Soda, soda, soda, soda," murmurs a young man as he ambles down a grocery store aisle, peering through the glass doors of one enormous refrigerator unit after another. But the parade of blah-brand carbonated beverages ends when he arrives at a fridge full of Dr Pepper.
"Dr Pepper. What’s the worst that can happen?" he asks himself rhetorically, reaching for a bottle of the pop. Immediately, he gets an answer: The door shuts tight, the glass shatters, shelves of bottles collapse and fall forward—there’s an avalanche of Dr Pepper, and of every box of merchandise stacked atop the unit.
Spying the boy trapped under the debris, an ever-alert supermarket clerk screams "Call 911!" The action accelerates to an E.R. pitch, as an emergency crew arrives on the scene. "We’re gonna have to cut him out of his pants," yells one paramedic to another, grabbing what sounds like a power saw.
But that’s not enough to extricate the lad from the rubble. "The underwear’s gonna have to come off too" the second paramedic insists.
Stripped bare from the waist down, the young man is pulled from the rubble and carried outside by the trained emergency crew—to a chorus of laughter from the gathering spectators. "Step aside," orders paramedic two, "buck-naked kid coming through!"
The predicament reaches new heights of urgency and embarrassment as a TV crew arrives on the scene, and the spot’s cutting and pacing take the tone of a newscast. A virtual phalanx of emergency workers carries the young man through crowded streets; a helicopter hovers overhead, and the victim, still clutching his Dr Pepper, tries to cover himself with his shirttails. A female television journalist intensely reports on what’s transpiring—a fitting testament to the quality of local news. But it’s not just local coverage—there’s international—well, exposure—as well. A TV news crew from Japan is on hand to shout the story of the "buck-naked boy," now being beamed globally via satellite.
In a matter of moments, the lad has become an unwilling celebrity who desperately wishes that his 15 minutes were up. A banner on a high-rise building reads, "How’s It Hanging?" Motorcycle police escorts isolate the lad from the madding—and maddening—crowd.
Finally he jumps down and runs away from his rescuers. "What’s wrong with him?" demands paramedic two, wondering why the naked kid didn’t show more appreciation to his saviors.
Supered over the mêlée is the slogan: "Dr Pepper. What’s the worst that can happen?"
This escalating chain of events that proves things can get worse even when you think they’ve hit bottom (literally) was the brainchild of London agency Mother. The Mother artisans included creative directors/art diectors Mark Waites and Robert Saville, copywriters Yan Elliott and Luke Williamson, and producer Sarah Case.
Titled "Emergency," the spot was one of three directed for the European market by Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/ international hungry man. Stephen Orent and Dan Duffy executive-produced for hungry man, with Kevin Byrne producing. The campaign was shot stateside by DP Adam Beckman.
Editor was Andrea Macarthur of The Whitehouse, London. Online editor was Haidan Thomas of Golden Square, London. Seamus O’Kane of VTR, London, was colorist. Owen Harris of Jungle, London, served as audio mixer.
Mark Campbell and David Arch of Joe & Co., London, composed the music.
