Have scientists found the best coffee in the world? That’s the premise in “Lab Rats,” a new, gonzo spot for goodboybob coffee–a DTC roasting company with a growing number of physical locations. Created by independent ad agency Erich & Kallman, the 45-second commercial–directed by Erich Joiner of Tool–features a fictitious lab experiment in which scientists test the theory on some very special lab rats. 

Approaching different lab rats equipped with literal human senses, a scientist feeds a drop of goodboybob to a rat with a CGI mouth, causing the rat to exclaim, “That’s the best coffee I’ve ever tasted!”

“I was watching the movie Elf,” said Eric Kallman, founder and chief creative officer of Erich and Kallman. “There’s a funny scene where Buddy enters a random diner to congratulate them for the “world’s best coffee” sign they have in the window. We started joking about how one would actually go about proving such a thing, and that eventually led to our lab rats script.”

The goodboybob brand was started by director Joiner. Its first loation was alongside Tool, the creative production company he founded in 1995 in Santa Monica. Since its founding, goodboybob has added two additional locations in Los Angeles and won two Golden Bean awards. An old friend and industry peer of Kallman’s, Joiner was happy to put the campaign creative into the agency’s hands.

“I’m surprised and thrilled at how fast goodboybob has taken off,” said Joiner. “To keep the momentum going, its first visual spots had to be original, entertaining and express what I’m being told by our customers–that it’s the best tasting coffee they ever had. Erich Kallman knew precisely how to land the right balance of informative and funny, and I’m pleased to say they knocked it out of the park.”

Credits

Client goodboybob coffee  Agency Erich and Kallman Production Company Tool Erich Joiner, director; Dustin Callif, president; Nancy Hacohen, VP, exec producer; Joby Ochnser, line producer; Amy DeLossa, head of production; Eric Schmidt, DP; Justin Trask, production designer; Jules Sylvester, animal wrangler. Editorial Cut+Run San Francisco Pete Koob, editor; Kristen Jenkins, sr. producer. Finishing House Parliament Phil Crowe, creative director; Enca Kaul, managing director/EP; Narbeh Mardirossian, Flame; Brett Grisham, VFX supervisor. Color Royal Muster Gregory Reese, colorist; Thatcher Peterson, managing director/EP. Audio M2 San Francisco Mark Pitchford, sr. engineer; Sarah Benedict, producer. Music House APM William Schade, Martinz Comuzzi, sr. producers.

 

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