Barton F. Graf 9000 launched a pair of 30-second spots for Kayak showing that while the site can help with your travel problems, it can’t help with everything.
In “Breakup,” a man confides to his neighbor that he’s just broken up with his girlfriend and is so confused that he doesn’t know what to do with himself. “I’m going through the same thing,” says the neighbor, “I’ve been searching for a hotel and every site has different information. It’s so confusing.” Naturally, this annoys the recently-dumped man, who points out that it is not the same thing at all, and that he can just use Kayak to search other sites and compare hotel information. The script is switched a bit in “Elevator” with a man informing a group trapped in an elevator about the site, although it really doesn’t help their current predicament.
The humorous approach works better in “Breakup,” where the brand integration feels more natural coming from the irked man dealing with his annoying neighbor. In “Elevator” the brand pitch feels much more forced and the spot suffers as a result, feeling both less believable and less likely to leave a lasting impression. It’s a pretty open-ended concept and “Breakup” shows that it has some potential, so we wouldn’t be too surprised to see Barton F. Graf 9000 explore the direction further in the future.
Credits:
Client: Kayak
Stephanie Retcho – SVP, North America Marketing
David Solomito – Director, Brand Marketing
Andrea Charriez – Assoc. Brand Manager
Agency: Barton F. Graf 9000
Gerry Graf – Founder/Chief Creative Officer
Ian Reichenthal – Ex. Creative Director
Scott Vitrone – Ex. Creative Director
Mark Bielik – Copywriter/Art Director
Ross Fletcher – Copywriter/Art Director
Josh Morse – Head of Integrated Production
Amanda Revere – Ex. Producer
Jennifer Richardi – Account Director
Production Company: O Positive
Jim Jenkins – Director
Ralph Luacella – Ex. Producer
Marc Grille – Producer
Edit: Arcade Edit
Dave Anderson – Editor
Zach Patten & Laurel Smoliar – Asst. Editors
Sila Soyer – Ex. Producer
Joanna Hall – Producer
Color: CO3
Colorist – Tim Masick
Mix: Heard City
Evan Mangiamele – Audio Engineer
Animation/End tag: Elastic