Tom Routson of Tool of North America directed this spot which puts a trio of digital marketing execs–buzzwords and all–on a BS/lie-detector machine, which proves quite an accurate judge as it pretty much electrically buzzes each mention of a cliche buzzword. Agency is Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco.
CreditsAgency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein, co-chairmen/creative directors; Keith Anderson, director of design/associate partner; Shane Fleming, associate creative director; Anders Gustafsson, copywriter; Cindy Epps, executive producer. Production Company: Tool of North America Tom Routson, director; John Lindley, DP; Ken Averill, production design; Gabrielle Yuro, line producer; Amy DeLossa, head of production. Postproduction: New Hat Bob Festa, colorist. Music: Elias Arts Ann Haugen, exec producer. Audio: Lime Studios Joel Waters, mixer; Jessica Locke, executive producer.
The Best Work You May Never See: Director Dan French, Elemental Go By The Numbers For Meridian Bank
For North American bank Meridian and Toronto-based ad agency Elemental, Dan French directed this spot depicting a dystopian world populated by nameless folk. It’s a society in which there’s no personalized identity. Rather people are referred to by their account numbers, making the commercial--titled “World of Numbers”--a metaphor for the impersonal treatment some larger banks give their customers. By contrast, there’s a human-based, community-centric spirit provided by regional bank Meridian.
Produced by Impossible Studios, Toronto, in collaboration with Elemental, French (who’s repped by Stink Films in the U.S. and U.K.) sought to build a highly crafted and stylized world with depth. Through intricate set builds and choreographed cinematography, he constructed a narrative to transmit the somber energy behind a nameless society. Casting was a fun but rigorous task. French and his team set out to find a diverse group of people to accurately represent today’s public, while also collectively portraying a lack of identity and sense of confusion. We’re confronted with a series of familiar scenarios that are thrown off by the “world of numbers.”
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