By Kimberly Pierceall
LAS VEGAS (AP) --The latest ‘What Happens Here, Stays Here’ Las Vegas ad campaign features a familiar musical act from, well, right here.
Indie-rock band Imagine Dragons has teamed up with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority for the latest ad from agency R&R Partners.
One is selling a destination.
The other is selling a forthcoming as-yet-unnamed album.
The creative crew for R&R tasked with keeping the ad campaign fresh, had their idea: two “Transformation” ads, one with a man, the other a woman, who both crisscross through Las Vegas scenes running into each other pool-side, or amid a fire-breathing variety act, at a 1920s-themed nightclub and a concert venue.
Then, about two months ago, the hometown band Imagine Dragons came along with their newest single, “I bet my life.”
The quickly conceived commercials that debut Monday were shot on location at SLS Las Vegas and MGM Grand casino-hotels. They cost $1.2 million to produce and will cost the Las Vegas tourism agency an additional $7.6 million to buy national air time on NBC, ABC, FOX, E!, Bravo, Food Network, USA, Travel Channel, Comedy Central and several others.
Come spring, Chicago, Dallas and Houston should expect to see the spots a bit more than most.
“We’re in debt to Vegas,” said Dan Reynolds, the band’s lead singer and a Las Vegas native, in interviews filmed by R&R. “We really owe everything to Vegas.”
Imagine Dragons sold more than 3.9 million copies of its 2012 debut album “Night Visions” which included Grammy-award winning single “Radioactive.”
Rob Dondero with R&R Partners, who leads the team that sells Las Vegas to the world, said the spots’ messages are simple.
“Las Vegas is a place where anything can happen,” he said.
The destination has been relying more and more on entertainment that doesn’t involve taking an actual gamble, and the ads don’t show a single slot machines or casino floor.
Caroline Coyle, the visitor’s authority vice present of brand strategy indicated that wasn’t on purpose and said the campaign’s goal isn’t to highlight one particular aspect of Las Vegas.
“We really like to evoke just a feeling for Vegas,” she said.
Jamie Rafn of Smuggler directed the “Transformation” spots.
R&R Partners’ creative ensemble included creative director Schuyler Vanden Bergh, writers Mary Money and Chrissy Deem, art director Rachel Hogan, VP of broadcast Don Turley and director of broadcast/producer Dustin Oliver.
Editor was Martin Leroy of Whitehouse Post.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More