While comedy and cancer hardly seem a match, the two "c" words team up effectively in "Alley"—an American Cancer Society/Ad Council public service :30, directed by Dan Milano and Spencer Chinoy (a.k.a. Dan & Spencer) of bicoastal The Industry for Campbell-Ewald Advertising, Warren, Mich. (The Industry is a sister shop to bicoastal Moxie Pictures.)
The spot plays like an episode of Cops, the documentary-style reality series in which police officers confront situations and criminals on city streets. The camera puts us in the back seat of a moving patrol car at night. The two law-enforcement "officers" in the front seat wear white lab coats; one turns toward the camera and talks about his beat.
"You know, this used to be a good neighborhood," says the medical "cop." "Now it’s a mess. You’ve got all these polyps running around."
Suddenly, seemingly right on cue, a "polyp"—an actor in a ridiculous-looking red costume—scampers across the street. We see him in the gloom beyond the windshield. The patrol car’s siren blares for a moment, and both officers jump out of the vehicle, pursuing the runaway polyp on foot.
The chase continues down a dark, littered dead-end alley. The polyp desperately tries to make his escape by scaling a chain link fence, but to no avail. He only claws himself halfway up before being grabbed by the guys in white coats.
A voiceover intervenes to explain the madness we’ve just seen: "Colon cancer almost always starts with a polyp," relates the VO. "Get rid of it early and colon cancer’s almost ninety percent curable."
Now the live action alternates with words supered against a polyp-red background: "Colon cancer/get the test/get the polyp/get the cure." At the bottom of the screen, sandwiched between American Cancer Society and Ad Council logos, are a toll-free number for the former organization (1-800-ACS-2345), and a Web site address (cancer.org).
Intermittently we return to see the polyp being taken into custody. As he’s pushed into the patrol car, he protests, "This is polyp profiling!" And, again, "I get a phone call." The spot ends on the super.
This offbeat approach to colon cancer prevention was conceived by Campbell-Ewald’s vice chairman/chief creative officer Bill Ludwig; senior VP/creative directors Jon Stewart and John Clarey, who served as copywriter and art director, respectively; and VP/executive producer Linda Kemp, who was agency producer on the job.
Dan & Spencer was backed by a support team at The Industry that included executive producer Lizzie Schwartz and producer Rich Zeifman. Patrick Simpson served as DP.
The editor was Patrick Fraser of Santa Monica-based TuKi. John Hathaway and John Cathel of Southfield, Mich.-based Postique were online editor and colorist, respectively. Audio mixer was Brian Gold of Gold Sound, also in Southfield. Sound designer was David Gold of bicoastal Elias Associates.
"Alley" is part of a cancer prevention campaign helmed by Dan & Spencer. The package marks the directing team’s ad debut. Dan & Spencer made its first creative mark on Manhattan public access with a show called Junktape, starring a whiny, mentally unbalanced hand puppet creation called "Greg the Bunny." The character advanced to doing movie intros on the Independent Film Channel; a 13-episode FOX Network sitcom based on Greg is currently in development.
