State lotteries around the country continue to be a rich resource for creatively worthwhile advertising, one of the most recent examples being “Helping Nature” for the Minnesota State Lotto, directed by Kevin Smith of Backyard Productions, Venice, Calif., for agency Colle+McVoy, Minneapolis. The job was produced by Drive Thru, Minneapolis, and Backyard.
“Helping Nature” opens on a man hiking through the woods. He suddenly throws off his backpack, removes his flannel shirt, leaving his upper body covered by a thin short-sleeved shirt and proceeds to walk into a nearby lake. A quick cut reveals a beaver swimming at the other end of the lake.
When the camera rejoins our hiker, he has a wooden branch in his mouth and is swimming towards a yet unseen destination. An underwater shot shows that he’s paddling like a beaver to propel himself along.
The guy’s actions parallel that of the beaver whose teeth too are chomped down on a wooden branch, albeit a smaller one than that being carried by the man. An underwater shot shows the furry critter paddling furiously as well. Next both man and beaver are in the same shot, as if racing each other.
The man then slows down as he approaches a makeshift dam upon which a couple of other beavers are standing. He opens his mouth to drop the branch onto the dam, fortifying it further. Meanwhile a voiceover explains, “Last year, your lottery gave nearly 50 million dollars to the environment. So when you play, it’s like you’re helping nature.” An end tag carries the Minnesota Lottery logo.
Clean concept
Director Smith said he was drawn to the project’s “clean concept of man helping nature in the most intimate way possible. Having a man act out like an animal is fun as well. I’m pleased with the result. It’s a nice kind of quiet yet comedic spot.”
In that the client was the Minnesota Lottery, local vendors were used as much as possible, with Drive Thru playing a key role in bringing the elements together.
Smith noted that what made it easier for him to take on the assignment was the chance to again work with Drive Thru Executive Producer Mark Setterholm. In the late 1980s when Smith was a Chicago-based DP, he got the chance to direct several projects for Minnesota agencies via Setterholm’s then Setterholm Productions in Minneapolis.
“That was back when Fallon McElligott and other creative shops in Minneapolis were coming into their own and starting to get noticed nationally,” recalled Smith. “My collaborations with Mark [Setterholm] were very positive and that trust we built carried over to this recent work for the Minnesota Lottery. That trust was important because I knew Mark and I could work together to get the very most out of a challenged budget.”
Helping to meet that challenge was scouting a pond location in the Minneapolis area where there was a nearby home with an above ground swimming pool, which was muddied up and used for the underwater shots in the commercial.
Damn beaver
Working with beavers was another inherent challenge. Smith said he got “an education about the animal, the main lesson being that you cannot train a beaver….Basically they want to get away from people and go down to the bottom of the lake. That’s how they find security. They can stay under water for 20 minutes at a time.
“So your only option is to contain them, build barriers to restrict their movement so they have to swim in certain areas,” he continued. “Plus you have to be real careful. You cannot pick up a beaver and handle it. There’s no such thing as frolicking with a beaver. Their teeth and jaws are so powerful that if they ever bit you, they’d do a lot of damage. So in reality the guy is never within a hundred yards of the beaver. We had to resort to some good compositing to bring them together in the same shot.”
Smith added that this was his first time working with agency Colle+McVoy and he found the experience to be gratifying. The Colle+McVoy creative ensemble consisted of creative director Mike Fetrow, group creative head Dave Keepper, art director Nina Orezzoli, copywriter Eric Husband, producers Kris Wong Barrie and Ramon Nunez and assistant producer Kelly Kytola.
Peter Steinzeig executive produced for Backyard. Setterholm was executive producer for Drive Thru with Julie Hartley serving as producer. The DP was Randy Arnold. Editor was Brody Howard of Drive Thru. Online editor was Kurt Angel of Pixel Farm, Minneapolis. The principal actor was Seth Patterson.
