Gotta give it up to my buddy Andrew Schaefer and his agency for their newest spot featuring Kobe Bryant, Kevin Hart and Bill Nye. It's for Nike. And the spot, for running shoes, hinges on the notion of the Earth coming to a complete standstill. You can see it here.
I like this idea.
I liked it even better when we presented it to Energizer, albeit with a different spin, more than a decade ago.
Every creative person I know has had this happen to them. It's infuriating. And can make the blood boil. I just happen to have a not-so-popular blog wherein I can vent my gripes and get it off my significantly barrel-shaped chest. And damn if I'm going to let this self aggrandizing platform go to waste.
Years ago, when Chiat/Day used to bring me in on freelance projects, I was asked to work with Jerry Gentile on a big Energizer Bunny project. They wanted to get back to doing something spectacular with the Energizer Bunny. They were looking for a blockbuster, with big production value and Super Bowl type humor.
We came up with what we thought was something groundbreaking.
Or I should say, ground-staking.
The Earth had literally stopped spinning on its axis.
As a result, there were tidal and gravity-related consequences.
Physical anomalies that would lend themselves to a cinematic progression of vignettes, involving:
Old men spilling their soup.
Kids flying off swings.
Tug of war teams falling in mud.
Surfers losing their waves.
Cars smashing into each other.
You get the idea.
I'm sure the script was chock full of funny bits of business.
I don't have the script anymore, but the resolve ended with a man in the North Pole who was in charge of maintaining the Earth-spinning apparatus. And the AA batteries on his remote control had failed.
Enter the Energizer Bunny. Some slop about long lasting batteries. End on logo. Jerry and I go to Cannes pick up a ton of awards. Cash it all in for big bucks.
Of course, that's not the way it happened.
That's not the the way it ever happens.
It's why I drive a car from 2007. And I never replace my T-shirts until they literally fall apart in the dryer.
No comments:
Post a Comment