We open on an investment broker seated at a table with a youngish looking, middle-aged, presumably married couple. The meeting starts out like a mundane slice-of-office-life scenario as the broker imparts what appears to be good news for his two clients, informing them that their portfolio performed “very well” this year.
“Energy stocks are up and technology is strong,” he says.
But then comes the unexpected curve. “You took a little bit of a hit in real estate but more than made up for it in genocide.”
The couple is taken aback by the last revelation as the investment guru turns a page of the portfolio report nestled on the table to reveal but a glimpse of black-and-white photos showing children and others subjected to the horror in Darfur.
A voiceover intervenes with the question, “Is your mutual fund funding genocide? Find out at SaveDarfur.org,” a website address which appears in the end tag, accompanied by the identity of the message’s sponsor, the Save Darfur Coalition.
Making the message all the more poignant is that the husband and wife with the mutual funds seem to be decent people who just never thought to look into the social consequences of their investments.
Titled “Portfolio,” this public service :30 was directed by Jake Scott of bicoastal/international RSA for Greer Margolis Mitchell & Burns (GMMB), an ad agency/media firm specializing in major social issues and political campaigns.
Rewriting its script
This marks the first time that GMMB has used actors and scripted a dialogue commercial for the Save Darfur Coalition. Prior to this, the client’s advertising, including TV, featured real people, most notably refugees who have witnessed and whose families and friends have been devastated by the genocide in Darfur. The Save Darfur Coalition has been a GMMB client for a little more than a year.”
“From the beginning, we based our advertising on the reality of the situation in Darfur,” explained GMMB creative director Dave Tobey. “There’s no need to dress it up or sensationalize it because the reality is much worse than anything we could ever script. There isn’t footage of the atrocities and if there was, we wouldn’t be able to air it. The closest we’ve come is still photography and testimonials from refugees who have survived while their family members were killed–refugees who have witnessed unspeakable acts. We hadn’t felt the need to script something until Aimee Sanders Freund [GMMB senior copywriter] came up with this concept.
“This concept meant we would have to depart from what had been our approach strategically and creatively,” Tobey continued. “We discussed with the client the pros and cons of producing a commercial with actors and scripted dialogue, and ultimately decided the message was powerful, simple and direct enough that it wouldn’t be viewed as exploitative or sensationalized. The client saw the potential in it and trusted us to realize that potential. We in turn trusted director Jake Scott and RSA.
“And that trust in Jake and RSA was well founded. We’re very proud of the final spot.”
Great Scott
“As an agency with the types of clients we have–who often don’t have a lot of money–the best situation we could hope for,” related Tobey, “is that a great director and production company that would normally be out of our reach financially will believe in a cause and be creative enough to undertake the project. In this case Jake Scott and RSA believed in the cause and in the creative concept enough to agree to do this job for free or even at a financial loss. The crew was paid but they worked for a significantly discounted rate…because of their relationship with Jake and their belief in what we were doing.”
Tobey said the commitment displayed by Scott and the RSA ensemble of talent, as well as the resources they brought to bear on the project, were simply amazing. Making the initial overture to Scott and RSA was Steve Caplan, who became a partner in GMMB earlier this year, heading the L.A. office. (GMMB is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with an office in Seattle.) Caplan has a strong commercialmaking industry pedigree, having previously served as executive VP of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers.
Scott’s support team at RSA included executive producer Fran McGivern and producer Michele Abbott. Ben Seresin was the DP. The GMMB creative team consisted of creative director Tobey, copywriter Freund and producer Andrew Silver. Editor was JD Smyth of bicoastal Final Cut. Scott tapped Smyth; the two are frequent collaborators. (See this week’s SHOOT Creative Voice column for more on the Save Darfur Coalition spot, and our Directors Series for a profile on Jake Scott.)
