In this spot for Verizon FIOS directed by Henry-Alex Rubin of Smuggler for McCann NY, Gaten Matarazzo (Stranger Things) is camping with friends in a backyard on Halloween night–with all the conveniences of the Internet as they are streaming shows. A neighbor approaches and asks them about their streaming devices. Matarazzo explains the benefits of running all of their tech on FIOS.
This prompts the neighbor to spin a scary, hearkening back to the pre-fiber optics dark age when bandwidth was limited, crawling at zombie speed. Videos and gaming would just stop–dead. This unconventional ghost story scares Matarazzo and his buddies who have only known Internet as its 100 percent fiber optic best via FIOS.
Credits
Client Verizon FIOS Agency McCann NY Thomas Murphy, Sean Bryan, co-chief creative officers; Dan Donovan, Mat Bisher, EVPs/executive creative directors; Sherrod Melvin, SVP, group creative director; Jason Marsen, Alexei Beltrone, creative directors; Nic Wehmeyer, Josh Kessler, associate creative directors; Mark Forsman, art director; Vinny Garbellano, copywriter; Eva Pipa, Lauren Bauder, integrated producers; Michele Ferone, SVP, director Verizon broadcast production; Nathy Aviram, head of production; Dan Cohn, group strategy director; Anthony Perez, strategy director. Production Smuggler Henry-Alex Rubin, director; Drew Santarsiero, exec producer; Leah Allina, producer. Editorial NO6 Jason MacDonald, Ryan Bukowski, editors; Malia Rose, producer; Laura Molinaro, sr. producer; Corina Dennison, exec producer. Audio Post Sonic Union Paul Weiss, mixer. Music JSM Music Joel Simon, chief creative officer/composer; Brian Englishman, Nathan Kil, composers; Jeff Fiorello, exec producer; Norm Felker, producer. Talent DDCD & Partners Susan Cole, Hannah Kwon, Haley Barber, Elba Espinal
After losing part of his right leg due to cancer, Terry Fox campaigned to raise national awareness and funding for cancer research by running his Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada 42-km daily run, on his prosthetic leg. Fox, who died in 1981, is a national hero. His image will be on Canada’s new $5 bill.
In this two-minute video titled “Finish It,” the Marathon of Hope is recreated. It’s all done in one take, and it features an actor/marathon runner who uses a prosthesis on the same leg as Fox. CGI was deployed to make him look more like Fox. To further ensure the actor represented Fox accurately, not only did the actor and team watch and study many videos of Terry, but Terry’s brothers, Fred and Darrel, coached the actor on Terry’s running style and mannerisms. They also created a copy of Terry’s prosthesis for the actor to use for the shoot.
The message is clear. As the Marathon of Hope now marks its 45th anniversary, we now have the opportunity to “Finish It” for Fox, raising money and awareness to get a cure for cancer over the finish line, completing the work that Fox started. The public service film starts with Fox on the marathon run, eventually joined by a crowd of other dedicated runners from all walks of life who take over the race.
Mark Zibert directed via production company Scouts Honour for Toronto agency Diamond. The video features a never-before-heard version of the song “Courage” from Canadian band The Tragically Hip.
“We wanted to create a campaign that captures the magnitude of Terry Fox’s legacy while driving meaningful action,” said Peter Ignazi, chief creative officer at Diamond. “By revisiting the Marathon of Hope with such care and reverence, we aimed to reignite Terry’s mission and... Read More
