The camera pans a cityscape to reveal a giant monarch butterfly perched on the signage atop San Diego’s historic El Cortez Hotel. A supered message against a black backdrop reads, “At 3 inches, they’re creepy.”
Then we see a spider hanging from a web thread on another San Diego landmark, the Coronado Bridge. Again a super intervenes: “At 10 feet, they’re cool.”
Next up is a huge caterpillar crossing the Laurel St. Bridge heading to Balboa Park.
A super identifies our sponsor: the San Diego Natural History Museum. This is followed by a logo for the Backyard Monsters exhibit, which opened on Memorial Day weekend and runs through December.
The exhibit features six huge animatronic bugs, as well as a variety of actual size specimens and a number of interactive games and events. The attraction is geared to children ages 3 to 11. And this spot is part of a pro bono campaign from agency NYCA , San Diego, targeting the parents of those kids.
This :30 spot is running on local TV stations as well as in theaters. The “Big Bugs!” theme also is evident in local magazine and newspaper ads, outdoor, bus sides and online. The latter includes a promotional feature where kids can receive free admission into the museum by drawing their own versions of “big bugs” on templates that can be downloaded from the museum’s Web site (www.sdnhm.org).
The NYCA team consisted of creative director/copywriter Michael Mark, associate creative director Rob Petrie, art director/designer Ian Jensen, executive producer Amy Krause, and producers Lynne Roswall and Stephanie Davidson.
Joon Park of Psychofish, Chicago, directed the spot, served as its visual effects director and headed the Psychofish team that edited the spot. CG artist ws Mike Warzin of Psychofish, with Mike McGlynn executive producing for the company. Dana Neibert was the DP.
Dave Wagg and Mark Meyuhas of Lime Studios, Santa Monica, were audio mixers/sound designers on the spot. Via Boomerang, Los Angeles, Meyuhas and Ben Decter were the music composers. Meyuhas additionally was executive producer for Boomerang on the music and for Lime on the sound design.
