Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb and Stanley Harrison, an actor with a long theatrical career, star in the Power and the Glory, a movie trailer sponsored by Glaceau vitaminwater that plays at Mcnabbisback.com and YouTube.
The return of the quarterback from an injury last year is the basis for the trailer, with vitaminwater playing an integrated role as “fuel for his recovery and mental fortitude,” said Steve O’Connell, creative director of Stick and Move/Philadelphia, the agency that created the trailer that was produced by Phasmatrope Studios/Haverford, PA.
The trailer format for the online video, the centerpiece of a campaign that also includes web, print and radio ads, “plays into the anticipation with McNabb’s return,” O’Connell said. “There’s a lot of parallel with a movie promotion and a launch day scenario.”
The trailer began playing August 10 to promote McNabb’s return on September 9, his first game this year.
The press quotes “Huh?” and “A movie?” put the trailer in perspective. It’s a humorous piece that shows scenes of McNabb working out and meditating before being confronted by Harrison, “some weird old guy” in a suit and bow tie, who confounds McNabb with his strange behavior.
“The most important thing was the casting,” said Phasmatrope director Guy Quinlan. “We were lucky to find the old guy and McNabb is a natural actor.”
But there was a lot more than acting involved. To make it look like a Hollywood film, “we had to make the environment abstract. We shot directly in floodlights with lots of smoke, a celestial setting where people came out of nowhere,” Quinlan said.
As the trailer progressed, “the focus was on the personalities and body language,” he said. “McNabb was like a gladiator in a fighting pose, he could leap into action in a second,” Quinlan said. Harrison was “the vehicle to the other side. The idea was to find someone he could play off to be believable.” They interact on a number of occasions, the most humorous in front of a large chalkboard with algebraic equations, which was staged to show McNabb is “serious, he’s brains as well as brawn,” Quinlan said.
Towards the end is a scene that shows ghosts of the gridiron, players in old fashioned uniforms who interact with shots of McNabb. The actors wore prosthetic masks, which gives their faces an eery quality that adds to the comedic tone of the trailer.
Quinlan opted for a Panasonic HVX 200 HD camera with Pro 35 Adaptor and 35mm prime lenses to give the trailer a cinematic look.
Vitaminwater makes a number of appearances in the trailer, with both characters drinking it, a vitaminwater production logo appearing near the beginning and a smaller logo shown with the credits at the end. “It’s more about McNabb,” O’Connell said. “Vitaminwater doesn’t tout themselves, so we put McNabb at the forefront telling his story in time for the first game.”
The trailer is directed to a Philadelphia audience, but it will have widespread appeal “because it’s web-based, McNabb is a national figure and it’s being talked about by bloggers,” O’Connell said.
FCB Stays Atop The One Club’s Year-End Global Creative Rankings
FCB ended the year repeating its top positions in The One Club for Creativity’s Global Creative Rankings, with FCB New York again crowned Global Agency of the Year and FCB Global finishing as Agency Network of the Year for 2024.
The annual worldwide benchmark report is a comprehensive ranking of agencies, brands, countries, and individuals based on points earned from winning entries in The One Club’s eight global, regional, and local awards shows: The One Show 2024, ADC 103rd Annual Awards, Type Directors Club TDC70 competition, Art Directors Club of Europe ADCE Awards 2024, ONE Asia Creative Awards 2024, and The One Club Denver, San Diego, and Miami chapter 2024 awards programs.
“The Global Creative Rankings is the industry’s most comprehensive and transparent ranking,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club. “There are no secret weightings in calculating the rankings, and unlike others, it’s not hidden behind a paywall. As the industry’s foremost nonprofit organization for the global creative community, The One Club is in a unique position to provide this free, definitive measure for global creative excellence to everyone in the industry.”
Highlights of the Global Creative Rankings 2024 are below.
Global Agency Rankings
FCB New York
Rethink Toronto
McCann New York
TBWAMedia Arts Lab Los Angeles
Serviceplan Germany Munich
Dentsu Inc. Tokyo
FCB Chicago
Marcel Paris
VML New York
Ogilvy PR New York, Publicis Conseil Paris (tie)
Independent Agency Rankings
Rethink Toronto
Serviceplan Germany Munich
Wieden+Kennedy Portland
Brand-Side Agency... Read More