FOX Sports’ "Beware of Things Made In October" campaign has been ubiquitous on this year’s awards circuit. Promoting Major League Baseball’s post season, the spots "Nail Gun," "Boat" and "Leaf Blower"—directed by Baker Smith of Harvest, Santa Monica, for TBWA/Chiat/Day, San Francisco—have either individually or collectively made their mark at such shows as the Cannes International Advertising Festival, the Association of Independent Commercial Producers Show, the London D&AD competition, the One Show, the Clios, the International Broadcasting Awards, the Art Directors Club of New York honors, the Andy Awards and the Emmy Awards.
The campaign helped Harvest earn distinction as Clio’s "Production Company of the Year." And "Nail Gun" was one of the entries that helped garner Smith a nomination from the Directors Guild of America as best commercial director of 2001.
But despite their high profile, the spots didn’t get as much airplay as originally planned. The commercials broke in August ’01, but were pulled in the aftermath of 9/11 for fear that their brand of comedy wasn’t quite appropriate with the nation reeling from the terrorist attacks.
However, the work is now coming to a TV near you as Major League Baseball and FOX so liked the spots that they are being run to billboard this year’s playoffs and World Series. The decision is testament to the quality of the creative, its execution and the people behind both.
I had the pleasure of moderating a discussion on the anatomy of the campaign during last month’s Adweek Creative Seminar presented in association with SHOOT in Las Vegas. Our panelists included Bonnie Goldfarb, partner/exec producer of Harvest, and a pair of TBWA/Chiat/ Day alums: co-copywriter/co-art director on the FOX Sports fare, Jeff Labbe, who has since joined Leo Burnett USA, Chicago, as a senior VP/creative director; and agency producer Betsy Beale, now executive producer of bicoastal editorial house Lost Planet. The campaign, incidentally, was cut by a couple of Lost Planet editors—Hank Corwin who edited "Nail Gun"; and Paul Martinez, editor of "Boat" and "Leaf Blower." Martinez also served as sound designer on all three spots.
Among the various observations from the panel discussion was the notion that angst shouldn’t necessarily be avoided and in fact can prove essential to turning out worthwhile work. For example, though there was great mutual respect among the creatives and the director, the set wasn’t always harmonious, recalled Goldfarb, citing the strong creative personalities involved. This can prove healthy, she related.
Labbe concurred, noting that the occasional friction was "for the right reasons—to make the work as good as possible." In this vein, he related, "Great directors say ‘no.’ Are you talented and caring enough to fight for what you believe in? … This isn’t a question of ego. … Everybody left their egos at home. The fact is that a good director will push you. You have to be good enough to push back—all for the sake of the quality of the finished work."
For Labbe, another prime message was "stop bitchin’"—about good ideas that get killed, and about having a challenged budget. Labbe noted that that it’s counterproductive to complain about having no money. "Just write a good script … we wrote 180. … Your creative team needs to have stamina."
As for the aforementioned awards won by the campaign, they represent far more than an ego booster. They can help to boost a career. For example, said Beale, after the AICP Show in New York, Lost Planet started to receive assorted calls expressing interest in Martinez. "The power of good work being recognized," noted Beale, "can mean a great deal in terms of generating opportunities."
