If you live in the New York area, you’ve probably seen at least one, if not several, of the New York Sports Club (NYSC) ads on TV. And if not, then perhaps you’ve heard about them in the news or seen one on America’s Funniest Commercials.
The spots illustrate the potentially embarrassing results of being out of shape. For instance, in "Neighbor," a woman sees a man across the way in a window and starts to do a strip tease for him. When it’s his turn to take it off, the woman balks at the sight of his flabby chest and pulls down her window shade. In "Pete Nisserman," a guy goes to meet his blind date at her apartment. After climbing four flights of stairs, he’s so out of breath that he introduces himself as something that sounds very much like "penis." Taking him for a pervert, his date slams the door in his face. Each ad finishes with the tag, "There are a million reasons to join."
The humorously apt spots for the east coast gym are the handy work of CJ Waldman, a director with Harvest, Santa Monica. The commercials have gained cult status, receiving countless free press from news stations, and appearing on America’s Funniest Commercials and World’s Greatest Commercials.
Throughout the past three years, Waldman was a freelancer who wrote, art directed and helmed over 15 of these spots for the club. He accomplished all of this while still working as a senior VP/creative director at Lowe Lintas & Partners, New York—a position he left in June to become a full-time director at Harvest.
Since leaving the agency, Waldman has been tapped to helm a two-spot campaign for Heineken. The :30s, "Mirror Image" and "Casting Session," are a tie-in for the recently released feature Zoolander, about a clueless male supermodel named Derek Zoolander, who is caught up in a political conspiracy. Ben Stiller, who plays the title role, is the focus of the ad.
In "Mirror Image," Stiller (as Zoolander) is seen drinking a Heineken at a trendy bar. An attractive woman sitting at the bar tells him she loves his work. Unfazed by her adoration, he offhandedly says, "Cool," while making eyes at an unseen person across the room. Next, he turns to the barkeep and says, "Bartender, I’d like to buy that incredibly attractive model over there a Heineken." The bartender looks to see who Stiller is referring to, and then looks back at Stiller, slightly perplexed. The camera turns to reveal the object of Stiller’s affection—his own reflection in a mirror. "Casting Tape" is a mock casting tape of Stiller (in character as Zoolander) explaining why he would be the perfect spokesmodel for Heineken beer. The campaign broke at the end of September.
Waldman used to head up the Heineken account at Lowe, and found himself for the first time on the other side of the equation, as director for this client. "It was all very natural [to work on the Zoolander spots]. I knew what the client was looking for, what the agency wanted, and I had worked with the [Lowe] team before, so it was pretty easy," recalls Waldman.
That’s not to say that as a director, Waldman hasn’t had to handle sticky situations before. Consider the fact that most of the spots he directed for NYSC were done with non-union acting talent and pared-down film crews made up of industry friends and acquaintances. Often Waldman would shoot six to eight spots in one day and tap crewmembers to play the roles. One time he even had to double as a make-up artist when the one he had hired walked off set after being asked to cover up some pimples on a man’s derrière.
"When you learn in the trenches and you have to really pull [a performance] out of people, it becomes a lot easier when you have somebody good," explains Waldman. "Some of the people I worked with were acting for the first time, so it’s a fantastic experience to go from that to directing Ben Stiller."
LEAVING LOWE
The decision to leave Lowe was difficult for Waldman. He was quite possibly the happiest man in advertising. Able to direct (under the alias "JC Manwald"—a transposition of his name) while heading up some of the hottest accounts at Lowe, including Sprite, Heineken, and Amstel, he claims that his job was so pleasant, he had no immediate plans for leaving.
Indeed, Waldman has enjoyed a rich agency career. His longest tenure has been at Lowe Lintas & Partners, New York, where over the years he worked at the shop’s various incarnations, including Ammirati & Puris, Lowe Tucker Metcalf, Scali McCabe Sloves, and Lowe & Partners/SMS. He also did stints at DDB Needham, New York (now DDB Worldwide), and BBDO New York.
In his 15 years as an agency creative, Waldman has had the opportunity to work on some of the most attractive accounts. During a yearlong stint at BBDO back in the early ’90s, he worked for former BBDO creative head Lee Garfinkel on Pepsi. There, he also served as an associate creative director on Federal Express and HBO. When Garfinkel left BBDO for Lowe in ’93, he invited Waldman to come with him. (Garfinkel is now president/chief creative officer worldwide at D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, based in that shop’s New York office.) While with Lowe, Waldman was able to make his mark with his "Image Is Nothing" campaign for Sprite and "It’s All About the Beer" for Heineken.
By Waldman’s estimation, his directing career was "just a hobby," until he got an offer he couldn’t refuse from Harvest executive producer Bonnie Goldfarb and director Baker Smith. As an agency creative, Waldman and Smith worked together extensively on spots such as Heineken’s "Birth of Scatching" and "Premature Pour."
"My original plan was, I was going to work with lots of different production companies [directing], and never be a full-time director," relates Waldman. "But the last time I was in L.A., I showed my reel to Baker and Bonnie and they were like, ‘Damn, you got good.’ "
At the time, Waldman had just finished helming a round of spots for Tiger Schulmann’s Karate centers—a client Waldman gained after the people at Tiger Schulmann’s had seen the NYSC spot "Mugger" on TV. In that commercial, a woman who has her purse stolen runs after her assailant and tackles him to the ground. Waldman subsequently wrote and directed a package of eight spots for Tiger Schulmann’s, depicting such unusual uses for karate as settling disputes between friends and eliminating the boogey man from your bedroom closet. It was this package that prompted Goldfarb and Smith to make Waldman an offer.
Over the years, Waldman has collaborated with Smith on several spots for Heineken, and has looked to Smith as a mentor. Now the prospect of working with him as a fellow director excites Waldman the most. "Baker is a great guy and someone I trust, and I’d be honored to get Baker’s spill-off. I know he gets the best boards in the country, and if I can get a shot at doing some of that, it’s a winning situation," states Waldman.
Indeed, Waldman is busy getting his own boards—he is prepping to shoot a six-spot campaign for Amstel Light, another Lowe client. He is also slated to do more work for NYSC, on which he will act as creative and director. No doubt his upcoming projects will have a comedic bent to them, but eventually Waldman hopes to shoot commercials with varying genres. "As an agency person you get pigeonholed, and [comedy] wasn’t a bad place to get pigeonholed," Waldman claims. "But I like sappy spots and cool spots, if the idea is there. I appreciate great-looking film and hope to work with DPs who aren’t just comedy guys."
