Viewers first learned about the condition Connectile Dysfunction during the Super Bowl. In a thinly veiled parody of erectile dysfunction infomercials, the spot, created by Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco, shows a business traveler at an airport sitting in a corner frustrated because he can’t connect to the Internet where and when he wants to due to inadequate broadband coverage. Luckily the cure is revealed: Sprint Mobile Broadband connection cards.
Now the brand is spreading the cure for “CD” even further with a customizable viral video and microsite curecd.com. The microsite introduces visitors to the Connectile Dysfunction Treatment Center, an online clinic where sufferers are greeted by vivacious Nurse Debbie. From there they can meet the center’s kooky, recovering patients by taking a tour of the facility.
In the Body Therapy section, we see patients getting physically prepared to reconnect with the world. In Group Therapy, CD sufferers are shown rebuilding their confidence destroyed by dysfunction. And in Isolation Therapy, visitors can watch patients cleanse their minds of CD’s ill effects.
Before going on a tour, visitors are given the opportunity to personalize and send a video to an aquaintance who might be suffering from CD. The recipient will receive a link to the video customized with personal information like, name, partner’s name, industry they work in and where they live. The sultry Dr. Cate McManus of the CDTC playfully hints at their difficulty getting and maintaining an Internet connection in a curiously intimate way.
“We wanted it to feel like the nurse knows all about the person to cut through the usual B to B clutter that’s out there,” said Dominic Goldman, senior VP/creative director at Publicis & Riney, pointing out that B to B doesn’t have to be boring.
It also doesn’t have to be about “ramming products down customers throats.”
“The interesting thing about the site is there is very little branding. Sprint is only mentioned when you click on the Find a Cure brochure and from there you can visit sprint.com,” explained Goldman. “We felt like that allowed the piece to feel less like advertising and a hard sell and to get under people’s radars and entertain them. We were very pleased Sprint agreed to this.”
Kudos go to the actors for the entertainment value of the project. Goldman pointed out that Nurse Debbie ad libs for six minutes while people are filling out the form to admit a friend. “She was fantastic. Those characters really help bring this to life. It could have been quite flat if they didn’t,” he said.
He also praised the work of copywriter Paul Mimiaga and writer/director Lee Einhorn of Mekanism, San Francisco. The company was tapped because it could handle all the technical issues of building the site as well as the directing responsibilities.
Goldman was excited about the level of casting and production values that brought this idea to life. “It was almost like a full TV shoot for a website,” he said.
Director Angie Bird Joins Scheme Engine For U.S. Representation
Scheme Engine has added director/photographer Angie Bird to its roster for U.S. representation spanning commercials and original content.
Bird crafts deeply human and charismatic portrayals of community, empowerment and the rituals of celebration across commercials, elevated documentary and short film. A former agency creative, Bird has a body of brand work consisting of cinematic lifestyle campaigns for Nike, Dove, Allstate, Procter & Gamble and the YMCA, among others. Prior to joining Scheme Engine, Bird was most recently represented in the U.S. for commercials by production house Curfew.
Two years into her career, Bird back in 2016 won a Cannes Young Director Award for “Mean Tweets,” a provocative campaign for Raising the Roof, that challenged stereotypes of unhoused individuals with striking humanizing portraits. The project earned honors at the Clios, and Webbys and was shortlisted at Cannes.
Her Gillette campaign, “First Shave”--a heartfelt examination of masculinity in the trans community--earned three Cannes prizes and won honors at the Clios and The One Show.
As a director invested in films that ignite conversation, and inspire action, Bird embraces challenging, overlooked stories, bringing to light complex, authentically heroic characters faced with cultural stigmatization and gender-based discrimination. She co-wrote and directed "Short Life Stories" for White Ribbon and Canadian agency Bensimon Byrne--a shattering call to dismantle transphobia, following the journey of a transgender woman as she steps into her authentic life. The campaign won six awards at One SCREEN 2024, including Best in Region: North America and Best in Show
“I’m inspired,” affirmed Bird, “to create stories that champion the... Read More