A lone boy runs through the streets of New York. He’s then joined by a couple of other running kids as they pass a town hall. Soon, the number of youngsters swells to a mini-mob.
These children have hit the streets to pay homage to their favorite "celebs." Each kid is holding a handful of photocopied flyers, which they post up all over the city.
"Some of New York’s most admired figures don’t sell out concerts," relates a voiceover, as we see flyers featuring a woman’s face being put up seemingly everywhere. They cover big glossy photo posters of singer Alicia Keys on a bus kiosk and in front of a theater. We then see a close-up of one of the flyers. Underneath the face is an identifying caption: "Ms. Niskanen."
The kids then hit the Manhattan subway system with different flyers, which show a man’s face. Continuing to talk about some of New York’s most admired people, the voiceover notes, "They’ll never be a running back for the Giants." At that point we see the flyers—of "Mr. Lubinsky"—being slapped over subway posters of New York Giants star running back Tiki Barber.
"And they probably won’t go platinum," continues the voiceover, as we return to the city streets, where kids take flyers of another woman, "Mrs. Olliverra-Jones," and paste them up over posters of DJ Junior Vasquez.
As the kids continue to redecorate the city, the voiceover provides us with some context for those faces on the flyers. "But to millions of kids," the narrator says, "their teachers are still the biggest heroes in the world."
A super then appears, which the voiceover reads: "Join New York’s Brightest. Teach NYC." This is accompanied by a supered Web site address, www.teachnyc.net.
This spot for the New York City Department of Education in concert with the Ad Council is designed to recruit the best and brightest talent to become teachers in the Big Apple. The goal is to bring 7,000 new teachers into the NYC public school system. The multimedia campaign—which encompasses this pro bono commercial, as well as a recruitment video and print ads—is being distributed to local New York City media outlets by the Ad Council. It’s been reported in some circles that this represents the first time in its 61-year history that the Ad Council has supported a local-only campaign.
Titled "Faces," the :60 (with a :30 lift) was directed by feature filmmaker Joel Schumacher (Batman Forever, St. Elmo’s Fire, Flatliners) for New York agency Agent 16. Schumacher helmed the piece via RAW/Progressive Films, Hollywood. Marshall Rawlings executive produced for RAW/Progressive, with David Marcellino producing. The DP was Matty Libatique.
The Agent 16 creative ensemble consisted of chief creative officer Clark Moss, group creative director David Marino, associate creative director/art director Chris Lenox, associate creative director/copywriter Dave Pachence and art director Dan Lucey. Agent 16 tapped into Driver, New York, to serve as its agency production department—J.D. Williams and Scott Weitz were executive producers, with Oscar Thomas serving as producer, Monika Magda as assistant producer and Rob Kaplan as music supervisor.
Editor was Jesse Reisner of The Now Corporation, New York. Nancy Finn executive produced for Now. Flame artist/online editor was Tim Crean of Suspect, New York, with Rob Appelblatt serving as producer.
Colorist was Milan Boncich of Moving Images, New York. Audio mixer was Carl Mandelbaum of audioEngine, New York.
Composer was Lindsay Jehan of Human, New York. Graphics artist was Lauren Hartstone of bicoastal Stardust, with Dan Sormani producing.
