Latest Round Of Ads For Beverage Giant Takes Viewer On Trip.
CLIENT
Snapple.
PRODUCTION CO.
Tate & Partners, Santa Monica. Baker Smith, director; Tim Ives, DP; David Tate, executive producer; Bonnie Goldfarb, line producer; Donald Burt, production designer. Shot on location. Snapple bottle open and close by Emerald Films, New York. J. Wesley Jones, director; Ivan Molomut, executive producer. Shot at Ceco Studios, New York.
AGENCY
Deutsch Inc., New York. Kathy Delaney, executive creative director; Cheryl Van Ooyen, associate creative director/copywriter; Matt Myers, senior art director; Cheri Anderson, agency producer.
EDITORIAL
MacKenzie Cutler, New York. Ian MacKenzie, editor; Molly Larkey, assistant editor.
POST
The Tape House, New York. Milan Boncich, colorist; Peter Heady, online editor.
VISUAL EFFECTS
Tape House Digital, New York. Michel Suissa, director of visual effects; Frank Devlin, senior producer; Alan Neidorf, Brian Benson and Patrick Ferguson, visual effects artists; Dave Berkner, Harry artist; Dan Connors, assistant producer.
AUDIO POST
East Side Audio, New York. Tom Jucarone, mixer.
SOUND DESIGN
MacKenzie Cutler. Chuck Smith, sound designer.
BY CAROLYN GIARDINA
Say goodbye–again–to Wendy the Snapple lady, and hello to the latest batch of offbeat TV ads for the beverage, created by New York-based Deutsch Inc., and directed by Baker Smith of Santa Monica-based Tate & Partners.
According to Deutsch executive creative director Kathy Delaney, Snapple is about variety, and that’s the message that team wanted to convey in the new campaign. Each spot–“Abacus,” “Patch,” “Musical Chairs” and “Win Nothing”–begins with the shot of a different Snapple bottle and takes the viewer on a “different trip,” said Delaney. The bottle closes the vignette in each spot, and each ends with the tag, “The best stuff is in here.”
One of the first to break, “Abacus,” is set in a one-classroom schoolhouse in the 1930s. “The benchmark we talked about was To Kill a Mockingbird,” Smith explained. “We wanted it to feel like a period piece. The one-classroom school, if nothing else, [was] just for the oddity of it.”
In this setting, a little girl with messy hair, missing front teeth and a pronounced southern accent struggles to solve an arithmetic problem. Her teacher, tensely gripping her pencil with both hands, suggests she try the Snapple abacus in the front of the classroom–literally a giant abacus that uses Snapple bottles in place of beads. The little girl is able to quickly solve the problem, and the teacher asks the class to thank “Congressman Bob” for donating the abacus. Bob, meanwhile, is in the coat closet going through the children’s lunches. Panicked, he quickly turns to the class with a big smile and thanks Snapple for having over 40 flavors.
The characters make this spot sing. The inspiration behind the little girl, Smith said, was Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. The teacher, the biggest hurdle, had to be very controlled, but with a pent-up anger. Smith noted that for the congressman, the team found an actor who “you want to believe but you know you shouldn’t.”
Cheryl Van Ooyen, Deutsch associate creative director/copywriter, noted that the spot was given the period “Technicolor” look of films such as Singin’ in the Rain. Smith and DP Tim Ives “really helped develop the look,” she commented.
The classroom sequence was shot on location at a high school in the L.A. area. Smith laughed that building the abacus–and getting it into the classroom–was the biggest challenge.
Smith raved about the creativity of the agency team and the collaborative experience. “We clicked and got along,” he noted. “It was my first time working with Deutsch. They have a way of turning out stuff that’s left of center.”
Delaney–who had similar praise for working with Smith–said the Deutsch team selected Smith for the project because he had a “diverse reel” and “a twisted, wonderful sense of humor.”
Added Van Ooyen, “There are just as many personalities in his work as we wanted in our work.”
A motion-control rig was used to shoot the Snapple bottle opening and closing; a bluescreen insert helped isolate the classroom footage. New York-based Emerald Films’ J. Wesley Jones directed those sequences; New York-based Tape House Digital helped supervise the shoot. Later the bottle and the classroom sequence were brought together in Inferno at THD.
Editor Ian MacKenzie of MacKenzie Cutler, New York, noted, “The whole thing was [to create] these little worlds inside the bottle, and to make it seem normal even though it was abnormal. The teacher is strange; the little girl is strange. The congressman is stealing someone’s lunch.” The aim, he added was “to make the most of a questionable situation.”
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PIG Shares Tostitos With The Clampetts
CLIENT
Frito-Lay/Tostitos.
PRODUCTION CO.
Plum Productions, Santa Monica. Nick Piper, director; Dean Cundey, DP; Thom Tyson, executive producer; Cara Tapper, producer. Shot at Raleigh Studios, Hollywood.
