Maybe it’s better if the idle rich stay idle—at least that’s the conclusion one could draw from this commercial about a Washington State Lottery Mega Millions winner who decides to buy Seattle’s landmark Space Needle and relocate it to the small town of Moses Lake, Washington.
The ad is the capper to a three-spot campaign done in broadcast news format, with a field reporter telling the story of Steve, a Mega Million Lotto winner. The first commercial shows the Space Needle being shut down. A "sold" sign is perched on top of it. One of Steve’s sub-intelligent friends explains to the reporter that his pal purchased and plans to move the Needle to "try the elevator."
The second spot then covers the actual transport of the Needle—via a huge tractor-trailer—across the state. When the reporter asks Steve how the tower is going to get past all the overpasses on the route, he responds, "We’ll take them down." Ah, the power of money.
In the final commercial, "Space Needle 3," the Needle has been situated in the community of Moses Lake, and it towers over a modest-looking house. The reporter describes the Needle as "a boon for Moses Lake," but adds that its absence has "caused confusion in Seattle." The reporter asks Steve, "What would you say to disappointed tourists?" He responds, "Come visit the Steve Needle." The reporter wraps up her report by noting, "The Space Needle gets a new home. Washington gets a new game."
Neil Harris of bicoastal Smuggler directed the three spots for Publicis, Seattle. Brian Carmody and Patrick Milling Smith executive produced for Smuggler, which is a satellite of bicoastal Villains. The DP was Collin Davis.
The Publicis creative ensemble included creative director/art director Kevin Kehoe, copywriter John Reid, art director George Boutilier and producer Pam Hopkins. J. D. Smyth of Rock Paper Scissors, Los Angeles, cut the campaign with Olaf Garcia as assistant editor. Linda Carlson and Kelly Zamarin of Rock Paper Scissors served as executive producer and producer, respectively.
The visual effects house was Radium, San Francisco and Santa Monica. Radium’s contingents included visual effects supervisor/Inferno artist/online editor Simon Mowbray, CG artist Tom Briggs, executive producer Anastacia Feldman and producer Carla Attanasio. Jeff Tillotson of Flying Spot Film Transfer, Seattle, was the colorist and Paul Goldberg of Pure Audio, Seattle, was the audio mixer.
