This nature show-style spot is part of a campaign designed to demonstrate that real animals are amazing. But the paradoxical means toward that end is to present animals that are clearly fake.
We open on our wildlife expert/host who’s walking through rugged terrain as he tells us about the black mamba snake, “one of the world’s most deadly predators.” We first see the snake from a distance.
Our guide continues, “A few drops of venom from him would kill a man twice my size.” As we hear this terrifying fact, the camera has moved in closer, revealing that the menacing snake is instead a motionless, cotton-filled stuffed animal.
Our host uses a metal rod with jaws to gently pick up the snake–a comedic sight since this reptile is made of teddy bear material. Serving to heighten the humor is the wildlife expert’s serious demeanor, reminiscent of what we’ve become accustomed to in a Discovery Channel documentary or–for those of us a bit older–an episode of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.
Of the snake, our series host says, “His mouth is open, which means he means business. I walked right past him. He could have struck me twice. I would have been dead.”
The man is holding the snake’s head in his hand as if struggling to keep its mouth closed. But all we see is a dormant stuffed animal from which sticks out a red plastic tongue.
“And where we are, we don’t have any anti-venom for this chap,” says the expedition leader, grateful that he wasn’t bitten.
At this point, a supered message reads, “Real animals are more exciting.” This is followed by a Toronto Zoo logo, accompanied by the slogan, “Same planet. Different world.”
Titled “Snake,” this spot is one of three in a campaign directed by Tim Godsall via Toronto-based production house untitled for agency Lowe Roche, Toronto. (Godsall directs U.S. spots through Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles.) The other similarly themed ads are “Gorilla” and “Lion.” In the latter, for example, we see a herd of zebra about to be attacked by lions–all the animals are stuffed models, which doesn’t stop our intrepid host from talking as if danger were imminent. In fact, he notes that one of the zebras has been killed. And in “Gorilla,” the wildlife adventurer explains that he’s crouched over so that he appears small and submissive to the nearby stuffed animal apes. Otherwise, they might likely attack him.
James Davis executive produced for untitled, with Martha Davis serving as producer. The work was shot by DP Darko Suvak.
The creative team at Lowe Roche consisted of chief creative officer Geoffrey Roche, creative director Christina Yu, art director Patrick Shing, copywriter Ryan Spelliscy and producer Melanie Lambertsen.
Editor was Brian Wells of School Editing, Toronto. Assistant editor was Eugene Ilao. Sarah Brooks was executive producer for School Editing. Colorist was Chuck Nosworthy of Notch, Toronto. Audio post mixer was Mike Rowland of Wanted! Post-Production, Toronto.
