This :30 puts us smack dab in the middle of a business meeting in a company conference room. We hear a chief executive type–presumably via telephone conference call–tell his subordinates that he’s skipping the “chit chat” to “get right down to business.”
One worker clearly thinks his boss is a windbag. This employee has a couple of pens hanging out of his mouth as he mocks the CEO who continues to ramble on, chastising the office workers for their woeful performance.
“Boohoo,” mouths the employee, rubbing tears from his eyes. He then holds two pieces of paper up to his head; devil’s horns are drawn on the paper.
A female co-worker nudges him in an attempt to get the smart-ass employee to cool it. But why should he? Our assumption up to this point is that the pompous boss has no idea he’s being mocked. Yet as we’ve been taught before, it’s dangerous to assume.
Out of the blue, the boss talks directly to the employee: “This isn’t a conference call, Hinkel. I’m actually in the room.”
A voiceover intervenes: “Low fares, even at the last minute. Feel like surprising a few people.” A super against a sky background reads, “Go. There’s nothing stopping you.” This is followed by the AirTran Airways logo, and Web site address.
This spot is one of five in a campaign directed by Patrick Sherman of bicoastal Anonymous Content for agency Cramer-Krasselt, Chicago.
Tapas Blank executive produced for Anonymous, with Michael Haldane serving as producer. The DP was Emmanuel Lubezki.
The agency team consisted of creative director Scott Wild, creative director/copywriter John Carstens, art director Mel Kreilein and producer Ben Latimer.
Editor was Jay Herda of Mad River Post, San Francisco. Janie Ford produced for Mad River. Colorist was Craig Russell of Optimus, Chicago. Audio mixer was Bruce Lase of Optimus.
Other Optimus talent on the job were visual effects artists Marco Markewycz and Amy Davis, and graphic artists Brian Rulapaugh and Jeremy Stuart.