Super Bowl spots are not exactly known for being, um, sophisticated. For a while now, the big-budget, big-buzz extravaganzas have tended toward talking animals and a type of humor equally at home, on say, The Benny Hill Show. And then, this year, there was "Dan." The brainchild of Brian McDermott and Steven Block, who are, respectively, associate creative director/copywriter and associate creative director/art director at BBDO New York, the Cingular Wireless Super Bowl spot was an unexpectedly serious, and uplifting, look at an extraordinary artist, one who happens to have cerebral palsy. In the spot, directed by James Gartner of bicoastal Gartner, the artist, Dan Keplinger, leans over a canvas on the floor, painting with his head—that is, with a brush attached to headgear. With his distorted words accompanied by subtitles, he tells the world how lucky he is. The tag: "What do you have to say?"
"We knew it would be emotional, but we just wanted to tell the story because Dan represents self expression," says McDermott, who first saw the artist in a documentary called King Gimp. "He’s an amazing free spirit, and so damn bright." (King Gimp won the Oscar for best documentary short in 1999, and aired on HBO.)
Selling the idea, McDermott readily admits, was a "lesson in perseverance." Charlie Miesmer, vice chairman/senior executive creative director at BBDO—who along with Ted Sann, co-chief executive officer and chief creative officer, eventually championed the idea—says he was afraid the spot would be seen as to serious for the Super Bowl. "But then I began to think, this guy’s not disabled, he’s an artist. … If he can have the courage to do that, and Brian and Steve have the courage to run it on the Super Bowl of all places, then I can damn well have the courage to take it to a client."
With BBDO since ’98, Block, the team’s art director, and McDermott, a copywriter, have been together since ’96, when they were paired by the prescient powers that be at FCB Direct, New York. At BBDO, they’ve worked on such accounts as Visa, Charles Schwab, Pizza Hut and Frito-Lay. Their secret? Hard work, says the duo. "We don’t say ‘no’," says Block.
"They’re just a terrific team," notes Jimmy Siegel, executive VP/executive creative director at BBDO, to whom the duo reports. "There’s a certain amount of cynicism in this business, and it’s great to see people enthusiastic about the projects they’re working on. In addition, they’re very smart, and always come up with, at the very least, something interesting."
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Helping them along is that little thing called chemistry. "I think of it like I push and Steve pulls," says McDermott. "Steve grounds me in a lot of ways. I’m flying all over the place, and Steve can pull me back on things. And he’s a deep thinker and I can push some things out of him."
Their work contains, more often than not, a dead-pan wit that builds as efficiently and brilliantly as a well-produced skit. Schwab’s "Candy Store," for instance, which was directed by David Cornell of bicoastal Headquarters, begins with the golden glow of yesteryear as boys rush into a candy store to spend their allowances on baseball cards and candy. A young Charles Schwab is in the group, and he informs his friends that he’s saving his pennies for his portfolio. As they stare at him in confusion, the spot goes one step further and ends with young Charles advising his friend to hold tight to a Mickey Mantle baseball card.
McDermott notes that he "always has fun working on the Visa stuff." The duo has worked on several ads for Visa’s sponsorship of events such as the Tony Awards and NASCAR. "One of the reasons is that each time we bring in a new director. It helps keep the work fresh."
And it’s a challenge, he admits, to keep the long-running campaign, with the "It’s everywhere you want to be tag," from feeling stale. "A lot of the credit for [the campaign’s continued success] goes to Jimmy Siegel," adds McDermott. "He doesn’t let it stagnate. … And the [tag] itself is strong and broad enough to let us go into different areas. We like to think of Visa consumers as being very smart. It’s all about wit. It’s a wink and not a belly laugh."
Block and McDermott share many of the same interests. "Music, entertainment, sports," says Block. "We even went to see the sequel to Escape From New York together. You really had to like it a lot to see the sequel."
They also happened upon advertising in a similarly winding fashion. Block, who attended New York’s School of Visual Arts, began his career as an computer illustrator in the garment district, and went on to do such endeavors as owning a T-shirt company and substitute teaching. It was when he returned to computer illustrating that "a great woman at work said ‘I know you’ve been taking advertising classes; we’ll lay you off and you can collect unemployment and get your portfolio together.’ " Work followed at Burkhardt & Hillman, New York, and, eventually, FCB Direct and then DiMassimo Brand Advertising, New York.
McDermott began his career as a professional musician, playing guitar in a hard rock band called Broken Toys. The group had a demo deal with Atlantic Records in ’87, but was dropped as the industry began to favor edgier bands. He then moved to Chicago, where he became both a stock trader and a player in that city’s famed Second City theater troupe. McDermott specialized in the "black out," a thirty-second skit. He eventually came back East, went to Columbia Business School, where, he says, he didn’t even pretend to pay attention, and where it was suggested that perhaps, should he want to stay in business, advertising might be up his alley. He started with Ogilvy & Mather, New York, on the account side, and says while he’s grateful for what he learned there, within minutes of meeting his first creative he had decided "that was what I wanted to be doing." He moved into direct advertising and Communications Plus, New York, and eventually wound up at FCB.
McDermott and Block have some Frito-Lay and Visa work in the offing, and life, it seems, is going well. They love their work, and say that BBDO, thankfully, is the kind of place where people pull for each other. "The worst thing that can happen," says Block, "is when we have nothing. We feel like we’re letting ourselves down."
"When that happens," adds McDermott, "you work harder. We’ve found there’s always another idea. It’s like digging a hole for gold. Digging is right, but sometimes you have to get out of that hole and look in a different place."
