At Advance Auto Parts, we believe in doing it yourself," grins the friendly, self-confident spokesman, looking directly into the camera. "So we made this commercial ourselves."
We cut to a scene in which the spokesman stands in front of a company building. Gazing back toward its rooftop, where two Advance Auto Parts workers stand, he yells, "Okay, we’re rolling!" He and the two employees count down triumphantly in unison, "Three, two, one"—at which point the workers unfurl a huge Auto Parts banner. Covering the entire wall, it reads, "Nobody has lower prizes."
The spokesguy looks at the camera and flashes a quick, nervous smile. In disbelief, he calls back to one of his colleagues on the rooftop. "Robbie, could you come down here for a second?" he shouts.
Robbie clearly anticipates a reward for his efforts. Skipping across the roof, he chortles in surfer dude fashion, "We are so getting a raise!"
As in the background Robbie starts to make his way down a ladder, the spokesman, still in foreground, declares the obvious to anyone who will listen: "It’s ‘prices, not ‘prizes.’ We don’t have prizes." As if to make sure he’s not losing his mind, he turns to an unseen person off-camera, "Do we have prizes?!"
Adding to the supposedly do-it-your-selfness of the commercial is not only its improvisational nature and the embarrassment that can cause, but the jumpy camcorder-like footage and awkward talent. "The production challenge was giving them [the six spots in the TV campaign] that homemade quality," related Cliff Sorah, creative director, The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va. "The key was in the casting—finding actors that seemed especially real—and the postproduction, where we took pains to downgrade the quality of the tape. The truth is, this was no ‘do-it-yourself’ production."
The Martin Agency ensemble consisted of creative director Sorah, copywriters John Mahoney and Steve Bassett, art director Michael Wright and producer Craig Jelniker.
All of the commercials were directed and shot on video by Todd Phillips of bicoastal Moxie Pictures, with Gary Rose serving as executive producer and Brent Perlman line producing.
Editor was Gavin Cutler of MacKenzie Cutler, New York, with Colleen Shea as assistant editor. Online editor was Eric Gelgand of Nice Shoes, New York. Audio mixer was Bob Giammarco, who at the time was with Lower East Side, New York. Giammarco recently moved over to New York-based Photomag (SHOOT, 12/7/01, p. 7). Sound designer was Mark Healy of MacKenzie Cutler.
