Agency creative Peter Cohen has in a sense helped to brand obsession–not the perfume, but rather the mental/emotional state in order to promote The Art Directors Club (ADC). In this spot titled “Bed,” part of a campaign designed to raise awareness of the New York-headquartered ADC, we open on a framed piece of artwork that is clearly hanging crookedly on a wall.
A woman begins giving directions, one after the next–some contradicting others–ostensibly so that the picture is positioned perfectly on the wall. Yet we don’t see that framed picture again after the opening shot.
All we see is the woman firing off instructions, which include, “Hold it there, but move it down to the left a little bit more….Actually, more to the right. Maybe back to the left…Down…Come up, maybe half an inch.”
She’s lying down in bed with a blanket covering her. Pity the poor person at the receiving end of her instructions. While she rests, the other person is going back and forth, trying to obey these varied, dizzying directions.
Finally, the other person–an exasperated man–is revealed to us. He comes out from under the blanket that’s covering the woman. Turns out he wasn’t interested in what was on the wall–instead he’s figuratively been up against the wall trying to find his partner’s pleasure spot, but to no avail.
The equally exasperated woman concludes, “That is so not right.”
A super against a black backdrop reads, “Obsessive. Welcome to the Club,” at which point the ADC logo appears, accompanied by the organization’s Web site address, www.adcglobal.org.
“Bed” is one of four spots in the ADC campaign, which recently broke and has been running on NY-1 TV channel’s New York Tonight broadcast.
In “Plane,” a commercial aircraft lands on a runway, but doesn’t stop. Instead the plane heads skyward again because the landing was off by a foot. Over the public address system, the pilot apologizes to the passengers for the delay as a second attempt is made to achieve the perfect landing. A super reads, “Perfectionist. Welcome to the Club.”
Similarly, in “Doctor,” a patient seated on an examination table waits and waits. Nearby is a doctor who’s writing a prescription. What’s taking the physician so long is that he is writing it as if he’s a calligrapher meticulously penning a wedding invitation. The parting super identifies the trait as “Anal.”
And in “Construction,” a jackhammer just starts to break up a slab of concrete only to stop. A hand carrying a small whiskbroom enters the picture, sweeping away the dust and scattered debris. A super reads, “Compulsive.”
“This campaign humorously captures the obsessive quest for excellence that typifies the ADC,” said ADC executive director Myrna Davis. “Creative people in advertising and design are certain to recognize themselves in these ads, and others will appreciate the role the ADC plays in encouraging great work.”
The campaign was conceived by Cohen–who’s a creative at Saatchi & Saatchi, New York–in concert with two creative colleagues, Saatchi chief creative officer Tony Granger and copywriter Pat Hanlon. Cohen served as a hybrid creative director/writer/art director/exec producer on the job. He directed the spots via StreetSmart Productions, New York, a longtime “freelance” shop he has maintained on the side and which has turned out various pro bono ad efforts. The DP was Fortunato Procopio.
Editor was Erik Laroi of Mackenzie Cutler, New York. Colorist was Lez Rudge of Nice Shoes, New York. Sound designer/audio mixer was Marc Healy of Mackenzie Cutler.
Visual artists Lisa Overton and Pramod Medachalam of Big Pink, New York, did the title design that closes each of the commercials. The principal actors in “Bed” were Lea Eckert and Mike Milligan.
