Kristen Schaal, geek heartthrob, wants you to woo her with your leet Minecraft skills.
The popular comedienne, whose résumé includes Flight of the Conchords, The Daily Show, and a whole lot more funnies, is back yet again in her role as spokeswoman for Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play. The new spots, from McCann Worldgroup, continue the campaign's emphasis on the Android phone as a gaming gadget, now punching up its focus on specific titles—and adding a contest element that invites players to compete for Schaal's attention by creating a digital tribute in a blocky construction game Minecraft. "I'm looking for a super-genius Minecraft wizard to slave away and build me something so extraordinary that I go into a coma for half a year," declares Schaal, who is green-screened into a Minecraft landscape. "I want a palace, a monument, something like a shrine to me." The fan who creates the most impressively worshipful structure gets to meet Schaal, per the ad—which takes a more explicitly flirtatious if hilariously tongue-in-cheek approach than earlier installments. "We'll live in your creation," she taunts. "We'll shrink down to tiny, tiny little computer bodies. We'll live there forever." Dream on, players.
A second spot follows more closely in the alternately sweet-and-crazy style of the rest of the campaign. Only this time, it pits Schaal against pro gamer Tom Taylor, aka Tsquared. Note how he struggles to keep a straight face as she spirals, in the smack-talking tradition of losing gamers, into a screeching fit of rage. Who, really, could blame him?
CREDITS:
Client: Sony Ericsson
Product: Xperia Play
Spots: "Minecraft" and "T-Squared"
Agency: McCann Worldgroup, New York
Chief creative officer: Linus Karlsson
Associate creative directors: Mat Bisher, Jason Schmall
Group creative partners: Tom Murphy, Sean Bryan
Executive business partner: Jeff Geisler
Producer: Minnie Tran
Production company: Caviar, Los Angeles
Executive producers: Michael Sagol, Jasper Thomlinson
Producer: Christine Brown
Director: Nick Jasenovec
DP: Jesse Green
Production designer: Benjamin Bamps
Editorial company: Post Op, New York
Editor: Ed McGowan
Producer: Jeff Fischer
Audio: Gerard McConville
