By Robert Goldrich

LOS ANGELES --

Procter & Gamble’s Olympic anthem “Best Job” won the best primetime commercial Emmy this evening during the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony held at the Nokia Theatre in the L.A. Live complex. This marks the fourth consecutive year that Wieden+Kennedy has earned the spot Emmy, the prior three winners being: Coca-Cola’s “Heist” in 2009; Old Spice Body Wash’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” in 2010; and Chrysler’s “Born of Fire” in 2011.

Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu of Anonymous Content, “Best Job” shows us different moms around the world getting their youngsters up in the early a.m. for training in their respective sports and follows each through the years until their moments of competitive Olympics glory. We see these kids transition to young athletes in competition at the Summer Games, while moms do everything they do all so well to comfort and support them. A supered message reads, “the hardest job in the world is the best job in the world. Thank you, Mom.”

Shortly after the nominees were announced, John Leverence, sr. VP, awards, for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, shared with SHOOT his assessment regarding the appeal of each of this year’s nominated commercials. He said of “Best Job,”At the end, we see a mother lean out of the stands to hug her winning athlete, almost in the same posture we saw at the beginning of the commercial when she rouses that athlete as a little kid out of bed. It brings you full circle. It’s a branding commercial that brings tears to your eyes–so moving, emotional and wonderful. There are these little moments–mom wraps a bandage around her young son’s injury. It’s emotionally powerful. I also love the transitions. A girl is doing a flip and suddenly she’s grown and flipping in the Olympics. A boy runs and suddenly he’s on the track running his heart out at the Olympics.”

“Best Job” is a continuation of the “Thank You Mom”-themed campaign that has its roots in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. The initiative has since extended to different platforms and became even more impactful as part of P&G’s marketing efforts at this year’s Summer Olympics in London. Just before the 2012 Summer Games, SHOOT caught up with Jerry Rice, sr. integrated production manager at P&G, who observed that the mom-driven campaign’s staying power is rooted in an insight and a truth. The insight is reflected simply in what happens when a young athlete wins an Olympic medal, particularly a Gold Medal. “The first thing they do is look up into the stands for Mom–even moreso than for their coach,” said Rice.

As for the campaign’s honesty, Rice related, “Not one product that P&G sells is going to improve anyone’s athletic performance. But the products we make help make life a little bit easier for Mom, that special person who is most responsible for getting those young athletes to this point–giving birth to them, taking them to practices, nourishing them, supporting them whether they did well or poorly.”

“Best Job” topped a field of 2012 Emmy nominees that also consisted of: Chrysler’s “It’s Halftime in America” directed by David Gordon Green of Chelsea for Wieden+Kennedy; Target’s “Color Changes Everything” directed by Filip Engstrom of Smuggler, also for Wieden+Kennedy; and two spots for Volkswagen out of Deutsch LA–“The Dog Strikes Back” directed by Lance Acord of Park Pictures, and “The Bark Side” helmed by Keith Schofield of Caviar.

Wieden+Kennedy’s creative ensemble on “Best Job” included creative directors Danielle Flagg and Karl Lieberman, copywriter Kevin Jones, art director Ollie Watson, sr. agency producers Erika Madison and Matt Hunnicutt, executive creative directors Mark Fitzloff and Susan Hoffman, and head of broadcast production Ben Grylewicz.

González Iñárritu’s support team at Anonymous included exec producers Dave Morrison (who has since left to form production house Reset in tandem with director David Fincher; SHOOTonline, 8/9), Eric Stern and Jeff Baron, head of production SueEllen Clair, line producer John Benet, associate producer Chris Gallagher and production supervisor Natalie Jacobson. Rodrigo Prieto was the DP. Peter Kohn and Javier Soto were first assistant directors. Production designer was Jeremy Hindle. Costume designer was Casey Storm.

Editor was Peter Wiedensmith of Joint Editorial. Sound designers were Wiedensmith and Eric Hill via Joint. Colorist was Adam Scott of The Mill LA.

