In a new ad for Wienerschnitzel, A Common Thread director Eli Green enlists a slightly unhinged German techno band to introduce the brand’s latest offering, Chicken Schnitzel Sandwiches. Conceived by California agency Amusement Park, Schnitzelbration features a group of black-clad musicians strutting their stuff on stage while singing the praises of schnitzel in faux German. The show ends with a back-up singer pumping his fist and exclaiming, “Das awesome!”
Although he’s obviously going for laughs, Green directs the scene as if it were a Kraftwerk performance circa 1975. The musicians take themselves very seriously, even when they are joined onstage by Wienerschnitzel’s giant hot dog mascot. “Although the situation is outlandish, it should feel real,” he says. “You want viewers to be wondering, ‘What’s happening here?’ Later, we tip our hat enough to let them know it’s okay to laugh.”
Green credits Amusement Park’s creative team with having the moxie to go with a concept that’s out of left field. “It’s a big idea to convey in 30 seconds; they were taking a creative risk, and it paid off,” he observes. “I seek out projects like this and creative collaborators who are doing things that are interesting, funny and different.”
A second Wienerschnitzel ad, Hot Dogs Across the USA, introduces three specialty hot dogs. It centers on a cross country road trip where a group of millennials in an SUV visits beaches and night spots accompanied by the Wienerschnitzel mascot.
