas lounge style for the spot by Mike Simpson, formerly of The Dust Brothers, now of LA Produce. "The Neil Diamond version of the song was more of a polka," Koepke explained.
But the vocalization is all Ferrell. "Money talks/But it don’t sing and dance/And it don’t walk," Ferrell intones, in a style that mimics Diamond’s gruff baritone.
"As long as I can have you here with me/I’d much rather be/Forever in blue jeans," croons Ferrell, while gesturing with his hands to the jeans. The spot, to this point, has been a one-take, locked-off shot. The POV now switches to a close-up, revealing the faux hair and heavy eyebrows. "My first love?" Ferrell growls. "Love on the rocks." He then rips into an unrestrained wail: "Forever in blue jeans, babe!" A superimposed graphic reading "Gap.com" then comes up on screen.
Modernista! had to get permission from Neil Diamond, both before and after the spot was produced. "I think Neil liked the original SNL stuff—more than his publicist did," commented Koepke. "He was very gracious to approve this. It’s really an honor to him. We all love Neil Diamond, whether you admit it or not."
Asked if the creatives considered using Diamond in the spot, Koepke said they’d decided to go the comedy route, although they thought about using him in a cameo at the end. But ultimately, they decided it would be more humorous to focus exclusively on Ferrell. "We decided to play it as straight as possible."
Modernista! tapped Hunter to direct based upon his ability to work well with celebrities and to convey a sexy, fashion sensibility, said Koepke, citing such Hunter-helmed music videos as "Lady Marmalade" from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, and the D’Angelo clip "Untitled," as well as his Nike commercial "Freestyle" for Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore. (SHOOT Top Spot, 3/16, p. 10).
"Paul can make things sexy; he’s got a nice sensibility," said Koepke. "And [we liked] his confidence in not having to overdo things, and his confidence that he can get a performance out of somebody."
HSI executive producer Kerstin Emhoff said that the set for "Love on the Rocks" (and the sets of the other ads) was made more textured than those in previous Gap commercials, which have historically been blown-out white. "Paul worked a lot on the lighting and on the look of the set," Emhoff said. "When he saw the look of the finished spots, he said, ‘That’s exactly what I wanted.’ Each of the spots has its own personality."
