Sustaining a successful ad campaign, such as the California Milk Processor Board’s (CMPB) decade-old "Got Milk?," has its challenges. But according to creative director Jeff Goodby of San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (GS&P), there are advantages to a long-running campaign that outweigh the possible pitfalls. Take for example, the agency’s most recent effort for CMPB, "Ants," which was directed by Noam Murro, and produced by Santa Monica-based Stiefel+ Company. (Murro has since co-foun-ded Biscuit filmworks, Hollywood, with executive producer Shawn Lacy Tessaro.)
"It’s always good when you have a campaign stay around, because over time you earn the trust of the client, and can really push the envelope," said Goodby. "Also, in the beginning you do the more obvious things. I’m pretty sure that ants going after crumbs wouldn’t have been the first idea we came up with."
The :30 opens on a typical American family enjoying a picnic lunch in a park. As they consume chocolate brownies, crumbs sprinkle onto the ground, where grateful ants begin to feast. "Mmmm! Chocolate" appears in subtitles on screen, and we hear the insects’ gleeful squeaks. The daughter then pours a glass of milk, spilling some on the picnic table. As she gulps down her drink, the spilled milk begins to trickle downwards. While the ants eagerly await, however, an object obstructs the milk’s path to terra firma. Realizing this, the insects urge heroic ant "Ben" to scale the table and remove the cheese puff that’s acting as a dam. Up Ben goes, but as he crosses the table, the daughter lowers her glass—on Ben. (A concave glass was used to spare the bug’s life.) "#*$%@!" reads the supered text, as a final cry of defeat rings out and the "Got Milk?" tag appears on screen. The spot breaks in California on Jan. 8, and will be available nationally to other dairy boards.
According to Jeff Manning, executive director of the CMPB, the "Ants" spot had two strikes against it from the start, and almost didn’t get made. One issue, Manning said, was strategic: "Could we really convey the milk deprivation idea with insects? Or would people go, ‘Ick’?" Secondly, there was concern over working with live ants. "We all know what it’s like to work with animals," he continued. "Every trainer tells you the animal will do what it’s told to do, but then it doesn’t. And imagine that with ants. So it was really a leap of faith."
Added Goodby: "We gave some consideration to animatronics, but it seemed more interesting to shoot ants randomly and try to overlay a plot. And I’d worked with flies before, so I felt confident." Besides, he admitted, "It’s my favorite feeling to try to do something that you’re not sure will work."
For similar reasons, the campaign attracted Murro. "We’ve seen a lot of ‘Got Milk?’ commercials, and there’s always a danger [for a director] in taking something that’s been so successful," said Murro. "It usually ends up being a letdown. But the Goodby guys managed to come up with surprising, new creative that draws you into the project in a different kind of way." In addition to Jeff Goodby, the creative team consisted of copywriter John Matejczyk, art director Rick Casteel and senior producer David Yost. The remaining spots in the campaign, also helmed by Murro, are "Ape," which began airing towards the end of 2000, and "Memories," which breaks later this year.
Top bug wrangler Steven Kutcher and 1,000 black ants were brought in for the two-day shoot in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. According to Murro, the trick to controlling ant behavior is to chill the bugs. At cold temperatures, ants stop moving, so they can be strategically placed and lit, then filmed as they warm up.
This tactic worked well for most scenes. However, the spot’s most troublesome shot involved Ben’s climb up the leg of the picnic table. It was a pivotal scene, and Ben wasn’t cooperating. Murro recalled that the day was ending and rain was beginning to fall; Ben would start his ascent, get almost to the top, then turn around. "Ten thousand feet of film later, I’m thinking maybe we should fucking CGI this," the director recalled. "Nothing in my life has tried my patience more." Eventually, patience paid off, and Ben reached the summit.
Another cinematic feat captured by DP Stefan Czapsky involved the spot’s opening, which moves in one continuous shot, from the human family down to a close-up of the ant kingdom on the ground. "That was something to design," Murro observed. "But that’s part of Stefan’s genius."
Manning also praised editor Tom Muldoon of Nomad Editing Co., Santa Monica. From a mountain of film, Manning said, Muldoon "found literally bits of time where things looked as they were supposed to."
All the same, Goodby predicted that for prospective "Got Milk?" spots in the future, "I think we’ll probably go back to the macro world now."
