By Ken Liebeskind
KANSAS CITY, MO. --The Dr Pepper slogan, “More to explore,” plays out in the in-banner video ad that launched Monday. Viewers click on three hot spots in the ad to see more shorter videos playing beneath them. “We’re laying them on top of the original video that gives users a total of four videos within one banner with no load time,” said Tony Snethen, creative director at VML, the agency that created the video ad. It was produced by Vedros and Associates/Kansas City, Mo.
Drool, a 30 second video that is playing with run of site buys at AOL and Yahoo!, shows Dr Pepper being poured from a can into a tall glass. The visual of the beverage with the fizzy sound effects is “an eye catching way to appeal to browsers,” Snethen said. “We know how annoying banners can be. This was a better way to make it as tantalizing and tasteful as possible. We wanted to get them off their couches to grab a Dr Pepper.”
The hot spots, little red circles with white plus signs inside them that appear on the can and the glass, click to show the soda fizzing in the glass and dripping down the can. Snethen said this is one of the first times an in-banner video has used hot spots to play additional video content.
The video ad is considered “ultra high def” because of the size and quality of the image, which was achieved with a Red One camera with Zeiss Super Speed lenses. The camera produces a 4900 x 2580 pixel image which is much higher than traditional video cameras. “We shot it on the Red instead of standard high def because we wanted a filmic depth of field,” said Nicholas Evan Vedros, the Vedros and Associates director. “It captures everything you want to see about Dr Pepper, the effervescence and the flavor.”
Snethen said the high def video “was shot like a car commercial. We showed the can with ice on it with the sensory audio. We wanted it as detailed as possible.”
Jason Scheidt, director of marketing at Eye Wonder, which prepared the ad for delivery, said Dr Pepper was “one of the first advertisers to use hi def video. It’s a heavier file with more information packed in it. It takes more bandwidth and costs more to deliver.”
Richard Lyons, manager of interactive for Dr Pepper Snapple Group, said Drool “provides an enhanced experience. It allows us to hit on the brand objective and provide the deep and engaging experience we were looking for. It illuminates the aspects of Dr Pepper, so you can taste it as it comes up on the screen. It provides nice consumption appeal.”
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More