In this campaign for SetupTennis.com, unsuspecting real people are confronted by a persistent tennis player who implores them to join him for a match. The spots have a guerrilla, documentary-style filmmaking feel as hidden DV cameras capture the action. In a :30 entitled "Spongy Cake," our protagonist tennis player—hard up for a partner—finds himself in a bakery.
He gives his best sales pitch to the worker behind the bakery counter. "You want to play some tennis. You can be Venus. I’ll be Serena," says the would-be tennis player, making reference to champion pros, sisters Venus and Serena Williams. He hands a tennis racket to the bakery worker, who accepts the challenge.
"If I win, I’ll buy spongy cake," promises the player, who’s clearly happy to have an opponent, even if he’s across the counter instead of a tennis net.
The two guys volley the ball back and forth, until the point is finally won—by the bakery-visiting player. "Okay, I’ll buy spongy cake. Thanks for playing. Alright, man."
A supered query—"Need a tennis partner?"—then appears on screen, followed by "SetupTennis.com/Any City/Any Age/Any Time."
By sharp contrast, another hidden camera spot, "Gallery," didn’t produce a tennis partner. Instead our tennis matchmaker was unceremoniously thrown out of an art gallery, after his persistent overtures were rejected by a receptionist there.
The total budget for the 11-spot campaign was $27,000. Conceived by a creative team at Team One Advertising, El Segundo, Calif., the commercials—which are airing regionally on ESPN—were directed by Deb Hagan of Storyville Pictures, Santa Monica.
Inspired by reality TV shows such as MTV’s Jackass, Hagan said the comedy of the storyboards was heightened by her shoot-first, get-releases-later approach. This impromptu filming method dictated that numerous spots be shot, as some of the live material might not work. Of adopting an unscripted tact, Hagan observed, "It was not the easiest route, but it seemed like it would work the best for comedy dialogue."
The Team One ensemble consisted of creative director Tom Cordner, copywriters Jack Fund and Craig Crawford, art director James Hendry, executive producer Jack Epstein and producer Beth Hagen.
Dirk Detweiler and Leslie Evers served as executive producer and producer, respectively, for Storyville Pictures. The DP was Mark Ellensohn, who shot at 23 different locations in Greater Los Angeles.
Pallas Weber of Stuart Waks & Co., Santa Monica, served as editor, backed by assistant editor Chris Sowick and exec producer Tom Dunlap. Online editors were Brian Robinson and Randy Lowder of R!OT, Santa Monica. Colorist was R!OT’s Crash Carlucci. Audio mixer was Rich Rauh of Margarita Mix de Santa Monica.
