Heather Locklear Would Rather Smooch A Heavy Hitter Than A Hurler.
BY SANDRA GARCIA
Pitchers. What can you say? They’re just not sexy. And since the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run-
a-thon last season, pitchers are definitely shivering in the shadow of their beefy teammates.
This year Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore. decided to give hurlers something to strive for in its new Nike
Baseball campaign, "Pitchers Wannabe Hitters," created for the release of Nike’s Air 120 cross-trainer
shoe. The idea was "to cross train is to cross boundaries." But in this case the boundaries are crossed with a
twist of self-deprecating humor.
The :60 "Paparazzi" opens to the fabled St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire taking batting
practice, nailing pitch after pitch into the far reaches of the ballpark. Meanwhile, Heather Locklear, the
quintessential female heartthrob, looks on in amazement and adoration at McGwire’s brawny performance.
Atlanta Braves pitchers (and Cy Young award winners) Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux look on in disgust,
one yelling with all the maturity of a jealous third-grader, "Hey we got Cy Young winners over here!" The
two glance at each other when all of a sudden their faces light up as if to say, "Hey, maybe if we were
better hitters, we could have a babe like Heather Locklear too!"
Cut to a montage sequence of Glavine and Maddux working out to get bigger, better, and manlier. They
read The Science of Hitting while doing sit-ups and footing it up stadium stairs. While the two home run
hopefuls work on their batting average, an inspirational work-out theme plays in the background
reminiscent of something out of a Starsky & Hutch chase scene.
By the end, our pitcher-cum-hitter heroes are sending the rawhide into orbit when Locklear re-enters the
scene. "Hi guys!" she croons as Glavine looks triumphantly at Maddux, his dream finally realized. Then,
like a punch in the gut, Locklear asks, "Have you seen Mark?" It only takes a millisecond for the crushed
egos to put up their boyish defenses as they turn away from the evil vixen and mimic her question in a girly
voice. Sorry boys, back to the dugout.
"When you think about it, the ad really is about big hitters like McGwire, but we were able to approach it
from a different angle because we were talking about cross-trainers," explained Wieden & Kennedy
creative director Chuck McBride. "No doubt Maddux and Glavine are huge-time pitchers and they were
really great about making fun of themselves … it made them a little more human," added McBride.
Two earlier breaking spots in the campaign show major league pitchers Randy Johnson of the Arizona
Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Chan Ho Park looking ridiculous in an attempt to up their
lousy batting averages. And a fourth spot entitled "Celebrity," features celebrities like Spike Lee
pondering—and scoffing at—the idea of pitchers as big hitters. At press time, Wieden was in production on
a fifth spot for the Canadian market.
According to Wieden & Kennedy art director Jeff Labbe, the most challenging part of the shoot was not
trying to get baseball players to act, but trying to follow the players’ rigorous game schedule around the
country. For "Paparazzi," the agency creatives and production crew had to move from Philadelphia to St.
Louis to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to get all the shots they needed. "After a while, we felt like the ‘paparazzi’
following these players around from game to game," mused Labbe.
The agency decided to go with Swedish directors Sam [Larsen] and Ulf [Johansson] of Traktor from
bicoastal/international Partizan Midi Minuit because they wanted directors who didn’t know anything about
baseball. "When you use foreign guys to do something so steeped in Americana, they always come at it
with a totally different approach," explained McBride, who had wanted to work with Traktor for a while.
While Ulf shot the front and back-end scenes of the commercial with Heather Locklear at Veteran’s
Stadium in Philadelphia, Sam cruised to St. Louis’s Busch Stadium to take a few candid shots of McGwire
warming up. Both Labbe and the rest of the production crew were thankful they had chosen Locklear for
the fawning female role because, in Labbe’s words, she was a true professional. "When you deal with an
actress of Heather Locklear’s caliber, they show up on time and they know what they’re doing. She was on
the set for a total of 15 minutes and nailed it in the first couple of takes," recalled Labbe.
They were equally impressed with Maddux and Glavine’s ability to act. According to Labbe, they only had
to do a few takes per shot, which is good considering the production could only have the players for a total
of six hours per day before they had to leave to prep for a game. In one six-hour stretch in Florida, the crew
did 22 set-ups, four company moves and operated two cameras with only one DP and one director (Ulf had
to leave for another commitment and could not follow the production to Florida). "It was a hellish job, but
amazing at the same time because everyone stuck together and kept their cool," said Labbe, who gave all
the credit to the crew and Traktor.
