The old filmmaking axiom about being wary of working with children, animals or celebrities is generally true. But in the case of a recent campaign for the Georgia Lottery Corporation and Austin Kelley Advertising, Atlanta, the rules were broken. A new campaign for Georgia’s lottery, featuring legendary singer Ray Charles and a couple of precocious tykes, is drawing raves from both the client and the public.
"From beginning to end, the whole thing went very smoothly," relates Sheryl Jessing, VP/director of broadcast production at Austin Kelley. "Children, pets, celebrities and being on location—those are all challenges you’d like to avoid. But these children were perfect. They knew their lines." Jessing also credits the campaign’s director, Georgia Tanner of Black Box Pictures, Atlanta, with keeping the children focused.
The spots, "Solo," "Old MacDonald" and "Sister," are part of what Jim Spruell, senior VP/executive creative director at Austin Kelley, calls "corporate benefit" spots. The ads all trumpet the $3.3 billion that the Georgia Lottery has added to the state’s public education coffers since its inception. "It’s a departure from the work we do for the online games and the instant tickets, because in those instances we’re selling fun," he explains. "In this case, it’s ‘Hey, look where all the money’s going.’"
Spruell also notes that this is the first time a celebrity has been used to promote the lottery. Landing the Georgia-born Charles as a spokesman was fairly simple. He’d heard about the difference the lottery has made to education, and "let us know he was aware and proud of what the lottery had been doing the last few years, and wanted to know how he could get involved as some kind of spokesperson," says Spruell.
Once Charles was on board, the question turned to how to use him in a commercial. Spruell says the agency kicked around dozens of ideas, ranging from "over the top, whacked-out funny to poignant. We decided to go with stuff that let Ray be Ray with all his sweetness and charm, and let his talent shine through, versus using him as a comedic vehicle."
Mike McGinty, a senior copywriter who has since left the agency, and VP/ executive creative director Peggy Redfern developed the script and storyboards that were sent to production companies in Georgia. (The Georgia Lottery stipulates that all companies bidding on its spots have offices in the state.)
Tanner was chosen, Jessing says, on the strength of a reel that is heavy on dialogue and humor-driven spots. Also, Jessing relates that Tanner made several good suggestions during the conference call, notably that the spots be shot on location as opposed to in a studio, and that two cameras be used. "Her conference call was key because she threw out some wonderful ideas that really did show up in the end product," recalls Jessing.
"When I looked at the boards, I was told that they wanted to shoot everything in a studio. I didn’t want to go into a studio to shoot them," says Tanner. "I wanted to go somewhere that felt like Georgia, with a lot of windows [and] depth to it. Another thing that concerned me was that I had thirty seconds of dialogue between a four- or five-year-old and a legend. Your time is going to be limited. You can’t control a four-year-old; you’re pretty much at their mercy. That’s why I wanted to shoot with two cameras—because I was able to get my close-ups and my wide shots at the same time."
The Spots
All three commercials feature Charles and a grand piano in an elegant music room. In "Solo," Charles performs his classic hit "Georgia on My Mind," and a voiceover at the end of the ad reminds viewers of the $3.3 billion generated by the lottery for education.
"Old MacDonald" highlights the contributions the lottery has made to the state’s pre-kindergarten programs. In the spot, Charles is at the piano with four-year-old Sterling Blackmon, who almost upstages the veteran showman. Charles asks the boy if he wants to hear "Georgia on My Mind." The boy prefers to hear "Old McDonald" because "it’s got cows and stuff." Asked by Charles how he got so smart, the little boy replies: "I go to school." Charles relents and breaks into a rendition of "Old MacDonald," as a voiceover heralds the lottery’s contribution to Georgia’s pre-K curriculum.
"Sister" features five-year-old Dakota Fanning on the piano bench, telling Charles about her sister, who is "studying real hard so she can get a good job," thanks to the HOPE scholarship program, which awards college scholarships to high school students graduating with a B average. When Dakota says that her sister studies with music playing in the background, Charles replies, "See, I told you that girl was smart."
Though the production appears simple, Tanner says it was anything but. "It was extremely fast-paced and hectic. We had three spots that were each thirty seconds, and we were recording everything live. Want to talk about something intimidating? Think about recording Ray Charles live on location. That was pretty intense. We were also accommodating the recording of a sixty-second radio spot and a photo shoot. And we had Mr. Charles for only seven hours. We were moving pretty fast."
Finding the right place to shoot proved difficult as well. Tanner looked at and rejected 19 potential locations before deciding on the music room in the mansion of Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler, near downtown Atlanta. "I was real concerned about the acoustics in the room since it was live, but that place ended up being perfect because it was off the road enough that you didn’t have traffic noise," she recalls. "Plus, it was built to be a music room, so the acoustics were great. We really lucked out that we got both the good sound quality and that great wood paneling."
Charles is described as having been "professional, warm and accommodating" by all the creatives involved. "He was a dream. He was so easy going, very friendly and down to earth," says Jessing. For example, Blackmon was having some difficulty making eye contact with Charles. "The little boy would not look at him. I was talking to the boy and telling him I wanted him to look right at Mr. Charles," Tanner recalls. "Mr. Charles looks at me and goes, ‘You know, he’s not looking at me because I’m not looking at him. It doesn’t dawn on him that I can’t see him; he just doesn’t see my face turn towards him. Here, I’m going to turn and I’m going to face you.’ He turned his body physically and faced this little boy, and it worked like a charm."
The most poignant moment of the shoot, says Tanner, was when Charles sat down at the piano and sang "Georgia on My Mind" to her. "I was sitting with Mr. Charles on the piano bench, and asked him if he could play a thirty-second version of ‘Georgia on My Mind,’" says Tanner. "He replied, ‘Well, you just tell me what you want me to play and I’ll play it.’ I told him that I didn’t know. Then he goes ‘OK,’ and started singing. To be sitting next to him when he sang that song was unbelievable. It was one of those moments I will absolutely never forget."
Spruell says the commercials have received raves from all quarters. "Nine times out of 10, when you get a call—whether you’re the agency or the client—you’re going to get a complaint. This has been the exact opposite. It’s been really nice. Ray has a charm, sweetness and believability to him. He’s got what I call an amazing huggable factor—you meet him and you just want to hug him."
The agency is negotiating with R&B icon James Brown to star in another series of ads for the lottery, which Spruell says are "more comedic" in concept. While there is "nothing in the immediate future" for Charles and the lottery, Spruell isn’t ruling it out. "He and the lottery president got to be pretty good friends. He thinks the world of us and we think the world of him, so I can definitely see something happening down the road."
