When Fredrik Bond left Harry Nash, London, to sign with the new London office of bicoastal/international Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ), he didn’t expect a lot of press coverage. "Everyone involved was on good speaking terms," notes Bond. "It really didn’t have any news value."
Nonetheless, Bond—who officially moved to MJZ on Aug. 1—found his name splashed across U.K. advertising trades, the catalyst being an alleged mega bonus paid by his new roost to secure the director from Harry Nash. Good speaking terms or not, his move stirred up quite a bit of controversy. "I was a little amazed," says Bond, who got his start in commercials in his native Sweden. "But, after a while, I realized it’s something that the business really likes to write about. So, in the end it didn’t bother me."
His reasons for joining MJZ were simple. "I’d been in contact with [principal/executive producer] David [Zander] through mutual friends, over a period of time," he explains. "I liked the way he was running the company." Bond is also a fan of director Rocky Morton, who along with director Annabel Jankel, is also partnered in MJZ.
"I’d been wanting to have a solid American base," adds Bond. "That’s what I’ve been missing. I was looking for a company that could support me in both markets, equally."
MJZ now has a talented new addition. With a reel that includes such impressive work—all produced through Harry Nash—like Supernoodles’ "Face-Off," out of Mother, London, which garnered honors at this year’s Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show in the first-ever international category; the "Buddy Lee Challenge" campaign for Lee Dungarees out of Fallon Minneapolis; "Jonah Lomu" for adidas via 180, Amsterdam; and Volkswagen’s "Demon Baby" out of BMP DDB, London, Bond has garnered much acclaim for his highly inventive—and usually hilarious—spots. "As long as it’s a strong idea, it doesn’t really matter to me if it’s comedy or not. But I think, naturally, that comedy fits the [commercial] format very well," states Bond, a one-time aspiring photographer who helmed spots out of his own, Stockholm-based shop, Bond, which he closed, later joining Mod:film, Stockholm, before signing with Harry Nash in 1999. "What I love are the slightly darker comedic spots, where you might not be sure if it’s comedy or serious."
The edgy "Demon Baby," which has gotten a lot of notice in Europe this year, is a perfect example. Set in a bleak hospital ward, the spot begins with a nurse leaving her station to investigate an ominous thumping noise. As she hurries past terrified patients, their beds moving from the impact, the nurse discovers the source of the thumping—an infant, racing panther-like through the hospital. Outside, she finally intercepts the baby, whispering his name, Lupo. A close-up on the baby’s face reveals, for a split-second, the grill of a Volkswagen, and the tagline appears: "Lupo. Volkswagen’s tough new baby."
With its spooky tone and distinct lack of car footage, "Demon Baby" was a risky automotive ad. "I think it was a brave idea by the agency, and by the client," Bond remarks. "We were really proud of it."
The spot earned several award nominations, although Bond says, "We were a little too pushed for time to finish it. That’s why some people in the business commented [negatively] on the actual CGI."
Still, Bond says he found combining CGI with live action to be a "very nice experience." And, he notes, "In Europe, when audiences have voted for the best campaigns and the best films, they’ve pointed at that one. They want to go for a total impression. They’re not looking for [details.] They’re just looking for the emotion that it gives them."
It’s the credible performance of the nurse that makes "Demon Baby" so unsettling. "I wanted to keep the human element," Bond says. "I didn’t want it to be a complete, special effects, visual thing. So it was important to cast a really strong actress."
Casting is always important to Bond. "To a certain extent, music and visuals mean something, but it’s the actor who really makes the connection with the audience," he observes. "When you have chosen your actor, you want to be able to think you can create the same spot in a white room, with no props. If I feel secure with that, then I can do the work well."
Bond says he had a particularly interesting experience casting last year’s "Growl," a spot for Monster. com via Saatchi & Saatchi, London, that he helmed out of Harry Nash. In it, an office worker hears a voice in his head, urging him to be a "tiger" during his salary negotiations. Heeding the words, the man storms into his boss’s office and growls—to embarrassing effect. A voice-over reminds viewers to "ignore the voices," and pay attention to the more practical career advice available on the employment Web site.
"We had several casting sessions where we were winding these characters up, trying to get them up to that state of total delusions in their head," he recalls. "I think a couple of the guys had smoked a little too much pot in their lives. One of them actually fainted, which was pretty scary. The task was finding a really strong actor who wouldn’t leave the present world."
Eventually, Bond says, "we found a tough, Irish actor who was brilliant. After that casting session, I didn’t need to do much. I just guided him, and let him go."
Of course, some of Bond’s most memorable "actors" were not even human. The "Buddy Lee Challenge" campaign features the 12-inch spokesdoll involved in bizarre challenges like kung fu and DJ scratching competitions. And the star of "Jonah Lomu" is not the eponymous rugby player, but the odd-looking fish that Lomu rescues from the street—rushing through the city (while wearing adidas sneakers)—to return the fish to water.
These days, Bond is busy completing his final project out of Harry Nash—a Wrangler ad via AMV BBDO, London, that’s due out in Europe later this fall. "It was a nice shooting experience," he reports. "I think any project where you have a great dialogue with the creatives is the best, because you’re in it together, you’re forwarding their thoughts and ideas, and it’s all about teamwork."n
