2020 was one lemon of a year as this Super Bowl spot for Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade underscores. It’s literally raining lemons on life’s events from weddings to do-it-yourself haircuts and Major League Baseball games, creating what in this commercial is a special brand of comedic havoc.
Bud Light, though, has found the proverbial silver lining by making lemonade out of all those lemons with its new seltzer.
Mike Warzin of Arts & Sciences directed this “Last Year’s Lemons” commercial for Wieden+Kennedy New York, with visual effects by The Mill.
Credits
Client Anheuser-Busch/InBev, Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade Agency Wieden+Kennedy New York Karl Lieberman, chief creative officer; Gerard Caputo, group creative director; Stu Rubin, copywriter; Aimee Perrin, art director; Nick Setounski, head of integrated production; Jessica Griffeth, executive producer; Sam Kilbreth, sr. producer; Stephane Missier, global strategy director; Matt Hisamoto, sr. strategist; Connor Corr, digital strategist; Leah Greene, strategic planner. Production Arts & Sciences Mike Warzin, director; Marc Marrie, managing partner/exec producer; Mal Ward, partner/managing director; John Benson, exec producer, NY; Zoe Odlum, exec producer; Christa Skotland, exec producer/head of production; Casey Byron, producer (Arts & Sciences); Kristin Porter, producer; Ivy Jane, research and operations manager. Editorial Arcade Edit Jeff Ferruzzo, editor; Sila Soyer, exec producer/partner; Andrew Cravotta, sr. post producer; Sam Barden, assistant editor. VFX The Mill Clairellen Wallin, exec producer; Mandy Harris, sr. producer; Ajit Menon, 3D lead/shoot supervisor; Jimmy Bullard, 2D supervisor; Katharine Mulderry, production coordinator; Andrew Pellicer, Dhruv Shankar, Eric Sibley, James Cudahy, Kshitij Khanna, AVV Suresh, Mahesh Ravlia, Naga Praveen, Kumar Y, Rose Mathew, 2D team; Tyler Scheitlin, design; Fazal Khan, Indrajeet Kumar, Jadheer TP, Manoj Ravi, Rijo R, Showber Shadik, Swathi Balasubramaniam, Upasana Choudhary, Dongili Varaprsad, CG tracking; Alek Vacura, Krushna Ramrao Kuisange, Shahid Hussain, Kiran Prabhu, CG modeling; Daishi Takishima, CG rigging; Dave Barosin, Eban Byrne, Incheol Jeong, Pegah Naserifar, CG FX; Steve Parish, Arman Matin, Tom Bardwell, CG lighting. Telecine Company 3 Tom Poole, colorist; Alexandra Lubrano, color producer. Music Search Company Walker Sara Matarazzo, Stephanie Pigott, exec producers; Danielle Soury, music producer. Licensed Song: “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (I Love You)” as sung by Jo Stafford & Gordon MacRae, original from 1950. Sound Design Trinitite Inc. Brian Emrich, sound designer. Audio Post Sonic Union Brian Goodheart, mixer; Pat Sullivan, head of production.
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.
