Even if you can’t withstand the pressure, your armpits can. While that may seem a small consolation, it proves to be the unexpected punchline of "Testing Time." The :40 spot, an homage to The Matrix, was directed by Thomas Krygier of London-based Krygier Hirschkorn for agency Lowe Lintas, London.
The commercial opens in an unassuming diner where a sinister-looking man with a glass eye stands at the counter. Seeing him spot her, a young woman seated at a table suddenly bolts out the rear door. Behind her, the diner’s customers have transformed into clones of the seemingly evil man with the evil eye.
Cut to our fleeing heroine in a parking garage, pursued by the villain in a speeding car. She runs into an elevator, cringing as the slow-moving doors close just as the car hits them. She opens her eyes to find herself atop a skyscraper, teetering on the roof’s edge—with four male clones closing in. She appears doomed, but a helicopter with a dangling rope ladder seemingly comes to the rescue. She jumps onto the ladder and sees above her the wickedly grinning man with the glass eye. He cuts the rope.
The spot cuts to a close-up of the anxious woman’s face, which is now covered by a virtual-reality headset. We pull back to see that she is in the chair of a laboratory where a female scientist is baffled as to why her panting test subject is not perspiring more profusely.
A flashback of the young woman reveals her secret. She’s at the bathroom sink, staring confidently into the medicine cabinet’s mirror. We then see a product shot of Sure deodorant in the cabinet, and realize how she’s beat the system.
The spot cuts back to the scientist. "Congratulations," she declares. "You’re in." The young woman relaxes as the scientist removes the headset, only to become the man with the glass eye.
The Lowe Lintas team included creative director Charles Inge, art directors Jeff Curtis and Wayne Hanson, and producer Nick Peers.
Nick Hirschkorn produced for Krygier, with Franziska Hoch serving as production manager. Jonathan Taylor was the DP. John Bunker was the production designer.
"Testing Time" was cut by London-based freelance editor Mario Batistell. Ant Walsham and Fergus McCall of The Mill, London, were online editor and colorist, respectively. Audio mixer was London freelancer Adrian Rhodes.
Music composer was Paul Thomson of Synesthesia, London. Freelancer Graham Headicar, a London resident, served as sound designer.
The :60—with :40 and :30 lifts—has been running nationally in the U.K.
