Last year, Great Guns, London, produced a series of viral Internet ads directed by Eden Diebel for AppealNow.com via London agency Nitro. Two of the spots, “Kicking” and “Bingo,” each went on to win a Gold Cyber Lion at the 2005 Cannes International Advertising Festival.
Fast-forward to today and Great Guns is back for a return engagement, with a couple of new significant wrinkles. For one, James Spence is directing the latest batch of viral Web fare for the client, and this time for agency Clemmow Hornby Inge, London.
However, the spirit of the work remains intact–taking U.K. traffic wardens to task for abuses, resulting in people being ticketed unfairly for alleged infractions. The scenarios are a bit extreme but done so to make an indelible impression in viewers’ minds. In the aforementioned “Kicking,” for example, a man who’s walking across the street is suddenly attacked by a traffic warden. The male warden wrestles him to the ground, hitting the victim repeatedly. Meanwhile a female warden looks at her watch, waiting for time to elapse so she can slap a parking ticket on the victim’s car. She does just that, then jumps over the beaten man’s body laying in the middle of the street and makes good her escape with the other warden. A tagline advises people who have been wrongly ticketed to log onto AppealNow.com.
Looking to create the same buzz that the original campaign generated, AppealNow.com has unveiled a trio of viral commercials: “Roll,” “Blindfold” and “Line.”
In the latter, one warden holds a bucket of yellow paint as a colleague dips a brush into the bucket and paints the curb and a corner border on the pavement–surrounding one side of an unattended parked car. This unilateral changing of the rules then “justifies” the warden slapping a ticket on the windshield; the two officials then briskly walk away from the scene.
In “Roll,” five wardens team to roll a car over a full revolution and in the process move the vehicle from one side of the road to the other. The rationale for this is to cite the now damaged vehicle for being illegally parked. The five officers then scurry off when hearing the protests being voiced by presumably the victimized motorist who is off camera.
And in “Blindfold,” a female traffic warden’s eyes are covered and fellow wardens spin her about in an attempt to disorient her. She feels her way along a city street. Looking like she’s in search of a piรฑata, it turns out that instead she’s navigating her way carefully towards a parked car. Her hands extend to feel her surroundings; she finally reaches her destination–her palms touch the car’s windshield. She sticks a ticket to the glass and then runs off with her warden accomplices.
Each spot ends with a supered query: “Received an unfair parking ticket?” This is then accompanied by the Web site address, www.AppealNow.com.
While AppealNow.com doesn’t suggest that its spots literally reflect parking attendants’ behavior, the humor in the campaign underscores that unfair and illegally issued parking tickets are indeed issued far too often. The system to appeal unjust tickets is complex and bureaucratic; AppealNow.com was formed to help cut through the red tape.
Going back to last year, the spots have generated a buzz and raised awareness of parking warden abuses. The viral spots have also spread the word that the general public does have some recourse against unfair warden practices. And in some circles it’s believed that the campaign has caused some heavy-handed local authorities to ease off on strict quotas of parking tickets imposed upon traffic wardens.
The creative team of Mister & Missus worked on the latest campaign from Clemmow Hornby Inge. Spence’s support team at Great Guns included executive producer Laura Gregory (who is also managing director of the company) and producer Kojo Abban. The DP was Nic Knowland.
Editor was Andy Philips at Chophouse Editing, London. Colorist was Ben Rogers of Framestore CFC, London. Audio post mixer was Anthony Moore of Factory Studios, London.
โAnoraโ Wins Best Film, Director and Actor At The Independent Spirit Awards
Sean Baker's "Anora" won best film, best director and best actor for Mikey Madison at the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday in what could be a preview of next Sunday's Oscars: The film about a Brooklyn sex worker and her whirlwind affair with a Russian oligarch's son has emerged in recent weeks as an awards season front-runner. The Spirit Awards, held in a beachside tent in Santa Monica, California, is the shaggier, more irreverent sister to the Academy Awards, celebrating the best in independent film and television. Host Aidy Bryant called it "Hollywood's third or fourth biggest night." In accepting the directing prize, Baker spoke passionately about the difficulty of making independent films in an industry that is no longer able to fund riskier films. He said indies are in danger of becoming calling card films โ movies made only as a means to get hired for bigger projects. "The system has to change because this is simply unsustainable," Baker said to enthusiastic applause. "We shouldn't be barely getting by." "Anora's" best film competition included Jane Schoenbrun's psychological horror "I Saw the TV Glow," RaMell Ross' adaptation of Colson Whitehead's "Nickel Boys," Greg Kwedar's incarceration drama "Sing Sing" and Coralie Fargeat's body horror "The Substance." This year had several other possible Oscar winners celebrating. Kieran Culkin, considered an Oscar favorite, won the supporting performance award for "A Real Pain." His director, co-star and writer Jesse Eisenberg won best screenplay for the film about two cousins embarking on a Holocaust tour in Poland. Culkin was not there to accept โ he also missed his BAFTA win last weekend to tend to a family member โ but other Oscar nominees like Madison, Demi Moore, Sebastian Stan and... Read More