While neither Sam nor Ulf could be reached at press time, Traktor executive producer Ole Sanders offered,
"We probably couldn’t have shed much light on the subject anyway. We’re foreigners—we don’t know
anything about baseball.
CLIENT
Nike.
PRODUCTION CO.
Partizan Midi Minuit, bicoastal/international. Traktor/Sam Larsen and Ulf Johansson, directors; Tom
Siegel, DP; Ole Sanders, executive producer; Jack Hardwicke, producer. Shot on location in Philadelphia,
St. Louis and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
AGENCY
Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore. Chuck McBride and Hal Curtis, creative directors; Canice Neary,
copywriter; Jeff Labbe, art director; Kevin Diller and Donna Portaro, producers.
EDITORIAL
FilmCore San Francisco. Doug Walker, editor; Jon Ettinger, executive producer; Peter Jarit, producer.
POST
Encore Santa Monica (now Riot). Nigel Randall and Vikki North, online editors; Bob Festa, colorist.
AUDIO POST
RavensWork, Venice, Calif. Robert Feist, mixer/engineer.
MUSIC
Asche & Spencer, Venice. Tom Scott, composer; Thad Spencer, creative director; Hugh Barton, executive
producer.
SOUND DESIGN
Machine Head, Venice. Stephen Dewey, sound designer.
jsm/music Sees
Red For Transwire
CLIENT
Transwire.
PRODUCTION CO.
radical.media, bicoastal. Jeff Zwart, director/DP; Frank Scherma, executive producer; Suzie Gilman,
producer. Shot on location in Orange, Calif.; downtown Los Angeles; Baker, Calif.; and Overton, Nev.
AGENCY
The Richards Group, Dallas. Mike Malone, creative director; Brad Sarmiento, art director; Jeb Schary,
executive producer.
EDITORIAL
Post Op, Dallas. Doug Bryan, editor; Marc Stone and Dan Hill, assistant editors.
POST
Company 3, Santa Monica. Stefan Sonnenfeld, colorist.
VISUAL EFFECTS
Post Op. Alan Latteri, visual effects artist.
AUDIO POST
Post Op. Collyer Spreen, audio engineer; Ryder McNatt, assistant audio engineer.
MUSIC
jsm/music, New York. Gareth Williams, composer; Joel Simon, executive producer.
THE SPOT
The :30 "Speedometer" uses that mechanism to showcase the velocity of Transwire’s "Red" network. As
the needle climbs, the camera accelerates through various geographical settings, eventually ending with a
man using a computer in the center of the road. At spot’s end, the camera zooms in on the "Red" logo.
Spot broke Feb. 10.
Tricky Pictures Has
Fun With Easy Mac
CLIENT
Kraft Foods/Easy Mac.
PRODUCTION CO.
Tricky Pictures, Chicago. Bruce Alcock, director; Warren Hansen and Martin Coppen, DPs; Harriet Katz,
executive producer; Nathalie Renard, line producer; Ariel Martin,animator; Sheleigh High Smith and Hae
Yoon Kim, animators/compositors; Vello Virkhaus, 3-D animator. Shot at Essanay Studio & Lighting,
Chicago and Tricky Studio, Chicago.
AGENCY
Foote, Cone & Belding, Chicago. David Moeller, senior VP/ creative director; Laura Glenn, executive
VP/producer; Susan Balaban, VP/copywriter; Jim Shireff, art director.
STOCK FOOTAGE
Archive Films/Archive Photos, New York. Neal Avener, contact.
POST/VISUAL EFFECTS
Optimus, Chicago. Craig Leffel, colorist; Glen Noren, effects director; Julia Finlayson, producer.
AUDIO POST
Chicago Recording Company. Dave Gerbosi, engineer.
MUSIC/SOUND DESIGN
tomandandy, New York. Drazen Bosnjak, composer/sound designer; Andy Milburn, creative director; Scott
Brittingham, executive producer.
THE SPOTS
The :15s "No Brainer" and "Rocket Science" incorporate a mix of live action, type design, stop motion and
digital imagery to illustrate the three steps necessary to prepare Kraft’s Easy Mac.
Spots broke Jan.
