The popular dating site Match.com has added another weapon to its matchmaking arsenal. The Web site that helps singles find their perfect partners has added MindFindBind with Dr. Phil. Three spots that Peter Chelsom, Independent Media, Santa Monica, Calif. directed for Hanft Raboy and Partners, New York–“Parade,” “Golf” and “Hood”–are spreading the message to the masses.
The MindFindBind program is meant to attract people to the online dating site who may be reluctant to engage in this modern method. In the early stages of this initiative, when the agency creatives and Match.com staffers were considering how to attract more people to Match.com, Dr. Phil’s name kept coming up, creative director/managing partner Doug Raboy said.
Dr. Phil worked with Match.com to create a program that begins with getting your mind right. In phase one, he helps users get ready to be a part of a good relationship. In the find phase, Match.com steps in. Then, to bind the couples, Dr. Phil returns to facilitate the process. The MindFindBind program includes video modules of the doctor along with an audio blog where he contributes his thoughts. There are also quizzes and workshops along the way.
USELESS FANTASIES
In “Parade” (:30 and :15), a waitress serving the outdoor section of a restaurant notices a marching band moving through the street. The unusual group is “The Available Men Parade” and features guys carrying signs like “Bad Boys” and “Trust Fund Babies.” The delighted woman waves enthusiastically until her customer, Dr. Phil, calls her out for daydreaming about Mr. Right. After pointing out her attractive qualities like her I.Q., he says she just needs a little Guy Q. A voiceover explains that Match.com will “show you who” while Dr. Phil will “show you how.”
For “Hood,” (:30 and :15) agency creatives brought one of Dr. Phil’s longstanding observations to life. Many times he has said to women looking for men that with the way their lives are constructed, a man would have to jump in front of their cars to meet them. These women have not set themselves up for success in the dating world.
In the spot, an attractive woman, Peg, is parking her company minivan. She is startled when men start dropping from the sky onto her vehicle. As romantic music plays, the woman’s smile gets bigger. Of course, like the woman in “Parade,” she too is daydreaming and Dr. Phil brings her back to reality.
The MindFindBind service is not only for women as “Golf” (:30 and :15 ) reveals. In it, a young man stands on a golf course daydreaming of scantily clad women frolicking nearby. Dr. Phil pulls up in a golf cart and asks him if he is going to hit his ball “or hatch it” and the man explains that finding the right woman is driving him crazy. Dr. Phil says he just needs to change his game, and his pants.
All of the spots are directly tied to Dr. Phil’s take on dating. In addition to the reference in “Hood,” he has said to women that parades of available men are not going to march in front of their houses. The idea behind “Golf” is simply that men need to change their game. Though he is known for his Dr. Philisms, like the hit it or hatch it comment in “Golf,” the agency used them sparingly.
“We didn’t want him playing Dr. Phil. We wanted him to be Dr. Phil and there is a difference,” Raboy noted. “We are so used to seeing people spoof him right now, and people have this idea of what Dr. Phil should say and what he should be and sometimes that clouds the brilliance of the guy…And again, it’s the partnership with Match, as well, that needs to come through. We wanted to make sure that both brands were being noticed for the great brands they are and what they bring to the party.”
STRONG RELATIONSHIPS The agency creatives looked to Chelsom to helm the spots for several reasons related to his experience. First, he worked on the Match.com spots “Football,” “Drawer” and “Amber” last year, which were also through Hanft Raboy and Partners, and he gets the brand, Raboy remarked. Secondly, having worked with big Hollywood names–like Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton when he helmed Town & Country or Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez and Susan Sarandon in Shall We Dance–he understands how celebrities work.
“He runs a really efficient, tight set in a way that only a film director can. And when you’re working with a guy like Dr. Phil, who has so many things on his plate, you need to make sure that you are getting him in and out and doing his thing and not wasting any time,” Raboy said.
With Dr. Phil’s schedule, Chelsom only had two hours with the talk-show host on each day of the three-day shoot in Los Angeles. The schedule worked well for the director who enjoys collaborating with celebrities. “I like finding the personality and making it work. In other words, getting performances out of people who would not normally do that,” he said. “I like to make people like Dr. Phil comfortable enough to look good and feel good. And I will always base the shape of the shoot and the scene about what makes them feel comfortable and strong.”
Chelsom continued, “I approach all of these as if they are a scene from a much longer story. And then when you see it, it’s worth seeing it again because it tends to feed the spot–albeit thirty seconds–you feel this is a well set up character, this is person I want to know more about or this is a person that I can identify with or feel I even know.”
Additional credit at Hanft Raboy and Partners goes to Sean LaBounty, creative director; Nathan Manske, copywriter; Josh Webman, art director; Rob Newman, executive producer; and Kathleen Raftery, producer.
At Independent Media Susanne Preissler was executive producer. Janusz Kaminski was DP.
At Final Cut, New York, Sarah Iben cut “Parade” and “Golf” with assistant editor Michael Dart Wadsworth. Carlos Arias cut “Hood” and Wadsworth was assistant editor. Stephanie Apt was executive producer and Rana Martin was the producer for Final Cut.
