The latest Canadian commercial for Subaru doesn’t actually appear to be a commercial for Subaru–at least not at first.
Instead, the :30 “Axe” appears to be an infomercial for the Lap ‘n Snack, a dual-chambered snack bowl that fits neatly on your leg while you’re sitting on the couch zoning out in front of the television.
Just as you’re about to scream, “Great, another infomercial for a ridiculous product we don’t need!” as you’re watching the “infomercial” comes the reveal–the TV screen cracks and is ripped apart by a rugged outdoorsman wielding an axe, and we’ve gone from a living room to a forest. “Maybe you should get out more,” a super reads as the axe man gets into his Subaru Outback and drives away, leaving couch potatoes stunned and maybe even a little ashamed as they gorge on their munchies.
The work of DDB Canada in Toronto, and the directorial team of Woods + Low, which is represented by Toronto’s OPC, “Axe” isn’t the first Subaru spot to cleverly dupe Canadian television viewers. Last fall, DDB created a : 30 titled “Crowbar,” another spot for the Canadian market that had a clip from a Snuggie infomercial similarly interrupted when a crowbar suddenly pried the television screen apart, revealing that outdoorsy guy and his Subaru Outback in the great outdoors.
Explaining the thinking behind the campaign, DDB associate creative director/copywriter David Ross said, “There is something ironic in the fact that we are selling an outdoorsy car on TV, a sedentary kind of media that has people sitting on the couch. So we thought, ‘Why not take advantage of that?’ That’s where we got the idea to rip the infomercials that you’re used to watching and telling people to get outside and enjoy the outdoors and the Subaru Outback.”
Inventive creatives While “Crowbar” featured footage from a real Snuggie infomercial (Woods + Low shot the outdoors segment at the end of the spot), DDB and Woods + Low went a step further with “Axe,” making their own infomercial based on a faux product–the Lap ‘n Snack–created by Ross and DDB associate creative director/art director Paul Wallace.
“The key was coming up with a product that wasn’t too far fetched because we didn’t want this to be a parody of an infomercial,” Ross said. “The whole thing was to look very real and believable. If we’d gone over the top, we’d have been giving away the surprise so to speak.”
Woods + Low–that’s Chris Woods and Jeff Low–did their homework before the infomercial portion of the “Axe” shoot. (The infomercial segment was shot at Pie in the Sky Studios, Toronto, and the location work was done in Vancouver.)
“We looked at all the infomercials that were out there, and we really paid attention to the location, the casting, the graphics and the voiceovers,” Woods shared. “While there is a certain amount of cheese factor in an infomercial, we were trying to hit that but not go too far where it becomes a parody of itself.”
Infomercial authenticity Interestingly, getting the infomercial look and feel down pat was more difficult than Woods thought it was going to be. “I DP’d it, and whenever I DP, my job is to try to make things look as beautiful as possible, but infomercials have their own look, and I had to hold back and try to mimic that look,” Woods said.
Nailing the performances was also a challenge. “It’s difficult to have actors overact in the right way and not in a joking, winking kind of way,” Low remarked. (Rob Viccars, Bryan Armstrong, David MacNeil and Maggie Connelly were featured in the spot.)
Once the footage was shot, Marco Pazzano and Brian Williams of Panic & Bob, Toronto, cut “Axe.” VFX artist David Whiteson of Toronto’s Crush Inc. pieced together the shattered screen effect, working with Crush executive producer Jo-ann Cook and producer Kristen Van Fleet, while Ted Resnick and Vlad Nikolic of Toronto’s RMW Music served as audio director/producer and sound designer, respectively.
The end result: A commercial that fooled this reporter and a lot of other people. “Initially, my take was anything that we produced ourselves wouldn’t be as successful [as the first commercial, which used actual Snuggie infomercial footage],” Woods said. “I thought anything that we’d do would be a watered-down version, but we pulled it off.”
“We did what we did,” Low added, “but most of the credit does go to David and Paul for just having the foresight to trick people in this way and in a way that doesn’t make them angry. It makes you think, ‘Oh, that was clever.’ Any time there’s an idea like that, it sort of shoots itself in some ways, and I think Chris will agree that the pieces fell into place because the idea was good.”
One has to ask whether the Lap ‘n Snack might become a real product. “We’ve had a bunch of people inquire about it,” Ross said, noting that people have even posted requests for the snack tray on YouTube. Meanwhile, there is even an I Wish Lap ‘N Snack Was Real fan page on Facebook.
So might Ross and Wallace go into product development? “Right now, no. I think we’ll stick with advertising,” Ross said with a laugh. “That’s our specialty.”