The VFX contingent at The Mill LA included exec producer Sue Troyan, producer Enca Kaul, shoot supervisors Hitesh Patel and Tom Bussell, shoot supervisor/2D lead artist Phil Crowe, 2D lead artist Andy Bate, 3D lead artist Nick Lines, 2D artists Becky Porter and Daniel Lang, 3D artists Mike Panoy, Adam Carroll and James Brady, and matte painters Gawain Liddiard and Andy Wheater.

The song “Divenire” composed by Ludovico Einaudi served as the score. Audio post mixer was Jeff Payne at Eleven.

VFX
Winning a Visual Effects Emmy for the second straight year was Brooklyn, NY-based Brainstorm Digital for Boardwalk Empire (HBO). Yet there was a major distinction this time around. Last year, the Emmy for Outstanding Visual Effects came for the pilot of Boardwalk Empire. Now in 2012, the win came in a brand new Emmy category, Outstanding Visual Effects in a Supporting Role, for the “Georgia Peaches” episode of Boardwalk Empire.

“For me, it made a lot of sense for the Television Academy to set up the two categories [Outstanding Special Visual Effects, and Visual Effects in a Supporting Role] this way like the VES [Awards],” said Richard Friedlander, co-founder/partner in Brainstorm Digital and VFX producer for the studio on Boardwalk Empire. “Effects work that’s invisible–that doesn’t put on a show so to speak–should not be competing with a more obvious visual effects usage such as in sci-fi where it plays a primary role in the story. We won the Emmy last year even though we were up against much more visual effects-driven projects. Now with the new categories, we’re not competing against a show like Game of Thrones [HBO], which has effects that are more spectacular in nature.”

Game of Thrones (HBO) won this year’s Outstanding Visual Effects Emmy, by the way, on the basis of the “Valar Morghulis” episode.

Cinematography
Florian Hoffmeister won the Emmy for Outstanding cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie on the strength of PBS’ Great Expectations (Part 2), a BBC/Masterpiece Theatre co-production.

Great Expectations was the first drama Hoffmeister shot with the ALEXA. He previously had a favorable experience shooting a couple of commercials with the ARRI digital camera and that carried over to this ambitious BBC/Masterpiece project. “There’s an immediacy to the process that I enjoy,” said Hoffmeister of digital cinematography. “But I still think there is something magical about film and the discipline it requires from everyone involved.”

Hoffmeister, who’s repped by Claire Best & Associates as a cinematographer, is also handled for select projects as a commercial director by production house Picrow (Pictures in a Row).

Among the other DP winners were Jonathan Freeman whose work for Boardwalk Empire topped the Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series; and Steven V. Silver, ASC, who took the Cinematography honor for a Multi-Camera Series based on the “Sips, Sonnets And Sodomy” episode of Two And A Half Men (CBS).

Editing
Editing category winners included: Jonathan Goldman and David Lathan for the pilot of Homeland (Showtime); Steven A. Rasch, A.C.E., for the “Palestinian Chicken” episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO); Sue Federman for the How I Met Your Mother (CBS) episode titled “Trilogy Time”; and Don Cassidy for Hatfields & McCoys, Part 2 (History channel).

Among the other big winners at the Creative Arts Emmys were:

o Martin Scorsese earned the Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming Emmy on the strength of George Harrison: Living in The Material World (HBO), which also won for Outstanding Nonfiction Special.

o Game of Thrones topped the Creative Arts tally with six Emmys.

o The Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking Honor went to Have You Heard From Johannesburg (Independent Lens, PBS).

o Frozen Planet (Discovery Channel) earned Outstanding Nonfiction Series distinction, one of four Emmys on the evening.

For a full rundown of Creative Arts Emmy winners, click here.The primetime Emmy Awards ceremony (and live telecast) will be held on Sunday, Sept. 23 in Los Angeles.

Here are prior installments of SHOOT’s The Road To Emmy series of feature articles:

Click here to read The Road to Emmy, Part 1

Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 2.

Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 3.

Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 4.

Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 5.

Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 6

Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 7.

Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 8.

Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 9.

Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 10.

MySHOOT Profiles