Underwriting is a great opportunity for branding, right? Maybe if you’re sponsoring an uninterrupted showing of Schindler’s List on a major network, complete with a marketing campaign promoting the show. Generally, though, underwriting is a more modest and subdued endeavor, perhaps with a plain graphic or series of images accompanied by a lackluster voiceover acknowledging the sponsorship.
However, the restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill is changing this model with new :15 spots that will air before and after the PBS show How To Cook Everything: Bittman Takes On America’s Chefs.
Of the three spots from TDA Advertising & Design, Boulder, Colo.–“Masterpiece,” “News,” and “Pledge”–one will air before the show and one afterward. They will rotate throughout the four-month season, which debuts in 50 metro markets on April 17. Each is a humorous take on traditional PBS programming.
“Masterpiece,” modeled after Masterpiece Theater, features a dignified host announcing that a grant from Chipotle Mexican Grill made the evening’s program possible. In the bottom right corner of the screen a woman is relaying the message in sign language and eating a burrito. Eventually she stops signing in order to devour her food.
In “News” the cameraman for the program has abandoned his post behind the lens to eat his burrito with both hands. Therefore, the camera slips and the anchor is no longer in the center of the frame. While in “Pledge” the phones start cacophonously ringing when the host of a telethon mentions that the previous program was made possible by a grant from Chipotle. The ringing becomes so loud that it drowns out the man’s voice.
ADS ON PBS?
Although having :15 second spots air on PBS may sound incongruous with the network’s policies, it isn’t. “When [the news about these spots] first broke, I think people in the press were curious if we broke the rules and we really didn’t,” related TDA partner/creative director and copywriter Jonathan Schoenberg. “People have it so ingrained in their minds that you’re just supposed to say, ‘Brought to you by Mobil Exxon,’ or whatever we heard growing up [and] that you can’t get a little more creative. We looked at the rules and we were like, ‘Hey we can do spots.’ “
The rules the agency had to adhere to included avoiding comparisons as well as images of people who seemed to enjoy their food. They couldn’t invite people to visit the restaurants either. “They are the kind of rules that actually lend themselves to doing better TV than you ordinarily get to see on TV,” Schoenberg noted.
Director Sean Leman of Rehab, Denver and San Francisco, also said he didn’t feel constrained. He cast the roles in Denver and also shot them in the Mile High City at LSI Soundstages.
The option to have the spots mimic PBS shows was one of many the agency presented to the client. These fit in with the client’s goal of offering something engaging and entertaining to the audience.
“The whole idea was to lovingly poke fun at some of the PBS institutions that we all grew up with — to try to stay fairly faithful to those iconic cultural pieces that we all remember,” Leman said.
Additional agency credit goes to art directors Alex Rice and Dennis DiSalvo, and producer Kristin Loudis.
Director Leman was also the offline editor. Jasper Gray was DP. Nathan Brown executive produced for Rehab and Susan McDonald Peterson was production designer. Online editors were Jon Christensen and Jason Sedmak of Postmodern, Denver. Postmodern’s Chuck Biddlecom and Michael Cramp were audio engineers. Jeff Tillotson of Flying Spot, Seattle, was the colorist.