No matter how fertile the imagination of a child, reality can sometimes break through in jarring fashion. That’s the dynamic in a two-spot campaign that makes a simple, eloquent and moving case for involvement in Big Brothers and Big Sisters-type programs, where adults volunteer to be friends and mentors to young people. At press time, an effort was underway to gain airtime for the PSAs.
In "Catch," we see a young boy leading his adult-sized friend to a spot in a backyard along the side of a house. The friend looks like he’s from a book of fables—kind of a cross between a friendly monster and a whimsical otherworldly creature. But like a human, he has two arms and legs.
The excited little boy then walks several paces away from his buddy with a ball in hand. Clearly, a game of catch is about to begin. The boy throws the ball, but it goes right by his adult friend—who makes no effort to catch it—and shatters a house window.
The boy himself appears shattered to see that his pal isn’t capable of playing catch. As the friend fades out of sight, a male voiceover reads a super that says, "Imaginary Friends Can’t Catch."
The voiceover continues, "Little kids need real friends. Be a Big Brother."
The spot concludes with an end tag identifying the Big Brothers and Big Sisters organizations of San Francisco and the Peninsula, accompanied by a phone number.
The other ad, "Hide & Seek," depicts a young girl leaving her imaginary friend on the couch and then hiding in another room—the object being a fun game of hide-and-seek. But when the fantastical-looking friend makes no move to find the girl, we similarly discover that imaginary friends can’t play hide-and-seek. A parting voiceover urges us to be Big Sisters.
Chiat, who recently joined Santa Monica-based Green Dot Films (SHOOT, 9/12, p. 7), originally helmed the spots via his Red Dog Films, Santa Monica. Sue Crain served as executive producer/producer for Red Dog. The DP was Kirk Bachman.
The spots were conceived by copywriter Mike McCommon and art director Aaron Allen, who at the time were with Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco, but were engaged in this public service project separate from their work at the agency. (McCommon is now at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, while Allen’s roost is TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles.)
With virtually no budget for the public service campaign, McCommon and Allen searched for a director willing to take on the project. Eventually they found Chiat, who committed to the campaign, and production began after McCommon and Allen had left Publicis & Hal Riney. However, once the campaign was wrapped, there was a changing of the guard at the local Bay Area chapter of Big Brothers and Big Sisters, which led to the spots losing the necessary organizational backing to run.
So Green Dot is currently looking to secure sponsorship from Big Brothers, Big Sisters or another organization dedicated to helping children. Green Dot executive producer Rick Fishbein hopes to then see the spots gain pro bono airtime.
Lance Pereira of Chrome, Santa Monica, edited the spots. Colorist was Stefan Sonnenfeld of Company 3, Santa Monica. Audio mixer was John Bolen, who at the time was with Eleven, Santa Monica. (Bolen has since become a founding partner in Play, Santa Monica.)
