Symbolism at the neighborhood dry cleaners—that’s the creative means whereby agency Rick Johnson & Co., Albuquerque, N.M., gets its point across for United Blood Services, a division of Blood Systems. A nonprofit self-supporting organization of 18 community blood centers, Blood Systems serves more than 600 hospitals in 17 states.
"Dry Cleaners" takes us into a dry cleaning establishment. The focal point of this black-and-white spot is the mechanized rack, which carries a seemingly endless procession of neatly hung and cleaned garments. The mechanical system fills the room, moving along a parade of nondescript shirts, suits and pants.
A voiceover intervenes with a message that at first seems incongruous with what we’re seeing: "There are heroes among us who will never get ticker-tape parades. No monuments will be built in their names."
Suddenly emerging from the sea of black-and-white clothes is a red garment, perhaps a flowing blouse or shirt. The voiceover continues, "There are heroes you will never know, whose actions save lives every day. They are blood donors. And to every person who needs blood, their single act of giving is heroic."
A worker at the dry cleaners grabs the red garment off the rack and hands it to a female customer.
Then outside the dry cleaner, we see the woman wearing the red article of clothing—which turns out to be a red super-hero cape. As she walks past, the United Blood Services logo appears. The spot then takes us back to the dry cleaners, where supered against a backdrop of drab black-and-white clothing is the message, "We need more heroes."
"We wanted the red cape to stand out in the shots, to represent the heroic, yet anonymous individuals who step forward to donate," said Sam Maclay, creative director at Rick Johnson & Co. "It demonstrates how few blood donors there are among the general population. Only one in twenty people regularly donate blood."
According to United Blood Services, 250 donations per day are needed to fulfill New Mexico’s blood needs. One donation can help three people in the form of red blood cells for surgery, platelets for cancer patients and plasma to help promote clotting.
"Essentially, we are trying to replace the word ‘donor’ with ‘hero,’ and demonstrate the emotional feeling one gets after having donated blood for the survival of others," related Scott Johnson, executive creative director at Rick Johnson & Co.
The Rick Johnson & Co. team consisted of executive creative director Johnson, writer/creative director Maclay, writer Ron Salzberg and art directors Mark Chamberlain, Tim McGrath and Kelly Marshall.
The spot was directed, shot and edited by Michael Oleksinski. Sterling Productions, Rick Johnson & Co.’s in-house production company, produced the commercial, with Sterling Grant Jr. serving as executive producer. Oleksinski is a freelance director. He is repped as an editor by Post-Op, Dallas.
Online editor was Brenda Vaughan of Post Op. Colorist was Omar Godinez of The Filmworkers Club, Dallas. Audio mixer on the :30 was Dave Marcus of Post-Op. (A :15 version was mixed by John Wagner of John Wagner Studios, Albuquerque.)
Monica Bessom and Debrianna Mansini were the lead actors in this spot. The SAG/AFTRA Commercials Contract Standing Committee has granted a waiver to allow commercials to be available for viewing on SHOOTonline.com. The spots cannot be copied, downloaded or e-mailed.
