The chance to direct an offbeat misdirect was too good an opportunity to pass up for Geordie Stephens, the former creative director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), Miami, who made the jump to full-time director this past summer, joining the roster of bicoastal Tool of North America.
In “Mobsters,” we see a car drive up to the end of a dock. Inside the automobile are two guys who look like they’re in the underworld “disposal” business. One of the low-rent hit men takes a swig from a bottle of water before he gets out of the car with his buddy. They pop open the car trunk and pull out a well-packaged bundle containing a corpse that needs to be ditched.
In a matter-of-fact manner they pick up the bundle, move toward the edge of the dock, swing the weighted corpse to and fro and then throw it into the river. Clearly this is mere routine for these two hit men, one of whom finishes his bottled water and looks as if he’s about to chuck it into the river after the body. However, he hesitates, turns and instead tosses the empty bottle into a nearby recycling receptacle on the dock.
A simple message then appears on screen: “Redeem yourself. Recycle,” followed by a Web site address–KeepCaliforniaBeautiful.org.
“Being from California, I’ve seen a lot of work in this advertising category–sort of unfortunate tales about the decline of our environment,” said Stephens. “And that work leaves the viewer a little sad, and definitely has an impact.
“But this script was so different,” he continued. “The big mislead drew me in, with the message that however you lead your life, you can redeem yourself. I was also attracted to the ultra cinematic scenario that people are pretty familiar with. You can have some fun with an important message.”
The important message is from Keep California Beautiful, a non-profit environmental education organization that promotes individual responsibility for the health of California’s environment. The group advocates such practices as recycling and waste minimization.
And the inspired concept came from a creative team at BBDO West, San Francisco, that consisted of executive creative director Jim Lesser, copywriter Neil Levy, art director Roz Romney and producer Nancy Cardillo.
Contrast, context “The spot sets up the clear contrast between low-class criminals and saving the world,” related Tool of North America executive producer Brian Latt. “Geordie effortlessly finds the humor of the situation, making the message widely accessible.”
Latt and Jennifer Siegel executive produced for Tool, with Kelly Christensen serving as producer. The spot was shot on location in Long Beach and San Pedro, Calif., by DP James Kneist.
While the ad is slated for broadcast exposure this month, Stephens harbors hope that the cinematic scenario will also make its way into cinema venues. “I think it would play well in the theaters because it’s an entertaining misdirect,” he conjectures. “And while it’s a familiar scenario, we changed it up a bit. We stayed with the dark nature of the criminal underworld but didn’t go for the predictable Sopranos and Italian mafia. We made a conscious effort to stray away from that, using Eastern Bloc-style music and casting some interesting Eastern Bloc-type characters as darkly comic antiheroes to give the story a different feel.”
Unlimited gratitude Stephens added that the spot was done on a limited budget and he expressed his gratitude to Tool for investing in bringing high level production value to the piece while also promoting a good cause. “The support I’ve received [at Tool] in helping to build my directing career has been wonderful.”
Dan Oberle of The Whitehouse, Santa Monica, edited “Mobsters.” The alluded to music was done by composers Roger and Scott Wojahn of Wojahn Bros Music, Santa Monica.
“Mobsters” comes on the heels of Stephens directing a seven-spot package for the Washington State Department of Health out of WongDoody, Seattle. And at press time the director was about to embark on an undisclosed project for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco.
Prior to his three years at CP+B (during which he had a hand in Gold and Silver One Show Pencil winners and this year’s Cannes Cyber Grand Prix honoree), Stephens served as a creative director at the former Odiorne Wilde Narraway and Partners, San Francisco; while there he got the chance to direct some EA Sports commercials.
