By SARAH WOODWARD
March Madness is a disease, and no one is immune. That’s the message behind "Quarantine," the third in a five-spot campaign for Nike that trumpets college basketball’s annual tournament season with the tag line, "March Madness. It’s spreading." Created by Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore., and directed by Dante Ariola of bicoastal/international Propaganda Films, the campaign draws heavily on the deadly virus/medical thriller genre.
To that end, the main character, played by veteran sci-fi/martial arts actor John Saxon, is a research scientist tracking the disease’s progression. The :60 "Quarantine" opens on the Duke University campus; small technical print in the lower corner of the screen reads "DukeK-ville" (a reference to Coach K.). It’s night and students are socializing under make-shift tents around the grounds, seemingly oblivious to the scientist and his research unit-a team of about 30, all zipped into protective white body suits complete with breathing apparatus, gloves, full head gear and electronic tracking devices-who have stormed the school. As the crew moves through the campus, Saxon says, "We’ve got a level 9. Quarantine."
The crew heads for the locker room where they scan various pieces of sports wear from sneakers to sweats. Soon after, Saxon concludes that the place is fully infected. "It’s all hot," he says. "Take it away," at which point the crew systematically empties the contents of the lockers into biohazardous waste bags and carts them out in industrial trucks.
The trucks are next seen entering the deserted grounds of the NRI Biohazard Treatment Center (also referenced on-screen) and the toxic material is emptied out of bags. The final scene centers on a pile of 2,000 pairs of sneakers and a sole figure. The scene is ominous and the sky is as gray as the treatment plant. Then the figure ignites an industrial-size blow torch and sets fire to the sneakers. The spot closes with an amoebic-shaped image on the screen which contains the March Madness tournament brackets and the aforementioned tag line.
"Quarantine," which broke March 6, was shot on location over two days in Wilmington and Durham, N.C. Copywriter Mike Folino and art director Arty Tan came up with the concept on a research trip to Duke, UNC Chapel Hill and Kentucky, during which time the pair interviewed coaches and attended games. Folino recalled that at one point they concluded, "Gosh, it’s December and we already have March Madness. It’s like a disease." The key to the spot’s dark humor, he continued, was "to play it straight, as if March Madness really was [a disease] and watch it spread across the country."
Also key to the execution was Ariola’s direction. "What we had originally hoped for was to make this very cinematic," Folino said. "Dante got that to an unbelievable degree. He’s a spectacularly talented director. If you watched all the commercials together, it’s almost like a little movie."
Propaganda’s commercial division VP Colin Hickson said Ariola was an obvious choice for the assignment. "There is a very filmic quality to all of Dante’s work, and [that’s] what this [campaign] needed. We wanted it to be as big and dramatic and as important as possible in a very filmic style. Where [the creatives] wanted the campaign to go, and Dante’s sylistic sensibilities, were a perfect match."
For his part, Ariola said that from the beginning he and the creative team were "on the same page"-right down to the films they referenced, such as The Andromeda Strain. "The idea was there in the first place," he said. "We wanted it to be dramatic and cinematic. It was just a matter of execution. We let the drama play out and kept the pace slow." The director also said it was important that the spots grow more frenetic and elaborate in a narrative sense as each of the spots, and the campaign as a whole, progress. In "Quarantine," the drama culminates with the burning of the sneakers.
Saxon’s role in the spots was also key to the execution. "It was exciting to work with such a talented actor," Ariola said. Folino added that Saxon’s part was a "fun bit of casting" that "gave [the campaign] credibility." He also praised editor Rob Watzke of Red Car, Santa Monica. "He deserves a lot of credit. Working with Rob makes it a lot easier for everybody. It’s nice to give him the film and watch something great come out of it."
As for the soft-sell approach of the campaign-particularly in the early spots where very little Nike product is seen- Ariola said Nike "realized that it wasn’t a product-based spot and just let us go with it. They gave us a lot of freedom." Folino, on the other hand, joked that Nike "probably understands that March Madness is a real problem in society right now, as a disease. It’s brave of them to come out and talk about it and show what really happens, [because] their sneakers and athletic wear are part of the cause."
“Memoir of a Snail” Takes Top Prize At London Film Festival
The Official Competition jury said: “Our jury was incredibly moved by Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail, which is a singular achievement in filmmaking. Emotionally resonant and constantly surprising, Memoir tackles pertinent issues such as bullying, loneliness and grief head-on, creating a crucial and universal dialogue in a way that only animation can. The jury is delighted to recognize an animated film alongside its live-action peers.”
Rounding out the winners of this year’s films screening In Competition are:
- Winner of the Sutherland Award in the First Feature Competition – On Falling (Dir. Laura Carreira)
- Winner of the Grierson Award in the Documentary Competition – Mother Vera (Dirs. Cécile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson)
- Winner of the Short Film Award in the Short Film Competition – Vibrations from Gaza (Dir. Rehab Nazzal)