As the popularity of the television show Celebrity Poker Showdown on Bravo demonstrates, there are a large number of people interested in the game of poker these days. And as the popularity of gambling Web sites attests, there are a lot of people who want in on the action. Now, WongDoody, Culver City, has created a series of spots meant to drive poker enthusiasts to the Web site FullTiltPoker.net where they can access some of the best players in the world.
The :30 spots “Late Night,” “Iveys,” “Jesus Throws” and “Bracelets” debuted on NBC during the Poker Superstars Championship pre-game show on Super Bowl Sunday. They are currently in rotation on ESPN, NBC, Fox Sports Net and the Travel Channel. David Gray of bicoastal/international Hungry Man directed the work.
The spots feature professional poker players advising and playing against amateurs in various scenarios. In “Late Night,” for example, the scene opens on well-dressed people playing poker around a table when the doorbell rings. Pro Erick Lindgren answers the door and a casually dressed guy with two playing cards in his hands–a two of hearts and a seven of spades–asks him what he should do with his hand. Then pro Mike Matusow joins the conversation by taking the cards, ripping them in half and throwing them in the air. “Yeah, he’s got it right. You should have folded,” Lindgren says. The man turns to leave, thanking Lindgren as he goes.
On FullTiltPoker.net these pros along with nine others–Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, Jennifer Harman, Phil Gordon, Erik Seidel, Clonie Gowen and Andy Bloch–are available to play against and chat with amateur players who visit the site. “These are like the Jordan, Bird and Magic Johnson of poker,” WongDoody senior copywriter Eric Helin said.
“Iveys” shows Ivey playing a game with a guy who is dressed just like him with headphones around his neck and a baseball cap on backwards. “What, you think because you are dressed like me, you can play like me?” Ivey prods. Then the amateur goes on to win the hand.
“Bracelets” has Lederer taking about his two World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets with a regular woman who is playing a game with him and others. Then Seidel’s multitude of WSOP bracelets start making so much noise at a nearby table that everyone notices him and they abandon Lederer’s table in favor of Seidel’s
As some of the pros are bragging about their accomplishments during a game in “Jesus Throws,” Ferguson, whose nickname in the poker world is “Jesus,” demonstrates a different kind of playing card prowess, throwing one from a distance of 10 feet to slice off the end of a carrot.
All of the spots are available for viewing at www.FullTiltPoker.net/commercials.php.
HOUSE OF CARDS The opening scene of each spot shows a house that is made up of the four shapes (suits) found in a deck of playing cards: a spade, heart, diamond and club. Set against an evening sky, the shapes have glass facades that are illuminated from within.
“We just came up with this idea of using a metaphor for the site by creating this house where the pros live and they’re always there and you can come by and knock on the door anytime of day and ask them a question or sit down and play with them. The house basically represents FullTiltPoker.net,” agency senior art director Eric Goldstein explained. “We thought that was a really clear way of getting across that message. And it also was a good way to literally show the interaction that you can have with the pros by literally walking up to their front door and popping in to say, ‘Hi,’ and sitting down and playing with them.”
The actual structure of the house was meant to immediately convey the idea that the place is all about poker. For the effect, creatives at WongDoody turned to The Orphanage, San Francisco. “[They created] the house out of a combination of CG elements, photography of a real house, and real people shot on green screen who can be seen through the windows of the house,” Goldstein related. “They then placed the house into a landscape, which was shot practically and modified to create the pathway leading up to the front door.” Lawson Owen was the visual effects producer and Ryan Tudhope was the visual effects supervisor at The Orphanage.
The idea to produce the work in black-and-white was a carry over from previous work done for the client at DDB, Los Angeles. WongDoody took over the account last August. The colors black, white and red, which stem from playing cards, are part of the brand identity, Goldstein noted. “We just wanted to carry forward the brand equity that they had with that going forward and we also thought there’s something nice because it creates a distinct look,” he said.
Indeed, another goal of this campaign is to establish the online service as a premium product. The refined look of black-and-white film combined with the well-dressed pros certainly adds a sense of elegance to the work. But keeping with the reality of the online poker experience, the amateur players in the spots are presented in casual dress.
The agency looked to Gray to direct the work because they liked the comedy and dialogue on his reel. His work with athletes like Brett Favre (for client Starter through SouthPaw, New York) also made him stand out.
“Basically all of these spots focus around the pros; they’re not actors and that can always be an issue whenever you’re doing spots with sports celebrities who aren’t used to acting,” Goldstein said. “[David] was really good at getting good performances out of the pros and very natural performances out of the people we cast.”
Additional credit at WongDoody goes to Tracy Wong, creative director; Tom Hamling, senior copywriter; and Leticia Martinez, producer.
At Hungry Man, Stephen Orent and Dan Duffy were executive producers. John Towse was line producer while Joost van Starrenberg was DP. Caroline Gibney is head of production for the shop.
Lucas Spalding of Bug Editorial, New York, was editor. At Cake, Santa Monica, Calif., Josh Kirshenbaum handled animation. For Company 3, Santa Monica, Steve Rodriguez was colorist. Dan Hart at Hum, Santa Monica, was sound designer. Jeff Payne of Eleven, Santa Monica, was mixer.
