A new spot for Theraflu out of New York’s Saatchi & Saatchi doesn’t look or feel like your average cold or flu medicine commercial. The bland offerings in the category typically find a person sniffling and sneezing until being soothed by a dose of medicine–they’re hardly Top Spot of the Week contenders. But this issue’s Top Spot, a standout :30 for Theraflu titled “Bus” that was directed by Albert Kodagolian of bicoastal Believe Media, proves you can go well beyond the tried-and-true and shake up a creatively stagnant category of advertising.
A dark, moody slice of cinema, “Bus” depicts a flu-sufferer–his facial features grotesquely exaggerated to reflect his symptoms–boarding a bus on a rainy day, people shunning him for fear of catching his ailment. Relief finally comes in the form of a box of Theraflu thin strips handed to him by an elderly woman, allowing him to carry on with his day feeling–and looking–more like himself.
The spot truly captures the misery of a cold or flu sufferer, and you can’t help but feel empathy for the guy. According to Saatchi group creative director Joe Pompeo, the agency sought to redefine the cold and flu category, turning it on its ear by really showing how bad a person sick with the flu feels. “You feel terrible, you look horrible, you almost become something else that you’re not,” Pompeo said.
Hence the creation of a monstrous-looking flu-sufferer. The poor man’s situation is made worse by the fact that he has to take the bus–and on a chilly, rainy day no less. “We wanted to take the drama beyond the physical,” Pompeo noted. “We can all relate to the situation. There’s nothing worse than having to either go to work or travel on a cold, rainy day.”
Kodagolian was hired to bring this nightmarish scenario to life after submitting what Pompeo described as an impressive treatment calling for a filmic approach to the spot, giving it a dark look along the lines of the movie Seven.
In addition to wanting to create a dark, cinematic feel, Kodagolian strove to fill the spot with realistic performances, with characters that would react naturally to the sick man, shirking away as he passes by for fear of being exposed to his germs; one woman actually decides to get off the bus rather than breathe the same air as the guy.
“We start off incredibly subtle,” Kodagolian pointed out. “The second shot is this man who chooses not to get on the bus. It’s shot from a long distance, its kind of silhouette, and you don’t really see the face of the monster just yet. We’re holding off.” As he moves through the bus, it becomes more evident that this guy isn’t actually a monster–he’s just sick as a dog.
In the original script it was a young mother that comes to the man’s rescue, according to Kodagolian. But he felt like a young mother would be particularly hesitant to have any contact with this ailing man and decided that an elderly woman should be the hero of the spot. “An older woman who has been through World War II and all kinds of stuff in her life, what is she going to be scared of? Nothing,” Kodagolian reasoned.
All of the actors in “Bus” were cast in Rio de Janeiro, by the way, where the spot was shot on location in a local business district. The massive caravan constructed for the shoot by Kodagolian got a lot of attention from onlookers. “It was a large toy,” Pompeo said, laughing.
Essentially, a bus was attached to two trucks. The first truck towed everything; the second truck directly in front of the bus carried a water tank that was hooked to the piping on the bus that shot out the rain.
Kodagolian served not only as director but also as DP on the spot. Why take on the responsibility? “I knew with this job I was going to push it really far, meaning I was going to make it dark, underexposing the film,” Kodagolian explained. “I underexposed nearly two stops, which most DPs would be frightened to do, and I was frightened, too. I said, ‘This is going to be black, and they’re going to fire me, and they’re going to send a big bill to Believe.’ But I took the risk. I knew I was not going to shoot this like a normal commercial where everything is bright and cheery.” The darkness not only added to the mood, it helped to make the prosthetics plastered on the face of the actor playing the sick man look more realistic.
Once the shoot wrapped, Kodagolian traveled to New York where he took part in the post process, including the edit with Steve Bell of Cosmo Street Editorial. (Two versions of the spot were cut–a :45 version that will air exclusively in cinemas and a :30 television commercial for international airing.) The artisans at R!OT Manhattan added some subtle touches to the sick man’s face, including flaring nostrils.
Looking back on the project, Kodagolian thinks the spot succeeds because it is based in truth. “I live in London, and if someone sits next to you on a train and they’re coughing, your first instinct is, “Oh my God, I don’t want to get sick.’ So you try to find an appropriate moment to either leave or go to the next cabin,” Kodagolian said. “That’s the reality.”
That said, the flu-sufferer in “Bus” ultimately comes out on top, leaving the bus feeling much better. “I love any kind of story that has to do with the concept of an underdog,” Kodagolian mused. “It’s so much more interesting when you tell a story and someone triumphs.”
