The beautifully animated :90 PSA features a little boy who fears a “monster in the closet” and is reassured by his parents that there is nothing to be afraid of. One day, though, the lad looks to confront his fear and ventures into the closet where a box with a hat on top of it appears in the dark to be a forboding face. He climbs up, reaches into the box and pulls out a loaded, unlocked handgun. He begins playing with it and ultimately the weapon discharges, gravely wounding him. His unknowing parents can’t hear what’s happening over the din of their lawnmower cutting the grass outside.
Yves Geleyn directed via Hornet for Grey New York.
Credits
Client States United to Prevent Gun Violence Agency Grey New York Tor Myhren, worldwide chief creative officer; Per Pedersen, deputy worldwide CCO; Rob Perillo, Rob Lenois, executive creative directors; Evan Ortolani, art director; Daniel Alvarez, copywriter; Bennett McCarroll, executive VP/director of broadcast; James McPherson, executive producer; Zach Fleming, producer; Zach Pollakoff, music supervision. Production Hornet Yves Geleyn, director; Michael Feder, exec producer; Greg Bedard, head of production; Jan Stebbins, producer; Joel Miller, RJ Glass, editors; Stephanie Andreau, assistant editor; J. Todd Anderson. storyboard artist; Oren Haskins, character designer; Mark Boardman, background designer; Sang-Jin Bae, supervising TD; David Hill, lead CG artist & compositor; Richard Kim, CG & compositing; Erwin Riau, Dan Fine, modeling; Sean Thorpe, Andrew Boccio, Emily Griswold, CG animation; Mike Luzzi, lead 2D animator; Keelmy Carlo, Mark Pecoraro, Nivedita Sekar, Frank Summers, animators; Emma Noble, animation clean up; Kristin Labriola, development producer; Arman Matin, R&D. Editorial Cut+Run Joel Miller, editor; Tom Akey, Stacy Peterson, assistant editors; Melati Pohan, producer; Rana Martin, exec producer. Music Mutato Muzika Mark Mothersbaugh, composer; Natalie Montgomery, music producer; Bradley Denniston, music engineer. Music/Sound Design Vision Post Dante Desole. Principal Talent Samantha Mathis, Anthony Arkin.
Director Marc André Debruyne--who’s handled by production house Open Swim for U.S. representation--brings Coca-Cola’s legacy of celebrating holiday traditions to life in this campaign spotlighting Filipino Balikbayan boxes. The spot--out of Toronto agencies Taxi and VML--features Tita Rosita, owner of the oldest Filipino-Canadian grocery store in Toronto, whose much-adored shop was wrapped like a massive Coca-Cola-themed Balikbayan box as she prepared hundreds of boxes for customers to send their loved ones, with Coca-Cola paying for the boxes and the cost of shipping them to the Philippines. The spot is a testament to the brand’s prevailing facilitation of cultural and generational connectivity, especially during the holiday season.
The collaborative project--produced by Toronto production company MOWAD--was particularly special for Debruyne, who’s Filipino, because of the large presence of Filipino crew members on set. “It’s a totally surreal feeling when a work project crosses over into your personal life. It’s not too often that happens,” shares Debruyne. “The number of Balikbayan boxes I’ve sent home since I was a child, being surrounded by so many Filipinos on set – both crew and cast, and even being served pancit by Tita Rosita for lunch (and getting yelled at after because I didn’t have seconds) brought back so many wonderful memories of my mom. It was such a fun vibe on set. This wasn’t even a job, it was truly something special.”
