Are you up for something different?

For someone who makes a living making TV commercials, I watch surprisingly few.

This is quite odd, considering TV commercials have put a roof over my head, paid for 25 years of accumulative private education for my kids, put tri-tip sirloin beef on my plate, and now, a beautiful Brilliant Black 2015 Audi S5 in my driveway.

I don't watch commercials for two reasons.

First reason,  my TV viewing habits have changed. I used to be a fan of several shows on the DIY network including the Maine Cabin Masters -- one day I'd love a lakeside cabin. All the Planet Earth shows. And the cheap thrills on Outrageous Acts of Science on the Science Network.

But these days, I find myself struggling to keep up with the drama and trauma coming out of the White House, consequently I'm often toggling back and forth between the fact-based journalism on MSNBC and the screaming panelists on CNN.

The second reason I don't see many spots is because they simply suck.

This one doesn't.




I love the writing, the casting and the editing (kudos to my buddy Frank who did a masterful job with the editing.) But what I love most about this spot is the courage. And by that I mean, I've been in enough client presentations and focus groups to know something like this walks a very fine line.

Oh who am I kidding? Most claybrained clients and tuna fish sandwich eating focus group attendees probably HATED this spot.

"It's kind of racy."

"Were they talking about swinging?"

"Are there any more M&M's?"

And yet the agency and the client persevered. That perseverance was rewarded with the kind of Hollywood magic that never shows up for any presentations or research sessions. It can't even be duplicated in an expensively made animatic. And that's the acting.

Do yourself a favor and  re-watch the spot, I'll wait.

The actors, all four of them, play the joke perfectly. It's not done in a broad way. It's not over the top. It's not even dependent on a clever punchline. Wife #2 simply looks at her husband and says...

"What are you doing?"

To me it's pitch perfect.

If only the people who sign the estimates and give the green light to projects understood that what's on paper, what's on the storyboard, what's on the table, is not the same as what comes out at the other end of the process.

They never will.
And that reality stings.