About six years ago, British-born Wayne Holloway strolled onto the set of his first directing gig—a music video for the band The Bleeders—armed with a Ph.D. in philosophy and no idea of how to operate a camera. "I bluffed it completely," recalled Holloway, a graduate of Essex University, Colchester, England.
Apparently, he also bluffed it pretty well. For the next few years, Holloway directed music clips via the former La La Land, a company he formed with a couple of friends. By the mid-1990s, however, Holloway’s former partners had moved on to pursue interests outside of film, while he had begun to branch out.
Holloway directed Rock-a-Bye Baby, a digital film for the U.K.’s Channel 4, which parodied modern relationships, and was based on a young couple’s meeting on a train. And in ’98, he spent a year writing a feature script, Stop History, which he likens to Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, but with London as the backdrop. A year and a half ago, Holloway broke into the commercial arena, signing with London-based Stark Films.
Since that time, the director appears to have hit his stride. His Olympics-themed adidas campaign, "The Road to Sydney," via Amsterdam agency 180, generated positive buzz in ad circles. Then about five months ago, the director landed stateside representation via bicoastal Basecamp Entertainment. And last month, he made his U.S. debut with a Reebok package for Berlin Cameron & Partners (BC&P), New York.
"Zoo" and "Swing" feature a pair of young sneaker salesmen and their unique approach to demonstrating the Reebok Pump—a pressure system that results in a snug fit. In the ads, an unsuspecting customer asks if the Pump is just a gimmick. The salesmen exchange a glance, and soon they’re off to prove the Pump’s merits. First comes a trip to the zoo. At the lion’s den, they attach a large piece of raw meat to a chain, which is fastened to the pumped-up sneaker on the poor customer’s foot. "Here kitty, kitty," one of the guys calls, tossing the meat into the cage, and soon the big cat tries to wrestle
the meat free, as the customer, perched on the fence, his foot dangerously close to the lion’s mouth, hangs on for dear life. In "Swing," the customer finds himself at the center of another death-defying act: At an amusement park, he is suspended by his sneaker-clad feet to cables hung from the "whirling dervish" ride.
"I like the conspiratorial nature of the characters, and the stunts involved," said Holloway of the ads. "And there’s a certain simplicity." The director will helm a third spot in the Reebok campaign in June, which involves an airport runway and considerable visual effects.
The BC&P team included creative director Lance Paull, art director Matt Murphy, copywriter Michelle Novella and producer Sheri Silver.
Holloway followed the Reebok ads with a five-spot package for Quizno’s Subs via Cliff Freeman and Partners, New York. Those commercials, which are slated to break at the end of April, involve primitive humans making such early discoveries as bathing and running. The point of the comedic campaign is to draw attention to the fact that, unlike other sub shops, Quizno’s toasts its sandwich rolls. "It’s tapping into the idea of people as pioneers," noted agency art director Taras Wayner. "People in history who have come up with breakthroughs, like hunting with a pointed stick instead of a rock."
British actors were cast in the Quizno’s spots, which were shot on a ranch about an hour outside of Los Angeles. In addition to Wayner, the Cliff Freeman team included copywriter Richard Bullock and producer Matt Bijarchi.
The Road to Sydney
Holloway’s first commercial assignment was an ad for the Metropolitan Police via TBWA GGT Simons Palmer, London. "Young Lads" featured four undercover cops in a pub, and won a silver at Britain’s Creative Circle Awards. But it was the 12-spot adidas campaign that really put him on the map.
"We saw the adidas stuff, and that really sealed it," said Wayner. "It was so natural and spontaneous, and that was really important to us [for the Quizno’s package]. It’s a difficult thing to do—get people to be themselves in front of the camera—but it’s a talent I think Wayne has."
Moreover, in a not-so-roundabout way, the adidas commercials led to Holloway’s signing with Basecamp.
The mockumentary-style spots follow an arrogant producer, a hapless actor, and their pathetic attempts to capture the spirit of the Games via filmed interactions with various Olympic hopefuls. British comedian Lee Evans (There’s Something About Mary) was cast as the talent. But the question remained: Who could pull off the producer role?
As it happened, 180’s then-creative director Larry Frey (who now directs via bicoastal/international @radical.media) had seen The Rep. Directed by Bill Scarlet of bicoastal OneSuch Films, the short film starred Bryan Farhy, a former commercial sales rep, now executive producer at Basecamp.
Frey offered Farhy the role of the producer in the adidas spots, and the executive producer/ sometime actor saw an opportunity knocking: What better way to get to know up-and-coming director Holloway than to work for him?
The rest, as the saying goes, is history. The finished adidas work convinced Farhy that Holloway has "a taste for what good American agencies are looking for."
Holloway has also directed a campaign for Swedish telecommunications firm Comviq via Forsman and Bodenfors, Göteborg, Sweden. The ads—"Bar," "Hairdresser" and "Psychiatrist"—illustrate the tag, "You don’t get much for 2p nowadays"—except when it comes to Comviq’s phone services. For instance, in "Psychiatrist" a distraught young woman enters her therapist’s office and sits down, but just as she begins to cry, the doctor indicates that her session is over.
Later this year, Holloway plans to make his feature directing debut with the aforementioned Stop History. But he has no intentions of abandoning the spot arena, either in the U.S. or abroad. "I love the idea of balancing films and commercials," he said. "If you just do films, you could go years without using a camera." Ultimately, he concluded, he hopes to collaborate "with intelligent people, create a relaxing environment, have fun and do great work."
