Robin Williams Can't Tell His X's From His O's in Snickers Ad | Adweek
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Ad of the Day: Snickers

Robin Williams can't tell his X's from his O's as a football coach in BBDO's latest

Eat Snickers, or you will turn into Robin Williams doing John Wayne and Nikita Khrushchev.

I cannot stress this enough. Eat Snickers, for the love of God.

This isn't a Super Bowl ad, but it could be. Mars and BBDO fit about as much production as you can into 30 seconds, and they definitely fit in as much cherished 1980s comedian. (Yes, that's a candy-bar-deprived Bobcat Goldthwait toppling off the cheeramid in the last couple of seconds.)

Williams is not exactly a secularist when it comes to advertisements. So, I think it's safe to assume—given the only other big product he's really pitched is the video game he named his daughter after—that he really likes Snickers.

You didn't know this, but low blood sugar has actually been turning you into a comedian for years. Williams and Goldthwait take the place of Betty White and Abe Vigoda (as the setup and the punch line, respectively) from a few Super Bowls ago, and Joe Pesci and Don Rickles from last year's spot. Honestly, I kind of like the new one better. Pesci is a funny guy, but I wish people would ask him to do his My Cousin Vinny character more and his Goodfellas character less, because I've seen the latter movie probably 15 times and he kind of scares me when he starts asking people what their problem is.

Williams is a horse of a different feather. Lord knows what's going to come out of his mouth, and director Craig Gillespie of MJZ seems to have just set him loose on the other performers. During production on Barry Levinson's wartime dramedy Good Morning Vietnam, Levinson reportedly stuck Williams in the sound booth (his character's a DJ—it's actually a pretty good flick) and said, "Do your thing." It makes him a good pick for an ad like this, because he's both recognizable and somebody you don't just think of as "the guy from Aladdin."

CREDITS
Client: Mars/Snickers
Title: "Coach"
Agency: BBDO, New York
Chief Creative Officer: David Lubars
Senior Creative Directors: Peter Kain, Gianfranco Arena
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Jon Kubik
Associate Creative Director, Copywriter: Adam Noel
Executive Producer: Amy Wertheimer
Managing Director: Kirsten Flanik
Senior Account Director: Kathryn Brown
Account Director: Justin Zerrenner
Account Manager: Price Manford
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Craig Gillespie
Editing Company: MacKenzie Cutler
Editor: Ian MacKenzie
Mixer: Tom Jucarone
Colorist: Tim Masick
Visual Effects: Eight VFX

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