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
Continuing their partnership to combat the mental health crisis among America’s youth, the Ad Council and McCann New York have released the latest installment of the “Sound It Out” campaign which focuses on helping parents and caregivers have meaningful conversations with their kids about emotional wellbeing.
The new work, “Listening is a Form of Love,” focuses on the important role parents and caregivers play in supporting young people’s emotional wellbeing and is supported by new data from Surgo Health’s Youth Mental Health Tracker. The survey highlights that: 55% of youth (ages 10-24) report mental health struggles; and one in five youth report symptoms of depression, and one in four report symptoms of anxiety.
The film includes an interactive digital experience that invites parents to practice “holding space” by pressing the space bar to listen to kids sharing what they wish their parents could hear, in their own words. Along with this literal interpretation of the active listening the campaign encourages, the website also gives valuable tools to help parents and caregivers be better listeners, and in turn, better support their kids.
There is also this 60-second PSA--directed by Alex Fischman Cardenas via Greenpoint Pictures--which underscores the power and importance of listening to your loved ones.
