Consumer interest-not advertising-steered much of the anticipation for George Lucas’ Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace prior to its May 19 release. Star Wars mania hit dizzying heights last week, making headlines as ticket sales began and merchandise continued to pour into stores.
Now, enter the commercial industry with an onslaught of released and soon-to-be-released spot tie-ins. These spots, representing various licensing and marketing agreements between Lucasfilm and companies such as PepsiCo and Tricon Global Restaurants, are becoming involved in the marketing and promotion of The Phantom Menace.
Various sources said Lucasfilm stayed close to the projects, approving concepts as well as completed spots. In at least one case, Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light+Magic (ILM) in Marin County, Calif., and Industrial Light+Magic Commercial Productions (ILMCP), San Rafael and Los Angeles, reportedly got involved in the spot work. In another, Lucasfilm reportedly supplied actual movie footage.
At press time BBDO New York was completing multiple-spots for Pepsi and Lay’s potato chips. Joe Pytka of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA directed the Pepsi spots, two of which were scheduled to break this week. For the ads, a reliable source told SHOOT that BBDO-created a new character, Marfalump, a brownish blue, four armed alien who loves Pepsi and Star Wars. The character was reportedly brought to life at ILM. One spot reportedly features Marfalump taking off in a spaceship to see the first showing of The Phantom Menace. Another reportedly focuses on Marfalump showing its Pepsi collectible Star Wars cans to a date.
TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles is creating Phantom Menace-related advertising for Tricon. One spot that broke last week, "Come Together" merges Tricon’s KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell fast food chains. David Denneen of bicoastal Atherton directed, and Peter Blaxland of Santa Monica-based Nomad Editing Company cut the spot, which features the KFC Colonel, a Pizza Hut delivery girl and the Taco Bell Chihuahua racing into outer space.
Then there are the toy categories. Lego is manufacturing five Lego sets based on the original Star Wars trilogy and eight Lego sets based on The Phantom Menace. Two spots, created by New York-based Ammirati Puris Lintas, will promote these toys.
The first, "R2 Cam," broke in March; the second, "Watto," is scheduled to break May 23. The spots were directed by David Lane out of London-based Lane Fabian Jones.
In "R2 Cam" the R2D2 and C3PO characters were shot specifically for the commercial. "Watto" reportedly incorporates scenes from The Phantom Menace, provided by Lucasfilm, combined with live action and animation. The production included integrating live action-shot in front of a bluescreen-with the movie scenes, as well as changing some film dialogue. Digital effects and animation were created at London-based Glassworks.
Jill Wilfert, senior brand manager at Lego, explained that the goal was to deliver product and advertising that was true to the authenticity of Star Wars while staying true to the Lego brand.
Hasbro, which is also manufacturing The Phantom Menace toys, had several TV ads scheduled to break just following the film’s release. New York-based Grey Advertising created the spots.
Cinema Spots
After June 4, Creative Labs is scheduled to run cinema ads prior to The Phantom Menace and other summer films in United Artists theaters. The ads will promote Creative Labs’ Sound Blaster Surround Sound speakers for the PC. Additional advertisers are reportedly eyeing such opportunities.
The Creative Labs campaign was created by the company’s in-house marketing team with Complete Pandemonium, San Francisco (also the production company). Mark Dippe directed via Complete Pandemonium, with Kevin Ward as DP. Complete Pandemonium executive producers were Stelio Kitrilakis and Clint Goldman. Goldman also served as the producer. Both Dippe and Goldman are alumni of ILM. San Francisco-based Western Images handled effects and postproduction; and San Rafael-based Skywalker Sound worked on the audio aspects of the project.
The first ad, "Motorcycle," was just completed at press time. Dippe explained that the team wanted it to "feel like a theatrical piece … exciting and dynamic." The spot begins, he said, with a mini bike race and flat sound, which transforms to high-speed photography of motorcycle racing, mixed in Surround Sound.
Patrick Cosson, senior manager, marketing and communications, Creative Labs, said the team chose to create ads for the theater rather than TV because they would be "assured that it will be able to create the sound effects [for viewers] and take advantage of theater’s [sound] capabilities." He added that the target audience is people interested in entertainment, so summer movie audiences are a good fit.
Noting that the campaign was produced specifically for the cinema and in Surround Sound, Goldman believes that viewers will see in these sort of ads a distinct quality difference compared to repurposed tape-to-film TV ads. In general, he commented, "I think we are going to see the quality bar [for cinema ads] raised in the U.S. after the summer."
