Start Dammit Start" for Chevrolet, directed by Tom Schiller of Five Union Square Productions, New York, via Campbell-Ewald Advertising, Warren, Mich., borrows the horror film cliche of a terrified character trying to escape from the clutches of a monster and/or psychotic killer by car. Of course, the vehicle won’t start and the victim is trapped. In the ad, which combines scenes from classic scary movies and original footage, victims from slasher flicks pump the gas pedal in their cars, turn the keys, pound their dash and scream, but the engines simply won’t turn over. After the mayhem, the spot cuts to the super-"If only everything was as dependable as a Chevy"-followed by the Chevy logo and the purr of a functional engine.
David Johns, senior VP/associate creative director, and Arthur Mitchell, executive VP/creative director, are the agency creatives who brewed up "Start Dammit Start," along with "Computer" and "Airport"-also helmed by Schiller-for a Chevrolet branding effort. The agency duo also recently worked on "Twister" for Chevy’s Monte Carlo, which was helmed by Nick Piper of Plum Productions, Santa Monica.
"We like ideas that are simple and clean," says Johns, "not things that are predicated on a gimmick or a trick or a special effect to take you somewhere. It’s basically the idea itself. We don’t like things that are over-produced."
"Start Dammit Start," which has a decidedly no-frills look, meets the criteria. Chevy had originally asked the pair to make a point about vehicle dependability. "We thought, ‘Oh my God-dependability? This is going to be so dull,’" recalls Johns. "But I think a good creative can take a subject that’s dull and turn it into something that’s engaging and memorable."
This isn’t the sort of advertising Chevy was doing six or seven years ago. "Back then," Mitchell says of past Chevy efforts, "it was a soft, warm, fuzzy company. It was music playing with cars driving back and forth."
"With a voiceover talking about trunk room and how plush the carpet was," adds Johns.
Mitchell relates that changes in the marketplace have altered car advertising from being product-oriented to being more imaginative. "The mere fact that you introduced a new car used to be enough to make people stop in their tracks and run down to their dealer," he says. "Things have changed. It doesn’t work the way it used to."
Johns compares the evolving genre of car advertising to a snowball rolling down a hill. "Every time [a brand manager] sees another spot, they want their own spot to be as good-or better than-the brand manager’s [ad] down the hall."
The evolution of car ads has also had an impact on the directors Mitchell and Johns use. "In the old days, when a lot of commercials were [comprised of] cars driving around, they would hire a guy who could light a car really well, and that was it," says Mitchell. He and Johns draw from a larger pool of directors, including such notables as Schiller and Andrew Davis, who directs out of Millennium Pictures, Southfield, Mich. Davis is well known in longform, having helmed the feature film, The Fugitive.
"Since we’ve created some really nice spots in the last few years," says Mitchell, "I think a director gets [a board for] a Chevy spot now and thinks, ‘Damn, I want to work on that. That has the potential to be something really special.’"
Johns joined Campbell-Ewald 16 years ago after graduating from the Center for Creative Studies, Detroit, and Mitchell has been with the agency for nine years. The two work exclusively on Chevrolet: "It’s our full-time job here and our part-time job at night," Johns laughs. Mitchell, who had previously worked at Doner Direct, Baltimore, and Foote, Cone & Belding, Chicago, was once a contestant on Jeopardy-he didn’t win-and holds an economics degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Of their working rapport, Johns says, "Arthur is a musician. He understands music. I understand pictures, and I can’t spell. Arthur is also a great presenter, whereas I’m a pretty good organizer. We excel in different areas, which makes it a good relationship."
Branding
Having a wide range of directors to choose from, and a client that’s willing to take chances, Mitchell and Johns say it’s most important to stay focused. That’s where the "fusion process," a part of Campbell-Ewald’s ad strategy, comes in. "Imagine a circle," explains Mitchell. "There are two elements involved: One, what the real benefit of the product is, and two, what the customer really needs in his or her life. Where those things intersect on the circle, that’s where we try to concentrate the advertising."
A fusion statement is written up for each brand, and "we use it like a roadmap," says Mitchell. "It’s a document we can put on the wall and say, ‘This is what the advertising is going to be about.’ It helps keep everybody focused. It also helps us get to the point where we can start creating advertising more quickly."
The fusion statement is especially helpful in dealing with clients that are "too close to their business, because they live it," Mitchell says. "As a result, they tend to see things differently than a consumer might. [For example], just because they’re able to make new lugnut standards-which take on a great deal of importance for the client because it took a lot of their time and effort to do-doesn’t mean the consumer has the same interest. We can hold up the fusion statement and say, ‘Look, lugnuts are really delightful, but remember this is what we all agreed on.’"
Mitchell and Johns are students of their business. "We always try to look at what other people are doing in advertising," Mitchell says. "You’ve got to keep yourself up to speed on where the bar is set because advertising gets better. You’ve got to know what everybody else is doing to keep raising the bar. It’s not just looking at car spots, but keeping in mind that we are competing with everybody."$
