The camera places us in a baseball stadium–but it’s hardly baseball season in this black-and-white commercial. Snow is falling, the stadium is empty, the dugouts desolate.
Yet against this backdrop, a voiceover tells us what Chicago White Sox players are doing: catcher A.J. Pierzynski is in a Florida gym doing squats; pitcher Mark Buehrle is studying videotape in Missouri; pitcher Jake Peavy is running stairs in Alabama.
“Twenty-five different men. Twenty-five different locations. One destination,” relates a voiceover.
On the word “destination,” we see a World Series flag blowing in the breeze above the stadium. The flag commemorates the 2005 world championship won by the White Sox.
An end tag carries the White Sox logo accompanied by the slogan, “It’s Black and White.”
Creative director Mike Roe of Energy BBDO directed “Prepare” via Dictionary Films. Editor Was Carl Schumacher of Cutters.
Disney Pledges $15 million In L.A. Fire Aid As More Celebs Learn They’ve Lost Their Homes
The Pacific Palisades wildfires torched the home of "This Is Us" star Milo Ventimiglia, perhaps most poignantly destroying the father-to-be's newly installed crib.
CBS cameras caught the actor walking through his charred house for the first time, standing in what was once his kitchen and looking at a neighborhood in ruin. "Your heart just breaks."
He and his pregnant wife, Jarah Mariano, evacuated Tuesday with their dog and they watched on security cameras as the flames ripped through the house, destroying everything, including a new crib.
"There's a kind of shock moment where you're going, 'Oh, this is real. This is happening.' What good is it to continue watching?' And then at a certain point we just turned it off, like 'What good is it to continue watching?'"
Firefighters sought to make gains Friday during a respite in the heavy winds that fanned the flames as numerous groups pledged aid to help victims and rebuild, including a $15 million donation pledge from the Walt Disney Co.
More stars learn their homes are gone
While seeing the remains of his home, Ventimiglia was struck by a connection to his "This Is Us" character, Jack Pearson, who died after inhaling smoke in a house fire. "It's not lost on me life imitating art."
Mandy Moore, who played Ventimiglia's wife on "This Is Us," nearly lost her home in the Eaton fire, which scorched large areas of the Altadena neighborhood. She said Thursday that part of her house is standing but is unlivable, and her husband lost his music studio and all his instruments.
Mel Gibson's home is "completely gone," his publicist Alan Nierob confirmed Friday. The Oscar winner revealed the loss of his home earlier Friday while appearing on Joe Rogan's... Read More