Emily Dickinson’s famous quote, "Hope is the thing without feathers," comes to mind when one watches this spot, which portrays the bizarre actions of an office worker who needs to prove that he has the potential to figuratively—then later, literally—take flight and be a leader.
The commercial opens on an uninspiring workplace setting consisting of seemingly endless rows of desks. Through the aisle formed by the desks walks the company president, accompanied by his entourage of executives and assistants. He’s cool and successful, and he strides through the office like a proud peacock.
In sharp contrast, further down the food chain, his worker bee minions are mired in a humdrum existence, trying to eke out a living. One desk-bound man wears an expression that’s particularly bleak. The sight of the company president only reminds him of his lowly status. But he’s not about to take the situation sitting down for much longer.
We hear the worker’s inner voice exhorting himself to realize his dream: "Are you a frontrunner, Paul? When you lead, do others follow, Paul? Through sun and rain? North? South? Can you lead, Paul? Can you? Prove it, Paul."
The background image on Paul’s desktop computer shows a flock of geese flying in an arrow formation. "Prove it," the inner voice intones, growing angry. "Pluck it!"
Suddenly, feathers are flying. The camera reveals that the worker has a goose seated on his lap. He’s plucking its feathers madly.
"Go on," urges the voice. "Yes!"
Next, we see the office worker in an airplane, virtually naked, with feathers attached to his arms. He skydives out of the plane to assume his rightful place as the lead "goose," but ends up plummeting past a flock of geese flying in arrow formation.
A voiceover interjects: "Don’t go to extremes to find out your skills. Go to My Monster Premium’s self-assessment program at monster.co.uk."
The spot ends with the monster.co.uk logo.
Entitled "Geese," this spot for the United Kingdom was directed by Patrik Bergh of bicoastal/international Partizan for Saatchi & Saatchi, London. The support team at Partizan, London, included president/partner Madeline Sanderson and producer Mark Murrell. The DP was Phillip Blaubach.
Saatchi’s London team consisted of creative director Dave Droga, art director Duncan Marshall, copywriter Howard Willmot, deputy head of television Sally Ann Dale and producer Ruben Mercadel.
The commercial was edited by Joakim Pietras of London-based Speade. Online editor was Richard McKeand of MPC, London. Colorist was Mark Horrobin, also of MPC.
Neil Harrington of Grand Central Studios, London, served as audio mixer/sound designer. Music composer was London-based freelancer Jonathan Goldstein.
