For many, "high-technology" and "advanced" would be the first words to come to mind if trying to describe the products and services offered by Avaya Communication. This former division of Lucent Technologies, located in Basking Ridge, N.J., recently broke off to become its own company. In a sentence: Avaya sets up communication systems (e.g., wireless hand-held computers all linked to a central server within a school) for businesses and organizations.
When creative directors Jeff Iorillo and Tom Rosenfield of FCB Worldwide, San Francisco, considered what Avaya does, though, what popped into their minds was—"Yop." Iorillo and Rosenfield thought the "word" hit the mark: "It’s a sound that doesn’t mean anything," said Iorillo. He and Rosenfield then used the utterance to kick off a multi-national spot campaign introducing the Avaya name. "Yop" broke in the U.S. last month, and is now airing in the U.K., Germany, Brazil and Japan. The Avaya campaign also comprises "Devices," which also recently debuted, and "Connections," still in production.
"We tried to take a huge step away from the whole communications technology area, and from a lot of the conventions you find in that kind of advertising," recalled Iorillo. He explained, "There are always a lot of scenes with people sitting in front of computers, or there are CG illustrations of [things like] circuit boards or control panels."
The Avaya campaign takes a simpler approach: "Yop," as with "Devices" and "Connections," is animated in bright, luminous colors. It begins with a close-up of a man’s yellow-colored head. The head is not in any identifiable space, such as an office building, grocery store or movie theatre; he’s not even inside or outside. According to Iorillo, "There’s a top, bottom, front and back, but that’s it. We just wanted to put him ‘someplace.’ "
After a moment of consideration, the man declares, "Yop!" Soon after, a second, green-colored head appears and inquires, "Yap?" The first head, as if correcting her, repeats, "Yop." A third, then a fourth head appear, asking "Yoop?" or "Yup?" The first head repeats, "Yop," and soon the scene widens into a grid of 16 heads. After uttering "Y" sounds other than "Yop" a few times, the heads all exclaim in unison, "Yop!" The
commercial concludes with the supered words "Companies. Customers. Systems. Networks. Now they’re talking," and then with the Avaya logo and tagline, "Communications without Boundaries." The spots show how Avaya makes the varied forms of communication technology compatible with one another, Iorillo pointed out.
Reflecting the Avaya creative, the production team behind the global campaign was also simple: It merely consisted of Iorillo (doubling as the copywriter), Rosenfield (also art director) and agency VP/senior producer Anna Frost. At London-based animation and production house Picasso Pictures, executive producer Jane Bolton and directors Sarah Cox and Stuart Hilton contributed to the commercial. Bicoastal Michael Boyd Music additionally sound-de-signed and scored the spot. "And that’s it," concluded Iorillo.
The second spot in the campaign, "Devices," begins with a single man behind a river made not of water, but of various technological devices. Unlike in "Yop," we see the character’s full body: tall, skinny and purple. Iorillo recalled, "We wanted his proportions to be Giacometti-like, [an early 20th century sculptor]: long, skinny bronzes that have spindly legs and big feet."
After introducing the man, "Devices" soon widens to reveal that the river of machinery separates him from a group of three people on the other side. After a moment, one man in the group taps on the river. The technological devices he touches begin to align, forming a pathway that allows the single man to cross and join the group. "The jumbled technology that separates you gets coordinated and forms a bridge. That’s a metaphor for what Avaya does," said Iorillo. "Devices," too, concludes with the Avaya logo and tag.
"Connections," a :60, will have a central figure demonstrating how technology can make many and different connections possible.
The postproduction crew for "Yop" and "Devices" included Inferno artists Mark Stannard and Alex Lovejoy of The Moving Picture Company, London; Henry artist Bill Weber of Western Images, San Francisco; and audio engineer Jon Grier of Music Annex, San Francisco.
