For whatever reason, this particular gang of guys for the Budweiser "True" campaign didn’t make the grade. But as conceived by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, this unaired spot has an offbeat charm as four young men in a restaurant booth discuss the food they’ve ordered.
However, as they await their meal, the males aren’t exactly working up an appetite. Instead, a subtle sense of apprehension seems to be building over their adventurous choice of entree. One for all and all for one, the guys each ordered the same dish, which they attempt to describe.
"What did we order?" asks one of the fellows.
"It’s like a Latin crepe," replies a friend.
"Euro, without meat," explains the third gent.
"There’s meat in it. You just don’t know what kind," relates the fourth member of the party.
"That’s disgusting," concludes the man with the original query.
"I like it," chimes in another.
"You like horse," wisecracks a friend.
"Actually it’s liquid chicken. They pour liquified chicken into this long tube mold and they put that greenish sauce over it."
The waitress arrives with four orders of a meal, which looks exactly like the last description. Though the dish is hardly mouth watering, the guys are game and in unison declare, "Alright," as they decide to pick up their forks and dig in.
The familiar Budweiser logo and "True" slogan appear against a black background. We then hear a parting shot from one of our party of four: "Pass the ketchup."
"Liquid Chicken" was directed by Tim Cronenweth of Los Angeles-based Cronenweth Films, backed by producer Jay Kelman. Jeff Cronenweth served as DP. The Cronenweth brothers, Tim and Jeff, recently entered into a deal to be repped as a directorial duo via Santa Monica-based Untitled, a production house headed by executive producer Jim Evans.
The agency team consisted of creative director Jeff Goodby, copoywriter Brian Friedrich, art director Tyler Magnusson, director of broadcast Debbie King, producer James Horner and associate producer Michael Damiani.
Jeff Grippe, who at the time was with now defunct Superior Assembly Editing Company, served as editor, audio mixer and sound designer on the spot. Grippe is now with Sliced Grape, West Los Angeles. (An agency version of "Liquid Chicken" was cut by Ed Feldman of Bob ‘n’ Sheila’s Edit World, San Francisco.) Colorist was John Zaik of Company 3, Santa Monica.
Principal actors in this spot were Paul McKinney, Brad MacDonald, Matt Ramey, Ariel Joseph Towne. The SAG/AFTRA Commercials Contract Standing Committee has granted a waiver to allow commercials to be available for viewing on SHOOTonline.com. The spots cannot be copied, downloaded or emailed.
