As a rule, testimonial advertising is hardly the stuff of which creative dreams are made. But a disarmingly charming twist on that mainstay ad genre—as conceived by hybrid Santa Monica-based shop Amoeba and directed by Breck Eisner—breaks the mold and manages to score creatively for Fandango, the advance remote movie-theater ticketing service that consumers can access via the Web and over the phone.
"Clubbing," the first of three cinema ads in the campaign, recently debuted in theaters throughout the U.S. The work presents the feedback of actual Fandango moviegoer customers as captured via interviews across the country. It’s the vehicle through which this feedback is conveyed that departs from the norm: brown paper bag puppets that have the look and feel of kids’ art projects.
The words from real people take on an entertaining dimension via these characters, which were initially sketched by Amoeba founder Len Fink. He envisioned the appearance of these real people testimonial givers based on their voices, and from this, the brown bag creations took shape. Fink noted that he made a conscious decision not to see footage of the real people before designing the brown baggers. Doing so, he explained, would have unnecessarily reined in the imagination during the visualization process. The puppet characters were constructed by Los Angeles-based freelance puppet maker James Hayes.
"Clubbing" opens like a live-action testimonial spot. A sentence supered across a black background simply reads: "Real moviegoers talk about Fandango." Then we hear the voice of a male customer. "I would like to know what ‘dango’ means," he says. At that point the camera reveals the testimonial giver—but instead of the expected live-action person, we see a dark-haired, paper-bag character, with a paper clip nose. Standing on the sidewalk with a movie theater marquee in the background, the brown bag character relates, "Because I know ‘fan’ means for fans. But I don’t know ‘dango’—what that means."
Next up are two other brown paper bag-faced characters—a woman and a child. They are in front of a moving merry-go-round. "You go on the Internet," says the woman. "You find out what time the movie plays—and then you do the Fandango with my credit card, right?"
"Yeah," affirms the kid.
The final vignette puts us in a kitchen with an older, unpretentious married couple; the guy is in the foreground, cooking on a stove. In the background is his wife, standing near a dining table.
"We had to sit in separate seats [at the theater]," says the spry male senior citizen.
"We had to sit separately," she corroborates.
"We could have used Fandango then," he observes.
"Yes, we could have," she affirms.
"We go to the movies at least once a week," he relates. "We don’t always go Friday and Saturday nights—because we like to go clubbing."
Right after the "clubbing" punch line, the spot transitions to an end tag with the Fandango logo, accompanied by the company’s Web site address and toll-free phone line. A voiceover intervenes, "Buy tickets on Fandango.com or call 1-800-Fandango."
The various real people asides that conversationally come up in the spot—which divert from the marketing point—ring true and help lend more credibility to the trailer. The dialogue, however, wouldn’t feel the same coming from an actual person, observed Fink, who noted that certain human truths and realities "travel better" via a character rather than being specific to an individual. Audiences are more receptive, he said, citing as an example the Coca-Cola "Polar Bears," a successful campaign with the characters being well received in some 230 countries. Fink was involved in creating the Coca-Cola "Always" campaign, which included the "Polar Bear" spots, back when he was at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Beverly Hills, Calif.
Fink added that since the Fandango spots are being shown in a theater setting, it was essential that they have entertainment value while branding the client and imparting its message. Clearly, conventional testimonials wouldn’t have satisfied the entertainment prerequisite. "People go to the movies to be entertained," said Fink. "It was imperative that we make these trailers a fun experience. They cannot play like a commercial."
Credit for the work also goes largely to the client, continued Fink. He and Amoeba partner Jonathon Ker noted that Fandango CEO Art Levitt and VP, marketing & product development Miyuki Kitamura were very supportive of putting a spin on the testimonial technique.
"Clubbing" is appearing prior to every film shown on the approximately 10,000 screens operated by Fandango’s exhibitor partners. (Fandango provides advance ticketing services for Carmike Cinemas, Century Theatres, Cinemark Theatres, Edwards Theatres, Loews-Cineplex Entertainment, Regal Cinemas, United Artists Theatres, Brenden Theatres, Eastern Federal Theatres, Landmark Theatres, RC Theatres and Wallace Theaters.) The other two upcoming trailers will also enjoy the same cinema distribution.
HYBRID
The Fandango work underscores the hybrid nature of Amoeba, which has an advertising, marketing and entertainment pedigree. For Fandango, Amoeba created, strategized and took the lead in producing the trailers, bringing in Eisner to direct and running the production through Stardust, a Venice, Calif.-based house.
The Amoeba creative team consisted of Fink and Ker who have collaborated on assorted projects throughout their careers, dating back to when they were at separate shops on the agency and production house sides of the business, respectively. Fink’s pedigree includes having served as a creative director at TBWA/ Chiat/Day, New York, and then with the aforementioned CAA. This was followed by his tenure at the former Edge Creative, and now Amoeba. Among Amoeba’s notable endeavors was its well-received work for Burger King, which helped increase sales significantly for the fast food chain.
Ker has a track record of helping to develop directorial talent, first at the now defunct U.S. spot division of U.K.-based Limelight, and then at Palomar Pictures, which he co-founded in ’92. Ker exited Palomar in ’02; the company closed nearly a year later (SHOOT, 3/14, p. 1). Prior to launching Limelight stateside in ’87, Ker was head of TV at ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty, London.
At Palomar, Eisner was one of the many notable directors Ker introduced to the spot marketplace. "Breck embraced the Fandango concept from the get-go," said Ker of the helmer. "He was very diligent in doing full justice to the idea." Eisner, who was unavailable for comment at press time, is currently overseas in pre-pro on Sahara, the working title for a Paramount Pictures feature.
