The message couldn’t be clearer in "Redirect." There’s the guy with the CNET logo on his T-shirt, and another man wearing a T-shirt that reads "You." Then, there’s a third guy with a T-shirt that says "The right digital camera." CNET man leads "You" over to "The right digital camera." And not a moment too soon, because a fourth guy with a "The wrong digital camera" T-shirt is lurking nearby. Mr. CNET then makes sure "You" is holding hands with "The right digital camera" before tactfully backing off and letting the relationship blossom. If only CNET were a dating service.
Obviously, it’s not. CNET is a Web site that guides consumers in their technology purchasing decisions. "With a lot of [the dot-com ads] it’s hard to understand what you’re supposed to take from it, who they’re talking about and what they do," says Lisa Gatto, the agency producer at Leagas Delaney, San Francisco, who produced "Redirect." According to Gatto, the agency’s associate creative director/art director Roger Camp and copywriter Matt Elhardt "wanted to go back to the simple concept of ‘Here’s who we are and here’s what we do,’ and that’s it. The point was that anyone who sees the spot can relate to it," she says.
"I’ve worked with every team at the agency," continues Gatto, who believes such a system keeps the work environment fresh. "You get such different perspectives because everyone works so differently. The challenge is making sure everyone’s happy. But that’s ultimately my goal—to make sure that they’re happy with the result."
"Redirect" was part of a campaign helmed by Ulf Johansson and Mats Lindberg of the directing collective Traktor, who are represented by bicoastal/international Partizan. The rest of the package consists of "Bleachers," "Dance" and "Plant"—the last earned Top Spot recognition (SHOOT, 12/3/99, p. 14)—and offer variations on the same procedure. "Traktor really stood out [as the right directors for the job]. They always have an interesting look to their film," says Gatto, who produced all the spots.
Of the three main characters in "Redirect," one is Caucasian, one is of Indian descent and one is Asian. "Starting with [Traktor’s] casting, their characters make you stop and look. We wanted [viewers] to see these people and relate to them." Though Gatto says diversity wasn’t an ultimatum, the team did "want to represent everyone who would be watching the spot. You don’t usually see what our culture is really made up of [in advertising], so that’s what we went for. The people … were from different backgrounds and nationalities, and it worked."
The campaign’s set was comprised of a big yellow room with an adjustable ceiling. "Getting the yellows to coincide with the CNET yellow [required going] to the paint store quite a few times," says Gatto. But the main challenge was getting "Redirect" finished in time. Shot on a Friday afternoon, the spot was set to break during a Monday Night Football game three days later. It was also the agency’s first campaign for CNET. Gatto says the pressure was twofold: "We wanted to make sure our relationship with CNET started off strongly, but with the time constraints, we wanted to make sure the ad actually ran."
Early Bird
Gatto has been on staff for a year, and prior to that freelanced at Leagas Delaney and at Butler, Shine & Stern, which is in nearby Sausalito, Calif. For the latter agency, she worked on accounts such as 989 Studios, Borders Books & Music, Jamba Juice and Miller’s Outpost.
Gatto’s career path was a straight line. At 19, while an undergraduate at New York University, she got an internship at Berenter Greenhouse & Webster, New York. By her senior year, she was working at the agency full-time as an assistant producer, and wrapping up her college credits at night. "I got a lot of experience and responsibility very quickly. I just loved it so much," she says of her work at the ad shop. "I loved being surrounded by creative people, and the fact that it’s always different."
After five years at Berenter, she relocated to San Francisco. In her current position, she spends the majority of her time with creatives, "getting to know them, what they want and how they envision their spots—and learning how to relate that to everyone."
While "it does depend on the creative team," Gatto says she is fortunate to be involved in most campaigns from the beginning. "What I love about Leagas Delaney is that we’re very much a team. When [the creatives] come up with ideas, [producers] go through boards and ideas with them. We do have input. It is a little more production oriented, like ‘That might be difficult to do,’ or ‘This is how you’d have to go about doing that.’ But we definitely are there from the start."
Sport Center
In addition to her efforts for CNET, Gatto also works on the adidas account. Her recent credits include several ads from adidas’ New York Yankees campaign, including "Body Painted Autograph," "Cabby vs. Atlanta Fan" and "El Duque Dance," all of which were directed by Joe Public—a.k.a. Adam Cameron and Simon Cole—of bicoastal Headquarters. The last ad is set in a dance club, where the floor is packed with people engaging in a strange, synchronized routine. When Yankee pitcher David Cone asks a female onlooker what dance everyone is doing, she stops short of saying "Duh," and condescendingly explains, "The El Duque"—as in Yankee pitcher Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez. The dance consists of the pitcher’s unique wind-up. "El Duque" was one of the spots that helped Joe Public earn a Directors Guild of America nomination for best commercial director of ’99 (SHOOT, 2/11, p. 1).
When it comes to budgets, Gatto says, "We’ve had such a spectrum," though she estimates that $200,000 per spot is about average. That’s roughly $100,000 below the industry standard, but she adds, "there’s always a way to figure out how to get your creative done well. Budget is a challenge, but you can make it happen. I don’t feel like we’ve ever had to compromise."
Gatto hopes to eventually become an executive producer and oversee her own department. "I would never want to stop producing," she says. "A lot of executive producers step back, but I’d just love to be part of a big department with a lot going on."
There is currently "creative in the works" for CNET, though the team hasn’t presented it to the client yet. As for Gatto, who was wrapping new adidas work at press time, her plan is to "just finish these spots and keep on movin.’ "t
