Welcome to the world of motivational speaking. This spot opens on a life-size cardboard cutout of a man, situated in front of a table on which there are dozens of copies of his presumably best-selling book, Super Self.
The camera then takes us into a mini-auditorium where this supposedly insightful author is busy imparting his expertise to an attentive audience. However, the pearls of wisdom that come out of his mouth sound more like clichés that are getting worse and worse with each utterance.
"Don’t just be yourself," he advises, "be your super self."
This is followed by the insightful, "Power is power," a message that is reinforced by its appearance on a nearby monitor.
He then instructs us to "Forget carpe diem. Carpe do ’em."
Then from his facial expression, it’s clear that he’s in need of some instruction himself—perhaps a memory-building class. "I’m drawing a blank here," he admits, as members of the audience look at each other dubiously.
The clichés continue to decline in quality as he tries to right the ship. "Winners never quit. Quitters never win. Or is it the other way around?"
Suddenly, a super against a solid background appears, offering the best advice we’ve heard thus far, while putting the man’s performance into its proper context. The supered message simply reads, "Retire on time." That’s followed by a graphic identifying the retirement plan sponsor, Affinity Holdings Corp.
The spot then returns to the author, who is now reduced to mumbling incoherently.
"Super Self" is part of a two-spot campaign directed by Steve Burrows of Backyard Productions, Venice, Calif., and Chicago, for agency 808 Inc., Houston. The other commercial, "Mr. Smiley," is similarly themed, showing a party clown who clearly can’t stand kids anymore.
The creative duo for 808 consisted of creative director Robert Campbell and producer Gene Hollister.
Blair Stribley executive produced for Backyard, with Peter Steinzeig serving as head of production and Sean Hobbs as producer. The DP was Tom Marvel.
Editor was Jeff Hinman of Blue Collar Productions, Hollywood. Colorist was Mario Barrera of Post Logic Studios, Hollywood. Audio post engineer/mixer was Konrad Pinon of Margarita Mix, Hollywood.
Music composer was Matt Cartsonis of Cartsonic Music, Los Angeles.
