There’s precedent for the concept of a mosquito giving its life in the interest of breakthrough advertising—McIlhenny Tabasco Sauce’s "Mosquito," directed by Dick Buckley, who at the time was with Los Angeles-based Squeak Pictures (he now helms spots independently), for DDB Dallas, went on to win assorted industry awards, including a Gold Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival in 1997.
In that spot, a mosquito bites a man who’s eating pizza doused with Tabasco sauce. The blood sucking proves fatal for the insect, as in a matter of seconds we see it explode in mid-flight, the victim of a guy who was just too hot-blooded.
Now, nearly six years later, another blood-thirsty mosquito hopes to make its mark, this time in a commercial for Ubiquitous Industries’ UBI jeans, conceived by creatives recruited by that company’s in-house agency in Jersey City, N.J.
Entitled "Blood Hunt," the :60 opens on the lower torso of a man who’s wiping his hands on his UBI jeans. Accompanying this visual is the wail of a crying newborn. Suddenly, we’re whisked into a set of flashbacks from the perspective of a fast-moving mosquito. A buxom woman is seen from above as she scrubs a toilet. A driver rolls down his car window to spit. A taxidermist preparing a stuffed raccoon accidentally drops the animal’s glass eye into an ink bottle—and finally, a woman who’s just given birth shrieks in horror as the mosquito buzzes toward her newborn’s naked bottom.
The doctor slaps the baby’s backside, sending the mosquito into a tailspin. It crashes into the leg of the new father standing in the delivery room. He squashes the mosquito against his leg, and we realize that he’s the jeans-clad guy in the opening shot who was wiping his hands on his pants. "UBI," a voiceover says. "They become you."
Whether or not this offbeat spot will help sell the clothing line remains to be seen, but the ad will clearly create a buzz and help to establish UBI with a playful, hip personality.
Freelancer Caskey Ebeling, hired by Ubiquitous Industries as a creative gun/brand strategist, also helmed "Blood Hunt." The ad marks her spot directing debut. Ebeling worked on a creative team she recruited for Ubiquitous that consisted of creative director/writer Sally Hogshead, associate creative director/art director Valerie Ang-Powell, executive producer Ulrich Simpson and producer Malcolm Crews.
Ebeling currently works independently, though she is entertaining offers for commercial production house representation. She helmed "Blood Hunt" via Revolver Films, Santa Monica, and The Ebeling Group, Playa del Rey, Calif. San Malmstrom and Mick Ebeling served as executive producers for Revolver and The Ebeling Group, respectively. Line producers were Norine Havard and Mark Priola. The spot was shot at Metro Hospital, Norwalk, Calif., by DPs Pete Schmitt and Andy Lesniak.
Olaf Garcia of Rock Paper Scissors, Los Angeles, edited the commercial. Assistant editor was Lea Landry. Online editor was Andy MacDonald of Creo Films, Santa Monica. Visual effects artists for Creo were Risty Ippolito and the aforementioned Lesniak. Colorist was Paul Holder of Post Logic Studios, Hollywood. Audio mixer/ engineer was David Kelly of Video Box, West Hollywood. Justin Hixon executive produced for Video Box.
Michael Anastasi and Ceinwyn Clark of stimmüng, Santa Monica, were sound designer and executive producer, respectively.
