The holidays are a special time for the New York Lottery. It’s the time of year when there’s something special in the air—when anything seems possible, including winning. To announce this year’s seasonal Scratch-Off Games, the New York Lottery and McCann New York enlisted a group of woodland animals to deliver a little holiday magic to an enchanting wildlife reserve in a film titled, “Special Delivery.”
The story begins as a beloved park ranger loses her Scratch-Off on her way home for the holidays. But luckily for our ranger, her animal friends are at the ready. A rabbit rescues the ticket and works together with a few other furry friends. Together, they make their way through a snowy winter landscape to ensure the ticket ends up right where it belongs. Their heart-warming holiday journey was directed by Ben Smith of The Mill.
Credits
Client New York Lottery Agency McCann New York Eric Silver, North American chief creative officer; Sean Bryan, Tom Murphy, chief creative officers, NY; Mat Bisher, executive creative director; Jason Ashlock, Dominick Baccollo, group creative directors; Colby Spear, sr. writer; Pedro Sampaio, sr. art director; Nathy Aviram, chief production officer; Tamara Lecker, sr. producer; Eric Johnson, SVP, executive music producer; Dan Gross, integrated music producer; Laura Frank, SVP, group strategy director. Production/VFX Ben Smith, creative director/director; Zu Al-Kadiri, exec producer; Hillary Thomas, producer; Georgina Castle, production supervisor; Emily Stave, Esther Montgomery, production coordinators; Ryan McKenna, editor; Goutham H, Utkarsha Shinde, production support; Ed Boldero, shoot supervisor, 3D lead artist; Alek Vacura, shoot supervisor; Alex Clark, 2nd unit director, and design; Tim Crabtree, 2D lead artist; Katie Yancy, animation lead; Roxy Zuckerman, Daniel Thuresson, Dag Ivarsoy, Abby Riegel, Rakesh Venugopalan, Evan Langley, Renjith Raveendran, Prajeesh Chaliyam, Basabendu Sarkar, Sandeep Kumar Singh, Yogesh Sarwa, Jiten Harkhani, Vinod Gopinathan, 2D artists; Matthew Choy, Jeremy Ramirez, Sophie Quagebeur, Daniel Stern, Danny Garcia, Ryan Federman, Elizabeth Hammer, Lalida Karnjanasirirat, Victor Duncan, 3D artists; Rasha Shalaby, Gillian George, Bill Lu, Andy Wheater, matte painting; Jacob Bergman, Justin Tirado, Randy Link, John Fielding, Gustavo Gonzalez, Melik Malkasian, Matt Connolly; animation; Joakim Ekstrom, motion graphics; Kevin Diaz, Valerie Chernysh, art dept. Color The Mill Matt Osborne, colorist; Dee Allen, group color director; Blake Rice, associate color producer; Jessica Amburgey, production coordinator, color; Brandon Phillis, color assist.
How do you top one of the most viral brand videos ever made? Spoiler alert: you can’t. But when Dollar Shave Club tapped Zack Seckler to direct a new campaign to revive the absurdist humor of its iconic launch video, he knew he had a rare opportunity to create something special.
The brief was simple: introduce the concept of a physical “Club” that people would love to join while showcasing Dollar Shave Club’s products and embracing the weird. From script to direction and post, Seckler--an alum of SHOOT’s 2021 New Directors Showcase--was invited to help sculpt that vision.
The result is this “Welcome to the Club” spot which invites us to join a unique, seemingly exclusive but in reality an accessible and affordable fraternity of Dollar Shave Club members. But you need to know the password or more accurately, the two-word phrase--"shave money."
“The Club” campaign brings the brand back to its humorous roots, reflecting a new chapter after being acquired by Nexus Capital Management from Unilever in late 2023. The work takes Dollar Shave Club back to its disruptive beginnings and what made the brand a viral sensation from its inception in 2011.
