This spot opens on a dog running with a sense of purpose toward a building. Turns out the building is a church as the camera takes us to the altar, where a bride and groom are about to tie the knot. The minister utters the age-old ultimatum that anyone objecting to this blessed union should "speak now or forever hold your peace."
The dog scurries up the center aisle. He stops and barks firmly once, at which point we briefly hear music from The Graduate, hearkening us back to that famous scene where Dustin Hoffman races into the church to rescue his true love from marrying the wrong man.
Here, the bride turns toward the canine as if she understands. The two make definite eye contact. She pulls a handheld electronic device out of her floral bouquet. The readout screen on the device carries a simple message: "I love you." It turns out the piece of technology is Bow-Lingual, a doggie translator.
The bride races down the aisle to caress the mutt. "Oh, Ben," she says lovingly to the dog, before they dash out of the church together. An older man seated in the audience approvingly observes, "I always knew she could do better."
A parting product shot of the electronic translator fills the screen. A voiceover relates, "Bow-Lingual, the dog translator—gives dogs a voice they never had."
Bow-Lingual is a toy from Japanese company Takara. The device is being marketed in the U.S. and even made Neiman Marcus’ Christmas catalog.
"Speak Now," which is currently on a limited run stateside, was directed and shot by Michael Goode of Santa Monica-headquartered greatguns: USA, for agency ADK America, Los Angeles. Tom Korsan executive produced for greatguns, with Nancy Fulton producing and Ahnee Boyce serving as production manager.
The creative team at ADK included creative director Daniel Yamada, art director Elizabeth Montgomery and production manager Ingrid Chen.
Editor was Los Angeles-based freelancer Collin Pregent. Online editor was Philip Ineno of King Cut, Venice, Calif. Colorist was John Zaik of Company 3, Santa Monica, with Shara Martin producing. Audio mixer was Chris Canning of RavensWork, Venice. Samy Music of Saturday Creative, Hollywood, was the composer. Graphics were designed by Chris Kirk of Mind Bomb, Los Angeles.
Leah Cairns, Vanessa Lee, Darcy Cadman, Ted Rivneyl, Andrew Morton, Graeme Roberts, Eileen Ross and Alicia Wong were the principal actors in this spot. 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 e-mailed.
