After Sony lowered the price for its PlayStation Portable Media Player early this year, TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles developed the “Get Your Own” campaign, which focused on a guy who doesn’t have a PSP and gets overly excited whenever he sees one. “It speaks about the mind set, when you have it and people see it, they get addicted to it and stare at the screen,” said Nick Davidge, a creative director at the agency.
The campaign’s first iteration took place on an airplane and the second, which launches next week, is set in a shopping mall, where three spots were shot, including one on an escalator that plays online. After the gameboy riding down the escalator sees a guy with a PSP riding up, he tries to walk up and badgers the guy about how great the PSP is. When the guy tells him he can’t use it, the gameboy ascends down the escalator and the “Dude, get your own” tag line plays.
The escalator spot works well online, because three different versions of it were created for three online placements. A 15-second spot runs as a pre-roll; a :30 runs as a banner that’s initiated by a user; and a :42 runs on the PSP website and YouTube and as banners on sites that allow long-form spots. “It works in different time slots and the gag changes where you can cut it,” Davidge said.
Director Sam Cadman, from Tool of North America/Santa Monica, Calif., said the location and the casting were two keys for the spot. It was shot in the Del Amo Shopping Center in Torrance, Calif., where Quentin Tarantino shot Jackie Brown. “So we were on hallowed ground,” he said.
The spot stars B.J. Bales, who appeared in the first campaign as the gameboy. “He’s a funny, spontaneous actor who brought the part to life,” Cadman related. “He was able to play the part even though he got beaten up, running against the flow of the escalator after throwing himself at the elevator doors for the TV spot.”
He runs into a fat guy on his way up the escalator. “We wanted him to barrel past other members of the public and we thought it would be funny if there was a really big guy,” Cadman said. “He’s taken out of the frame when he crashes into the guy with the enormous chest. But it felt natural and easy, because B.J.’s a star and he got it quickly.”
After B.J. gets rejected, he’s near the top of the escalator and begins riding down. “We wanted to make the situation visually funny, so it was best that he was going up at the end so when he gets left behind, he’s going down into the gloomy depths,” Cadman said.
The spot was shot in 35mm by a cameraman carrying a heavy camera with a rig attachment. “It required agility as he was facing backwards and had to step off without falling over,” Cadman said. “He’s standing in front of the PlayStation player who’s going up the escalator with his back to the direction he’s going in, and then he has to step back off the escalator.” It sounds almost as funny as the gameboy scene, but it’s not part of the spot.
Davidge said the spot will play on www.us.playstation.com, MySpace, GrindTV, Heavy, MTV and game sites, including IGN, Gamespot and Cravegames.
“Sonic the Hedgehog 3” Tops Weekend Box Office
In the holiday season battle of big-budget family movies, Paramount Pictures' "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" sped past the Walt Disney Co.'s "Mufasa: The Lion King" to take the top spot at the box office ahead of the lucrative Christmas corridor in theaters.
"Sonic the Hedgehog 3" debuted with $62 million in ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates. With strong reviews (86% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and a high score from audiences (an "A" on CinemaScore), "Sonic 3" is well positioned to be the top choice in cinemas during the busiest moviegoing period of the year.
It was telling of some wider trends that "Sonic 3" — made for $122 million — bested one of Disney's top properties. Videogame adaptations, once among the most derided movie genres, have emerged as one of the most dependable box office forces in recent years. The two previous "Sonic" movies together grossed more $700 million worldwide and the third installment appears likely to do better than both of them. A fourth "Sonic" movie is already in development.
"Mufasa," however, was humbled in its opening weekend, with its $35 million in domestic ticket sales coming in notably shy of expectations . The photorealistic "Lion King" prequel even opened wider than "Sonic 3," launching on 4,100 theaters and gobbling up most IMAX screens, compared with 3,761 locations for "Sonic 3."
Though "Mufasa's" reviews were poor (56% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences gave it an "A-" CinemaScore.
"Sonic 3" nearly doubled the haul for "Mufasa," which cost more than $200 million to make. Disney could look to $87.2 million in international sales to help make up the difference. The third "Sonic" will rollout in most overseas markets in the coming weeks.
In director Jeff... Read More