By SARAH WOODWARD
March Madness is a disease, and no one is immune. That’s the message behind "Quarantine," the third in a five-spot campaign for Nike that trumpets college basketball’s annual tournament season with the tag line, "March Madness. It’s spreading." Created by Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore., and directed by Dante Ariola of bicoastal/international Propaganda Films, the campaign draws heavily on the deadly virus/medical thriller genre.
To that end, the main character, played by veteran sci-fi/martial arts actor John Saxon, is a research scientist tracking the disease’s progression. The :60 "Quarantine" opens on the Duke University campus; small technical print in the lower corner of the screen reads "DukeK-ville" (a reference to Coach K.). It’s night and students are socializing under make-shift tents around the grounds, seemingly oblivious to the scientist and his research unit-a team of about 30, all zipped into protective white body suits complete with breathing apparatus, gloves, full head gear and electronic tracking devices-who have stormed the school. As the crew moves through the campus, Saxon says, "We’ve got a level 9. Quarantine."
The crew heads for the locker room where they scan various pieces of sports wear from sneakers to sweats. Soon after, Saxon concludes that the place is fully infected. "It’s all hot," he says. "Take it away," at which point the crew systematically empties the contents of the lockers into biohazardous waste bags and carts them out in industrial trucks.
The trucks are next seen entering the deserted grounds of the NRI Biohazard Treatment Center (also referenced on-screen) and the toxic material is emptied out of bags. The final scene centers on a pile of 2,000 pairs of sneakers and a sole figure. The scene is ominous and the sky is as gray as the treatment plant. Then the figure ignites an industrial-size blow torch and sets fire to the sneakers. The spot closes with an amoebic-shaped image on the screen which contains the March Madness tournament brackets and the aforementioned tag line.
"Quarantine," which broke March 6, was shot on location over two days in Wilmington and Durham, N.C. Copywriter Mike Folino and art director Arty Tan came up with the concept on a research trip to Duke, UNC Chapel Hill and Kentucky, during which time the pair interviewed coaches and attended games. Folino recalled that at one point they concluded, "Gosh, it’s December and we already have March Madness. It’s like a disease." The key to the spot’s dark humor, he continued, was "to play it straight, as if March Madness really was [a disease] and watch it spread across the country."
Also key to the execution was Ariola’s direction. "What we had originally hoped for was to make this very cinematic," Folino said. "Dante got that to an unbelievable degree. He’s a spectacularly talented director. If you watched all the commercials together, it’s almost like a little movie."
Propaganda’s commercial division VP Colin Hickson said Ariola was an obvious choice for the assignment. "There is a very filmic quality to all of Dante’s work, and [that’s] what this [campaign] needed. We wanted it to be as big and dramatic and as important as possible in a very filmic style. Where [the creatives] wanted the campaign to go, and Dante’s sylistic sensibilities, were a perfect match."
For his part, Ariola said that from the beginning he and the creative team were "on the same page"-right down to the films they referenced, such as The Andromeda Strain. "The idea was there in the first place," he said. "We wanted it to be dramatic and cinematic. It was just a matter of execution. We let the drama play out and kept the pace slow." The director also said it was important that the spots grow more frenetic and elaborate in a narrative sense as each of the spots, and the campaign as a whole, progress. In "Quarantine," the drama culminates with the burning of the sneakers.
Saxon’s role in the spots was also key to the execution. "It was exciting to work with such a talented actor," Ariola said. Folino added that Saxon’s part was a "fun bit of casting" that "gave [the campaign] credibility." He also praised editor Rob Watzke of Red Car, Santa Monica. "He deserves a lot of credit. Working with Rob makes it a lot easier for everybody. It’s nice to give him the film and watch something great come out of it."
As for the soft-sell approach of the campaign-particularly in the early spots where very little Nike product is seen- Ariola said Nike "realized that it wasn’t a product-based spot and just let us go with it. They gave us a lot of freedom." Folino, on the other hand, joked that Nike "probably understands that March Madness is a real problem in society right now, as a disease. It’s brave of them to come out and talk about it and show what really happens, [because] their sneakers and athletic wear are part of the cause."
Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. Explore Generations, Old School vs. New School, In “Poppa’s House”
Boundaries between work and family don't just blur in the new CBS sitcom "Poppa's House" starring father-and-son comedy duo Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. They shatter.
"It's wonderful to come to work every day and see him and some of his kids and my sister and my brother and nieces and nephews. They all work on this show. They all contribute," says the senior Wayans. "I don't think there are words to express how joyful I am."
Wayans plays the titular Poppa, a curmudgeonly radio DJ who's more than comfortable doing it his way, while Wayans Jr. plays his son, Damon, a budding filmmaker who's stuck in a job he hates.
"My character, Pop, is just an old school guy who's kind of stuck in his ways," says Wayans, who starred in "In Living Color" and "My Wife and Kids."
Pop yearns for the days when a handshake was a binding contract and Michael Jordan didn't complain if he got fouled on the court. Pop laughs at the younger generation's participation trophies.
"It's old school versus new school and them teaching each other lessons from both sides," says Wayans Jr., who played Coach in the Fox sitcom "New Girl."
"They (the characters) bring the best out in each other and they're resistant initially. But then throughout the episode they have revelations and these revelations help them become better people," he adds.
The two have worked together before — dad made an appearance on son's "Happy Endings" and "Happy Together," while son was a writer and guest star on dad's "My Wife and Kids." But this is the first time they have headlined a series together.
The half-hour comedy — premiering Monday and co-starring Essence Atkins and Tetona Jackson — smartly leaves places in the script where father and son can let... Read More