Gidget, the past year’s most famous Chihuahua (and most fascinating, according to People magazine), makes another appearance in a Taco Bell spot created by TBWA/Chiat/Day, Playa del Rey, Calif. "Serenade," directed by Traktor out of bicoastal/international Partizan Midi Minuit, casts the charming pooch as a balladeer.
The spot, which broke Dec. 28, opens with a shot of a Cuban-style courtyard complex under a starry night, the strains of "Chances Are" (performed by Los Lobos lead singer David Hidalgo) floating through the air. Of course, it’s Gidget, crooning the tune from a balcony. Cut to a beautiful Latina leaning on the ledge of her own balcony. Hearing the music, she looks across from the courtyard and spots the dog, who seems to be serenading her. She appears moved by this gesture, and, motioning to herself, she mouths, "Me?"
The romantic moment is ruined as the camera, mimicking the dog’s eye movement, quickly pans right, shifting from the woman over to the apartment next to her and the true target of the dog’s serenade: a fat man sitting in front of his TV, eating a Taco Bell Mexican pizza. The guy, in close-up, sits in profile and, moving his eyes and then turning his head, looks over at Gidget. His deadpan expression never changes as he realizes he’s under intense canine surveillance. "Fall in love with a Mexican pizza all over again," the voiceover says. "Now just 99 cents when you buy a large drink; that’s a buck off."
Chuck Bennett, creative director on the campaign, said the challenge of the Taco Bell advertising has been to come up with "what’s next" for the Chihuahua. "It’s a very simple campaign, in which the dog’s sole purpose in life is to get Taco Bell food," said Bennett. "It’s kind of this "point A to point B’ journey-what is that journey? The dog uses his power, and, this time, he’s serenading someone to get their food."
Bennett noted that, having decided to use "Chances Are," the creative team-including creative director Clay Williams, art director Darren Johnson and copywriter Chris Ribeiro-did not want the song performed by an immediately identifiable singer. "We wanted people, when they heard the song, to go, "That’s the dog singing,’ as opposed to, "That’s Johnny Mathis,’ " explained Bennett. After rejecting Julio Iglesias as too recognizable, they ultimately went with Los Lobos’ Hidalgo. The song was arranged by Thad Spencer, creative director at Asche & Spencer, Minneapolis and Venice, Calif.
"It was a wonderful session with David [Hidalgo]," said Spencer. "We supported him with strings and a nylon guitar. I think the whole thing has a very enchanting, funny, surreal feel."
The agency tapped Swedish directing collective Traktor to helm "Serenade" (along with four other as-yet-unaired Taco Bell spots) after Rocky Morton of Hollywood-based Morton Jankel Zander-director of all the previous ads in the campaign-was unavailable, said Bennett. Traktor had recently completed a package of Energizer spots for TBWA/Chiat/Day, and this assignment proved enjoyable for them, said Richard Ulfvengren, Traktor co-executive producer on the spot.
"We think it’s great fun to be a part of these ongoing campaigns [Energizer and Taco Bell]," said Ulfvengren. "Hopefully, we can take it a step further."
In one respect, "Serenade" takes that step: It utilized advancements in technology that allowed the camera to move as the dog was shown with its mouth moving (previously, technology required only locked-off shots). "It’s great," assessed Bennett. "The dog can be running and singing, or we can do a camera move while the dog is talking."
In-Sight Pix, Venice, provided the CG nighttime skies and the backgrounds, and Sight Effects handled compositing of various live-action elements-for instance, a hand-holding couple and a woman riding a bike were composited into the opening wide shot of the courtyard (which was actually a half-scale miniature). The shot of the woman on her balcony, filmed with her in a cherry picker, was also composited.
Bennett said it was also gratifying to return to the little world the agency had first envisioned for the Taco Bell campaign. "For the very first work we’d done on the Chihuahua campaign," recalled Bennett, "we’d written a bit of a manifesto, a brief that described where this whole thing takes place, kind of describing it as a "salsa-powered’ neighborhood. It’s this world that’s sort of Cuban, sort of Latin. It’s kind of romantic in that way, definitely very Havana-inspired. We got away from it when we went into some of the promotions. It was really nice to give that brief to someone and have them interpret and revitalize that neighborhood and get the dog back there."
