Do you like Elvis? Do you like his songs re-appropriated so as to apply more directly to modern-day people who were recently young but are no longer quite so?
A new campaign created by Energy BBDO to promote Wrigley’s Extra Gum is essentially a relationship in two minutes as set to the least objectionable cover of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” since UB met 40 back in 1993.
From nervous high school kids dropping their books outside the lockers to professional co-habitants Skyping from their cubicles, Sarah and Juan are prototypical Young Americans working their way through love to reach an inevitable but still encouraging conclusion. As the copy puts it, “A guy. A girl. And a stick of gum.”
You know what’s coming.
But did she say yes? Ha ha, just kidding. We like the inclusion of the requisite fight and the perfectly messy early-20s apartment in which it took place as well as the fact that our protagonist is Juan, not John. Nice work on the makeup, too.
As with earlier entries in the “Give Extra, Get Extra” campaign (like this father-daughter spot that scored a sweet 23 million YouTube views back in 2013), this one is all about positioning the product at key moments of intimacy and personal development so as to avoid the too-hard sell. Note the continued packaging-as-improvised-art theme.
It’s not that the product facilitates these moments–it just happens to be there in the right place at the right time. Chewing gum is not the most emotionally resonant product, but there you go.
And yes, light jazz-pop is a better fit for Elvis than synth-heavy British “reggae” any day. Not that either version does justice to the original…
Credits
Agency: Energy BBDO
Client: Wrigley Extra
Title: “Sarah & Juan”
Executive Creative Director: Andrés Ordoñéz
Creative Director: Pedro Pérez
Art Director: Andrés Ordoñéz, Josejuan Toledo, Jesús Díaz
Copywriter: Andrés Ordoñéz, Pedro Pérez, Sofía González
Executive Producer: John Pratt
Music Producer: Daniel Kuypers
Managing Director: Jeff Adkins
Client Service Director: Lianne Sinclair
Account Director: Erin Welsh
Senior Account Executive: Brittany Peskind
Assistant Account Executive: Katheryn Batista
Group Planning Director: Elke Anderle
Digital Strategy Director: Zach Graham
Production Company: Rattling Stick
Director: Pete Riski
Executive Producer: Joe Biggins
Producer: Tessa Mitchell
Visual Effects: The Mill
Colorist: Luke Morrison
Color Assist: Mikey Pehanich
Design Lead: Matt Darnall
Design Artist: Adrian Navarro
2D Lead: Randy McEntee
2D Artist: Michael Sarabia
Head of Production: Andrew Sommerville
Producer: Adam Battista
Production Coordinator: Grace Tober
Music: “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
Vocals: Haley Reinhart
Piano: Casey Abrams
Record Label: ole Media Management L.P.
Audio: STIR Post
Audio Post: Matt Holmes
Audio Post Producer: Mindy Verson