A creative team for four-and-a-half years and counting at DDB Chicago, art director Galen Graham and copywriter Jason Karley–who are both associate creative directors–came into prominence on the Bud Light account, most notably with the viral spot “Swear Jar,” which earlier this month won the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ (ATAS) 2008 primetime commercial Emmy Award.
Graham has been with DDB Chicago for the past seven years, Karley for the last five. The former caught the advertising career bug at his alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis. During Graham’s studies there he landed an internship and then a junior art director gig at Fallon, Minneapolis, before moving to Cramer-Krasselt, Chicago.
Next came the opportunity at DDB Chicago, enabling him to get more fully into television. Hired by DDB originally to work on the Dell computers account, Graham segued into McDonald’s a couple of years later and hooked up with Karley on that business.
While Karley and Graham focused on McDonald’s, Mark Gross, now senior VP/group creative director at DDB Chicago, gave them the chance to also contribute to some Anheuser-Busch assignments. They were able on occasion to get involved in creative for Bud and sold a few concepts.
“Budweiser was always the dangling carrot,” observed Karley. “I was hired to work on a couple of accounts but was reminded that Bud and Bud Light are in the building. It’s an account I very much wanted to work on and I ultimately got the opportunity to do so.”
Karley, a graduate of Syracuse University, broke into the agency ranks at Saatchi’s former Rochester office. He then moved to Manhattan, landing a job as a writer at a boutique that soon closed. Next came a short stint at FCB, New York, and then DDB Chicago came calling.
Besides the Emmy and a Cannes Silver Lion among other honors, “Swear Jar” scored Karley and Graham pretty much full-time duty on Bud.
SHOOT: Tell us about the Emmy Awards ceremony experience at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.
Karley: Being on the red carpet was surreal. Sitting in this huge auditorium with each nominated commercial being played at different times of the evening was a bit surreal as well.
To have our commercial get such a loud, warm, enthusiastic response was a kick–and then a minute later to hear that we won the Emmy was an absolutely incredible feeling..
Graham: It was so cool to be there. It really hit home for me that the Emmy Awards are so different than the awards in the advertising industry. Being judged by your peers and having your work respected in the industry is a terrific honor whether it be a Cannes Lion or whatever.
This [the Emmy] is a different kind of recognition, however. It’s a mainstream award that everyone knows about and that has clout in the real world beyond our community.
SHOOT: Does the Emmy win take on added significance for you in that it set a precedent thanks to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ decision to open up eligibility to work appearing on platforms other than traditional TV? The irony is that “Swear Jar” became the first commercial not to appear on television to actually win what is television’s highest honor, an Emmy Award.
Graham: Yes, it’s great to be tied into the Academy making the statement that broadband is a part of broadcast, that entertainment isn’t confined to just television, that it can be delivered to people through different platforms. Plus we were a bit of a dark horse candidate, which made winning a bit of a surprise and even more special for all of us at DDB.
SHOOT: The commercial debuted on the Bud.TV web entertainment channel and then took on a life of its own virally. Was “Swear Jar” intended to be a viral spot from the very beginning because of its storyline which entailed bleeped-out cussing?
[Editor’s note: The spot’s premise has an office setting up a “swear jar” into which money will be put each time someone at work swears. The funds collected will be used to buy Bud Light for the entire office, causing bleeped-out expletives to fly out of the mouths of employees and executives alike in varied situations all over the workplace.]
Karley: The original plan wasn’t viral for the commercial. Originally it was a potential 2007 Super Bowl spot. But the network [CBS] rejected it in script form. They said absolutely no way to all the bleeping.
However, Anheuser-Busch liked it enough to keep the idea alive. Without a client who saw the entertainment value of the spot and was willing to commit to it despite a network rejection, there would be no Emmy to celebrate today.
Graham: Then the plan became to use it to help launch the Bud.TV network. “Swear Jar” was used as a promo for the network, giving people a taste of the Bud.TV channel’s spirit and identity..
When you watch the commercial, it is clearly for Bud Light–but it also reflects the bold irreverence and the spirit of Bud.TV.
SHOOT: How did you come up with the idea for “Swear Jar”? What was the genesis of the concept?
Karley: It was just one of those moments. We were kicking around ideas. We talked about a tip jar and other reasons for collecting money.
As soon as one of us said “swear jar,” it just clicked into place. That’s not to say that we immediately had the script in its original form. But we had the idea and the spirit. Someone puts out a swear jar and everyone starts swearing to get Bud Light.
Over the next several weeks we honed in on the scenes and lines that wound up in the final commercial. And scenes and lines were also developed when working with the director, David Shane.
SHOOT: What led you to select Shane who at the time was with Hungry Man? [Shane has since joined oposi+ive, New York.] What did he bring to the party?
Graham: David is one of the best dialogue directors around today. His comedic timing and casting are simply amazing. And as it turned out, we were all on the same wavelength in terms of casting.
SHOOT: Though being rejected for the Super Bowl is hardly cause for celebration, in retrospect it led to your current success with “Swear Jar.”
Do you think about what might have been had the commercial made the Super Bowl cut as had originally been intended?
Karley: No. Though it would have been cool to have the spot viewed by that huge Super Bowl audience, things turned out quite well for “Swear Jar” virally and most recently with the Emmy Award.
For one, the viral :60 is a lot better than the :30 version–and I don’t know that we would have had a :60 on the Super Bowl. Maybe the :30 wouldn’t have had the same incredible impact on the Super Bowl as it did virally in the form of a minute-long spot. I don’t know that the broadcast :30 version would have ultimately won an Emmy Award.
I do know that it’s been great to see how people found the commercial virally and experienced it. Between YouTube and viral emails, the spot at the most recent count has generated around 12 million hits.
Audiences continue to either seek out the spot or discover it. And new outlets are opening up even now. “Swear Jar” was recently posted, for example, on Will Ferrell’s funny or die website.
