Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and 2019 Super Bowl MVP, is known for his risk-taking play on the gridiron, but he wasn’t taking any chances with COVID-19. That included a scheduled live-action commercial shoot for Kansas City-based CommunityAmerica Credit Union. That’s why Denver-based creative agency Cactus made the pivot to animation, bringing in Nexus Studios, Los Angeles/London, and director Robertino Zambrano to help reimagine their creative concept as an elegantly illustrated look at the evolution of Mahomes as a player and the Kansas City community of which he has become a major part.
The spot, entitled “Rising Into Something Greater,” broke last night (9/10) during the NFL season-opener between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans.
The black-and-white 2D, pencil sketch animation style :30, imbued only with red (the Chiefs’ color) and the CommunityAmerica logo, communicates elegance, beauty and power all at once. The copy, voiced by Mahomes, connects the narrative dots between his rise with the Chiefs to the rise of the people and community of Kansas City.
The shift in strategy, however unscheduled it was, actually helped make the work better, said Brian Watson, Cactus’ executive creative director. “We were already at the point where we had our original batch of live-action concepts ready to present the client when the COVID-19 shutdown hit. At that point, no one knew what the next few months would hold, but we knew we needed to develop a contingency plan. We created an entirely new batch of concepts but ultimately ended up going with the same script from our original idea, but with a completely reimagined way to bring it to life visually. As much as we liked the original vision for the spot, we ended up feeling like the animated version of the spot was even stronger.”
Watson added, “It’s about the power of what can happen when people come together and support one another through life’s changes and challenges because that’s exactly what CommunityAmerica exists to do for their members and their community. I can’t imagine a more powerful and important message to be putting out into the world right now.”
CreditsClient CommunityAmerica Credit Union Agency Cactus, Denver, Colo. Brian Watson, executive creative director; Page Halter, art director; Will Patterson, copywriter. Production/Animation Nexus Studios, Los Angeles Robertino Zambrano, director; Juliet Tierney, exec producer.
Top Spot of the Week: Samsung, BBH Singapore, Director Rhys Thomas Get Fit For A Surf Holiday
Samsung’s new global campaign from BBH Singapore, featuring Samsung Health and Galaxy AI, tells the story of a young professional couple who compete to get fit for a surf holiday.
Titled “A Samsung Health Story: Racing to Fiji,” this film taps into Gen Z’s wellness dilemma and the fact that they can often find health information overwhelming; in particular, BBH Singapore took inspiration from young people who reference their “quarter life crisis” on social media. This film tells the story of Stacey and Steve who decide to go surfing in Fiji, something they did five years ago but haven’t done since they started their jobs. However, there’s one problem: they need to get fitter first.
Featuring a range of Galaxy products powered by Galaxy AI, they rebuild their fitness to prepare for the trip, competing playfully to spur each other on. We see them comparing their Energy Scores (a new feature on the Samsung Health app), recording their runs and swims on their Samsung Galaxy Watches, trying and failing to get fit at work and on their commutes and striving to improve in the run up to the trip. When they get there, however, there’s a fun twist, and the film ends on a cliffhanger.
The ad is expected to be the first in a series, which will develop the characters and their “world” in future episodes. This longform (two-and-a-half-minute) version of the spot delves deeper into the storytelling, in a fresh approach for Samsung’s product campaigns, while the shorter edits focus on driving exposure to specific features.
BBH Singapore also leaned into the entertainment aspect of the spot; it was directed by comedic specialist Rhys Thomas at Stink Films, who has a major TV background. Best known for his work on Saturday Night... Read More