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.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More