There’s no stopping the lunacy of a die-hard baseball fan as evidenced in this spot which opens on a man who is blow drying his long flowing beard.
He explains that he’s maintaining a tradition whereby he stops shaving from the last game of the season all the way until opening day of the following baseball season.
His wife apparently isn’t all that understanding, which he acknowledges, noting that she leaves little hints around the house for him to pick up on. For instance, we see him turn over a box of cereal to pour the contents into a bowl. It turns out, though, that his spouse has replaced the cereal with assorted disposable shaving razors which cascade into his breakfast bowl.
Undeterred, our baseball fanatic explains that once the beard gets down to his belt, “I know it’s time for pitchers and catchers to report to spring training.”
And once the beard reaches his zipper, he knows it’s opening day.
“I don’t need a calendar anymore,” he relates, noting that his beard is like a sundial or more accurately “a hairdial.”
An end tag carries the Chicago White Sox logo and the slogan, “There are traditions and there are White Sox traditions.”
Brian Billow of Hungry Man directed this spot for EnergyBBDO, Chicago.
The EnergyBBDO creative ensemble included chief creative officer Dan Fietsam, creative director Mike Roe, art director Isabela Ferreira, copywriter Jonathan Ozer, director of film and digital production Brigette Whisnant and producer Maris Xerogianes.
Cindy Becker exec produced for Hungry Man with Rick Rosemeyer serving as line producer. The DP was Kurt Brandstetter.
Editor was John Dingfield of Cutters, Chicago. (He has since joined FilmCore’s newly opened Chicago office.)
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More