Essential to the serious athlete is to be immersed in his or her sport—but that immersion is given a literal interpretation in "Soccer." A spirited game is played completely underwater in this spot from Tokyo ad agency Asatsu DK for client Pocari, an electrolyte drink made by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co.
The :30 is the follow-up to last year’s submerged tennis ad for Pocari, which was directed by Joel Peissig via Hollywood-based production house Level 7. (Peissig has since joined bicoastal RSA USA.) Level 7 also produced the recently wrapped "Soccer," which marks the commercial directing debut of Sandy Collora, a visual effects/creature creation artist.
The ad opens on a goalie who’s defending the net. He stands on a lush green soccer field that’s totally underwater. CG-created grass sways with the water’s motion, as players and defenders in the background, move closer to the goalie. Air bubbles shoot out of the goalie’s and the players’ mouths—and sometimes their appendages. The fast-moving soccer action sequence plays out much as it would on terra firma. An offensive player breaks free to await a perfectly timed pass from a teammate. With acrobatic precision, the intense player near the net goes into a back flip and kicks the ball just past the outstretched arms of the goalie.
The goal scorer roars in triumph; air bubbles race from his lips upward through the water. Celebrating, he breaks open a can of sports drink Pocari; its contents spew out in a beeline headed straight for his mouth. The spot concludes with a close-up underwater product shot of the Pocari can clenched in the player’s hand.
"Soccer" continues the action sports theme begun in the earlier-alluded-to Pocari "Better Than Oxygen/Tennis" ad, which also made SHOOT’s "The Best Work You May Never See" gallery (5/25/01, p. 13). The campaign strategy is simple, positioning Pocari as the ultimate refreshment, replenishing the body with much-needed hydration after intense physical exertion. Even athletes totally immersed in H2O still turn to Pocari to quench their thirst.
Collora and Level 7 executive producer Chris Van Howten handled creative on "Soccer" for Asatsu DK. Howten and Collora served as executive creative director and creative director, respectively.
The project entailed two days of green-screen shooting: one in an underwater tank, the other on stage. The cinematographers were Marco Mazzei and Peter Romano, with the latter’s specialty being underwater lensing.
Collora also worked closely with Santa Monica-based visual effects studio Colorado. The Colorado team included visual effects supervisor Paul Kirsch, and postproduction producers Greg Dowden and Dana Townsend. Among Colorado’s contributions were creation of the spot’s background, as well as CG grass and the filling in of CG bubbles. Even the soccer ball itself is completely CG in several scenes.
Van Howten and Larry Serraino executive produced for Level 7, with Jolie Chitwood producing. The spot was edited by Toby Divine of Level 7 sister shop Aspect Ratio, also in Hollywood. Colorado’s Kirsch also was online editor. Colorist was Vinnie Ciminera of The Post Group, Hollywood. Lauri Brown and Jeff Sliney of Aspect Ratio served, respectively, as audio mixer and sound designer. Music was composed by Paul Robb of bicoastal Face The Music.
