A little over a month ago, we brought you news of Carmichael Lynch’s Web experience and social experiment talktoaplant.com, promoting MythBusters: The Explosive Exhibition for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Now Carmichael Lynch is rolling out three new TV spots for the exhibition, each of them pitting the MythBusters against Fact Confirmers.
It’s a pretty funny idea, meant to highlight the fact that the MythBusters are not just confirming or disproving facts, but actually busting myths apart — often with some kind of explosive involved. Carmichael Lynch Executive Creative Director Marty Senn explains, “Throwing Fact Confirmers up against it really reminds you how exciting it is to roll up your sleeves and blow things up, and The Explosive Exhibition is inviting you to do just that.”
The spot “One Plus One” (featured above) shows us the Fact Confirmers confirming that one plus one does in fact equal two by counting shuttlecocks. Since the term “shuttlecock” is intrinsically funny, the spots’ dry humor succeeds at highlighting how fun MythBusters is by comparison. The other spots, which confirm that yellow and blue make green and the Newtonian law that a body at rest stays at rest, are less successful without “shuttlecock.” All of the spots end with the tag, “Fact Confirming: Not Nearly as Fun as MythBusting.” While I like the Fact Confirmers idea, it feels like there’s something missing in these spots, like there’s a good deal of missed potential. It’s just that the execution doesn’t live up to the idea behind it — these spots could have been a lot funnier.
Ultimately though, the goal of the campaign isn’t to be funny but to drive traffic to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for the MythBusters exhibit. How successful the spots are at doing that will be how they are judged. Which leads me to one last complaint: while the Fact Confirmers idea does well at making MythBusters look good in comparison, it provides only footage from the television show, not the exhibit itself — giving the viewer no real idea of what to expect from MythBusters: The Explosive Exhibit. Since Amanda Bennett, Director of Marketing for the Denver Museum of Nature & Science says the exhibit is, “not about just watching the MythBusters, but getting to be one,” you have to wonder about that omission. Credits and “Yellow & Blue” after the jump.
CREDITS:
TITLE: Fact Confirmers
Spots: “Yellow & Blue”, “One Plus One”, “Body At Rest”
CLIENT: Denver Museum of Nature & Science
Director of Marketing: Amanda Bennett
AGENCY
Agency: Carmichael Lynch
Chief Creative Officer: Dave Damman
Exec Creative Director: Marty Senn
Art Director: Doug Pedersen
ACD/Writer: Ellie Anderson
Head of Production: Joe Grundhoefer
Content Producer: Jenny Barnes
Business Manager: Vicki Oachs
Project Manager: Melanie Callahan
PRODUCTION
Production Company: 3rd
Director: Ben / Dave
Executive Producer: Jon LaChappelle
Line. Producer: Ben/Dave
Director of Photography: Ben/Dave
POST PRODUCTION
Edit House: TBD Post / Austin, TX.
Editor: Ben/Dave
Assistant Editor:
VFX House / Online Artist(s): CLIP / Brad Baker
Telecine: CLIP / Brad Baker
Audio Mix: CLIP / Brad Baker
Sound Design: Ben/Dave @ TBD Post & Brad Baker/CLIP
MUSIC
Music Company: Asche & Spencer
TALENT
On-camera talent: Ben/Dave(Hand model)
Voice Over Talent: Ben Hurst (VO)
St Mining Co