Stash Capar of Toronto-based Sequoia Content directed this Ancestry Canada spot out of Naked Creative Consultancy, Toronto, which tells the story of Scott and Sarah, a young Canadian couple for whom the results of their AncestryDNA test yields profoundly positive, life-changing results.
The :60 opens with the couple learning something unexpected: they both have some Indian ancestry in their genetic history. “I already knew about my Indian ancestry,” says Scott in voiceover as we see him grocery shopping with his wife, “but Sarah’s discovery set us on a journey that would change our lives.”
That journey leads them to India, where they’ll adopt a young Indian girl, but before this reveal Capar’s camera lets us share their preparation. We see them shopping for Indian foods and learning how to cook it, followed by snippets of both struggling to master the pronunciation of words and phrases in Hindi. Next they’re mapping out their trip to Delhi, and we accompany them on their flight, eagerness mixed with nerves apparent on their faces, and eventually to the place where they meet their new daughter for the first time. It closes with a voiceover that says “DNA not only creates life, it can change one. How will your life change?”
The spot is cut to an evocative acoustic music track, “Something to Believe In,” by California-based singer-songwriter Katie Herzig, and was edited in-house at Naked by editor Nick Nikitaras.
