By Christine Champagne

There is no love lost between fans of the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. But they–as well as other arch rivals–miraculously find common ground in “Truce” (:60), a new spot for XM Satellite Radio created by Mullen of Wenham, Mass., and directed by Phil Morrison of bicoastal Epoch Films.

Set to the classic War tune “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” “Truce” finds fans of opposing teams in humorously awkward face-to-face meetings. For example, while a Red Sox fan and a Yankees fan can’t avoid running into each other in their neighboring driveways, a New York Mets fan and a Philadelphia Phillies fan endure an unavoidable encounter as they jog toward each other on the beach. Elsewhere, a trio of San Francisco Giants fans squares off against a trio of Los Angeles Dodgers fans at a barbecue.

No words are exchanged between the rivals–all decked out in full team regalia. But the looks on their faces show just how uncomfortable they are being so close to their foes.

Ultimately, everyone realizes that they have at least one thing in common. Turns out they all listen to their favorite team’s games on XM Satellite Radio via the portable Delphi XM MyFi receivers that they take with them everywhere they go.

 

BATTER UP

While the message that XM Satellite Radio carries all of the MLB games is a simple one, the creatives at Mullen had the task of delivering it in a way that would appeal to all baseball fans–and that was a challenge.

After some brainstorming, Mullen senior vp/group creative director/copywriter Tim Cawley and senior vp/group creative director/art director Michael Ancevic thought, What if there was one thing baseball fans could agree on? That thing being the benefits of XM Satellite Radio.

“So we took that and created the arc of a story–there is this hatred between the fans, then them looking at each other, then the moment of realization that they both have MyFi, a softening and finally acceptance,” Ancevic related.

Communicating this kind of subtly–especially given the fact that the fans in the spot don’t speak–isn’t within the realm of every director, of course. After a search, Mullen chose to rely on Morrison, who is known for his performance-driven work.

“He got it from the second we were on the first call with him, and he just nailed it,” Ancevic praised.

Among Morrison’s strong suits is casting, according to Ancevic. “The casting for this was so important, and he realized from day one [the actors] would have to be able to do this with their eyes and their body language,” Ancevic said. “They couldn’t really say anything, so it was important to find people who could show that softening and that transition.”

 

BACK IN THE LINEUP

“Truce” marked a return to spots for Morrison who had taken nearly a year off to direct his debut feature film Junebug, which premiered at the recent Sundance Film Festival and will be in theaters later this year. “I am very, very happy to have gotten to do this as the first thing back,” Morrison said, musing, “I like when something is absurd but there is a real honesty to the way the people behave.”

Morrison shot “Truce” over three days on location in Los Angeles, with Claudio Miranda as DP. “What we were shooting wasn’t that complicated,” Morrison remarked. “But it was one of those commercials with lots of different locations, and you eat up so much of your shoot day with the company move.”

Upon settling in at each location, Morrison focused on coaching his actors. “What we kind of went for with the actors wasn’t that there was some secret code between them that they already understood, like, ‘Oh, you’ve got the radio, so therefore you’re cool,’ ” Morrison said. “It was more like, ‘Hey, I hate you. Wait a second. You have this thing [the MyFi device], so suddenly I don’t hate you. Wait, I don’t know what to do with that idea. This is weird.’ “

Incidentally, while Morrison worked with a cast of professional actors (the fans were portrayed by Ptolemy Slocum, Michael Horsley, Rafael Noble and Jonathan Glaser), he also got the opportunity to direct legendary Baltimore Orioles third baseman Cal Ripken Jr., who also appears in the spot.

Once Morrison wrapped his shoot, editor Steve Hamilton of Mad Mad Judy, New York, was able to take a crack at the footage, cutting “Truce” to the aforementioned “Why Can’t We Be Friends.”

“My editorial style is really subtle,” Hamilton said. “For me, I’m always looking for nuance, and I haven’t worked on a commercial in a long time that had so much nuance in it–from the look on the Red Sox fan’s face when he finally looks up at the Yankees guy to the little hand gesture as the Mets fan starts to run off down the beach. These little, tiny gestures were so loaded with pathos and just everything.”

 

HOMERUN HAMILTON

Hamilton, by the way, can be credited in part for taking what was initially supposed to be one 30-second spot and helping launch an entire campaign.

At the outset of the edit, “I edited each [fan showdown] scenario as an individual thirty-second scenario, figuring what I would do was find the essence of each, and then incorporate that moment into the thirty-second anthem spot,” Hamilton explained.

Then Cawley and Ancevic saw what he had done and couldn’t help but want to see “Truce” mushroom into an entire campaign, Cawley said. Fortunately, the client shared their enthusiasm. “When you’re that excited about a product, the client can kind of smell it on you,” Cawley mused, “and your excitement becomes their excitement.”

Morrison, of course, was thrilled that his footage was fashioned into an entire campaign. “That was a like a gift from the client,” the director said, noting, “It’s a tribute to [Mullen’s] relationship with their client that they were able to show their clients the benefits of expanding this.”

In addition to the 60-second “Truce” featured as this week’s Top Spot, there is a :30 version of “Truce” as well as three additional 30-second spots, each focusing on one particular rivalry.

“It worked out great,” Cawley said of the expansion of the campaign, citing the screening of the Yankees/Red Sox showdown spot “Truce Driveway” on the Jumbotron at Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox.

“There were all these fistfights in the playoffs between the Red Sox and the Yankees last year, and on opening day [at Fenway Park] they showed a montage of fight footage [on the Jumbotron] before the game, then they cut directly to our spot of the individual Yankees/Sox stare down,” Cawley said, marveling, “And we didn’t even plan it. It just happened.”

MySHOOT Profiles