AGENCY
BBDO New York. Al Merrin, vice chairman/creative director; Ric Wylie, producer; Gil Witt, art director; Harry Woods, copywriter.
STOCK FOOTAGE
CBS Archives, Burbank, Calif. August Messana, contact.
EDITORIAL
Progressive Image Group, New York. Andrea Newhouse, editor; Pete Reglis, assistant editor.
POST
Company 3, Santa Monica. Michael Pethel, colorist.
VISUAL EFFECTS
A52, Los Angeles. Nick Piper, visual effects artist; Cara Colombini, producer. Cerulean Digital Color & Animation, Santa Monica. Ozzie Carmona, art director.
AUDIO POST
East Side Audio, New York. Tom Jucarone, mixer.
MUSIC
Big Foote Communications, New York. Sherman Foote and Ray Foote, composers.
SOUND DESIGN
Soho Sound, New York. Matt Roth, sound designer.
THE SPOT
Actor Chris Elliott prepares nachos and shares a few jokes with the Beverly Hillbillies in the :30 “Chris Meets the Beverly Hillbillies.”
Spot broke March 23.
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SC, Chelsea Deliver For USPS And FCB
CLIENT
United States Postal Service.
PRODUCTION CO.
Chelsea Pictures, New York. Simon Blake, director; Donald Smith, DP; Steve Wax and Maddi Carlton, executive producers; Nina Shiffman, producer. Shot at Silvercup Studios, Long Island City, N.Y.
AGENCY
Foote, Cone & Belding, New York. Tom Rost, senior VP/group creative director/copywriter; Saskia Mossel, senior VP/senior creative director/art director; Wendy Vitolo, senior VP/senior producer.
EDITORIAL
Palestrini Post Production, New York. David Cornman, editor; Heather Asencio, assistant editor.
POST
Palestrini Post Production. David Cornman, online editor. SMA Video, New York. Billy Gaber, colorist.
VISUAL EFFECTS
Spontaneous Combustion, New York. Tony Robins, executive director/Flame artist; Tod Gutridge, Flame artist; Scott Sindorf, CGI artist.
AUDIO POST
Blast Digital Audio, New York. Joe O’Connell, mixer.
MUSIC
Amber Music, London. Phillip Sawyer, composer.
THE SPOT
In “Saving Around the World,” a USPS worker in New York takes to the air, tossing packages to recipients around the globe.
Spot broke Feb. 3.
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Saatchi Is A Winner For Tide With Bleach
CLIENT
Procter & Gamble/Tide with Bleach.
PRODUCTION CO.
Nolan/La Monte Films, Santa Monica. Wade Ferley, director; Kirk Bachman, DP; Lou La Monte, executive producer; Peter Yacavone, producer. Shot on location.
AGENCY
Saatchi & Saatchi, New York. David Levine, executive creative director; Katie Connolly, associate creative director/copywriter; Paul Frahm, associate creative director/art director; Ron Weber, executive producer.
EDITORIAL
Shoot First Editorial, New York. Ciro DeNettis, editor.
POST
Shoot First Editorial. Ciro DeNettis, online editor. The Tape House Editorial Company, New York. Tim Masick, colorist.
AUDIO POST
Shoot First Editorial. Stewart Small, engineer.
MUSIC
John Hill Music, New York. John Hill, composer.
THE SPOT
The :45 “Athletic Director” features former major leaguer and current high-school athletic director Buzz Nitschke as spokesperson. “If you look like a winner, you play like a winner,” Nitschke states, as comparisons of uniforms washed with Tide with Bleach and a competitor are shown, intercut with scenes of athletes in action.
Spot broke in January.
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Crossroads Juices Up Fla. Dept. Of Citrus
CLIENT
Florida Department of Citrus.
PRODUCTION CO.
Crossroads Films, Los Angeles. Mark Story, director; Tom Krueger, DP; Cami Taylor, executive producer; Brian Homman, producer. Shot on location.
AGENCY
The Richards Group, Dallas. Glenn Dady, creative director; Kent Johnson, art director; Bill Milkereit, writer; Carol Leftwich, producer.
EDITORIAL
Post Op, Dallas. Michael Van de Kamer, editor.
POST
Post Op. Gerlinde Scharinger, online editor. The Filmworkers Club, Dallas. Drew Marsh, colorist.
AUDIO POST
Post Op. Collyer Spreen, mixer/engineer.
MUSIC
Daniel Obst Music, Hollywood. Daniel Obst, composer.
THE SPOT
Four spots–“Room Service,” “Diner,” “Two Women” and “Mom’s Kitchen”–feature humorous scenarios involving small glasses of orange juice. The :30s and :15s associate healthy quantities of orange juice with reducing the risk of cancer, heart disease and birth defects, as well as fighting colds and increasing the intake of folic acid.
Spots broke in Januar
