Though they made it to the Super Bowl last season, the Atlanta Falcons aren’t resting on their laurels. The Falcons haven’t lost their appetite for winning—or for groceries. The latter is most important to Ingles Markets, which operates some 200 stores in the Southeast and has been the official grocer of the Falcons since ’98.
This spot tying the Falcons to the Ingles chain begins with a rush of techno music and a simple supered message that reads: "Ingles salutes the 1999 Atlanta Falcons." The :30 then cuts to game footage of Falcons players, the first being a runner darting through a thicket of defensive players. Cradled under his arm, in the place of a football, is a bunch of bananas. Next, a two-liter bottle of lemon-lime soda spirals through the air and is caught for a touchdown by a wide receiver. Then a rotisserie chicken is kicked for a field goal. A lineman dives on a fumbled watermelon. A quarterback throws a pineapple to his favorite wide-out. And a Falcon, hoisted triumphantly on the shoulders of a teammate, celebrates as he wildly twirls a bag of oranges.
A parting super then explains: "They’re still hungry."
The commercial was conceived by a team from Asheville, N.C. agency The Alpha Group: creative director/copywriter Brad Campbell; associate creative director/art director Martha Dugger; and executive producer Jane Cashin.
Director Billy DeMarco headed a visual effects team from Haven Multimedia, Charlotte, N.C., that worked with actual NFL footage to create the illusion that the Falcons were playing football with groceries. To accomplish this, 3-D models of each food item were created and then animated to follow the motion and perspective of the live-action footage. The movement and lighting for each model mimicked the game’s environment. Rotoscoping was deployed to place the animation into the footage, frame by frame.
"For this spot to work, it was important that the animation look real," said Dugger. "Each model had to realistically blend with the existing film."
Joe Murray of Post Central, Charlotte, served as Smoke editor. Music composer was Michael McGinnis of Fred Story Productions, Charlotte.
"They’re Still Hungry" began airing last month in the Atlanta market. The spot is also being shown during home games on the large scoreboard screen in the Georgia Dome.
