There are 43 million dog-owning households in the U.S. Most of them own cars. Many of them buy cars with their dog’s comfort in mind. And some of them visit a website, DogCars.com, that named the Honda Element “DogCar of the Year” in December 2007.
This was inspiration for RPA, the agency that created the “Element and Friends” campaign in 2006 that started with the popular “Pinch” crab spot, to extend the effort with “Pointer,” which includes a :30 for TV and a :15 that is running online. The spot was produced by WILDBRAIN/San Francisco.
The spot began playing March 10, with the agency placing a buy on the Google content network that plays the spot at 95 dog centric sites, such as Pamperedpuppy.com, Dogbreedz.com and Pugvillage.com. It’s also playing at YouTube, where the agency bought overlays on dog-related video content.
“We wanted to creatively tell people about the award and we can cater directly to dog lovers because they love the car,” said Edmund Purcell, RPA’s VP/management supervisor. “The goal is to reach 18 to 49-year-old males with an active, outdoor mind set.”
RPA is trying YouTube overlays, which were introduced in August 2007, for the first time for the Element. Fifteen seconds after a dog-related video clip starts playing, the overlay appears on the bottom of the screen, which can be clicked to play “Pointer.” When it plays, a companion unit runs next to it that can be clicked to go to www.elementandfriends.com. “The beauty of the unit is you get a branding message whether you click on it or not,” Purcell said. “If you click on it, great, but if you don’t you still get the branding message so it produces different levels of engagement. We don’t want to interrupt the fun they’re having but if they’re interested, they can self select our message.”
In the spot, the dog has a humorous conversation with a voice inside the car, then enters the car and comments on features like the waterproof seat fabric before lying down in back. “Hey, what’s goin’ on back there?” the voice responds.
Gordon Clark, the WILDBRAIN director, said the animation was created from photos of dogs it found and the car, which RPA provided. “We cut them out in Photoshop and put them in After Effects, we puppeted them,” he said.
He added that the spot “moves to a place you don’t expect, so it doesn’t feel cartoony or standard. It’s all about the timing.”
WILDBRAIN has produced 23 animations for “Element and Friends” and “Pointer“ differs from the others because it features scenes inside the car with specific features mentioned. “Usually it’s about name recognition and a fairly subtle play on what it has to offer, which isn’t as specific as what we did here,” Clark said.
“Pointer” will run at the Google sites and YouTube through the end of March. The spot doesn’t currently play at elementandfriends.com, but will be added at a later date.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More