Creative Briefs

Generation Gap NEW YORK—The first Gap work from Laird+Partners, a fall TV campaign that breaks Thursday, continues Gap's signature formula of celebrities performing against a plain background. This time, the spots use cross-generational pairs that, over eight spots, span the demographic spectrum.Country-music legend Willie Nelson and up-and-coming singer Ryan Adams each performs his own rendition of the Hank Williams standard "Move It On Over." Other pairs include dancer Will Kemp and 70-something hip-hopper Baba Oje (on roller skates) singing the John Lee Hooker blues classic "Boom, Boom." The spots were directed by fashion lensman Peter Lind bergh, who collaborated with Laird on a number of Donna Karan shoots. "Gap is bigger than any one person or age group," says Trey Laird, founder of the New York shop and a former Donna Karan creative director. "You wear it in your own way. You might wear your jeans all bo-ho and funky, or you might want something more classic and discreet."The print portion, which broke last week, also features famous personalities, in a mix of color and black-and-white portraits. It will run in more than 40 publications. The ads were shot by Swedish photographer Mikael Jan sson, who also has teamed with Laird in the past. Generation Gap Goodbye Middle Earth, Hello America Everyday People Messaging With the Fishes Is There a CEO of Sundaes? The Call of the WildGoodbye Middle Earth, Hello AmericaLord of the Rings director Peter Jackson's effects house, Weta Digital, has signed with Ohio Edit, New York, for its first commercial representation in the U.S. The 15-year-old effects company, based in Wellington, New Zealand, is owned by Jackson and creative effects supervisor Richard Taylor, winner of two Oscars for The Fellowship of the Ring. The filmmakers' previous commercial work has been limited to New Zealand campaigns, including a General Motors effort for which they created animatronic robots.Everyday PeopleConvincing people that hunger is a real concern in America is the main thrust of a new National Ad Council TV and radio campaign from Euro RSCG Tatham Partners in Chicago. Shot by Leslie Dektor, three spots distributed last week focus on the working poor's everyday need to decide be tween food and other essentials. In one spot, a woman fends off a bill collector on the phone as children play in the background. "Heat or food," is superimposed on the screen. The spots are tagged, "Huger. A choice no one should have to make." To emphasize that homelessness isn't just an urban problem, "We shot it to look like Lincoln, Nebraska," says Jeff De Chausse, creative director and art director on the spots. Messaging With the FishesFor Verizon's ubiquitous "Can you hear me now?" refrain to suddenly appear in text messages seemed jarring to the creative team at Bozell. So for a two-spot campaign touting Mobile Messaging, the New York shop instead dreamed up diverse characters from a freaked-out ferret to tight-lipped mafiosos. For the 18-24-year-old target, "we knew the client wanted laugh-out-loud funny," says copywriter Kim Gaillina, who partnered with art director Lauren Williman. In one spot breaking next month, mobsters conduct a deal in silence, as frustrated feds listen in. A blond thug receives the message, "R we happy," and responds to a stern dapper Don with the smiley-face emot icon. In a spot that broke last week, a ferret chomps down on his owner's tongue and won't let go; the owner sends an SOS message.Is There a CEO of Sundaes?With a determinedly amateurish slapstick routine, Lewis Communications, Nash ville, Tenn., pokes fun at clients who insist on acting in their own ads. Three spots for Nashville-based Purity Ice Cream star the company's "vice president of ice cream." In one, the notably uncomfortable vp explains how the company chooses its flavors. "We flip for it," he says. Out in the parking lot, an employee painted with the words "nutty buddy" and "red velvet" is flipped off a picnic table. The team auditioned 150 actors for the crucial role of the vp before finding one who could pull off the parody, says creative director Cindy Seargant. The campaign is running in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky through the spring. The Call of the WildCubicles, elevators, even overstuffed couches are made fun of in Fallon's first work for Timberland. The $15-$20 million global print and outdoor effort, breaking in September magazines, shows indoor settings overlaid with mocking copy, in an attempt to prompt people outdoors. One ad shows daisy-patterned wallpaper and warns, "Beware of interior decorators." The ads employ the tag, "Seek out." Most campaigns for outdoor products "point the camera at a mountain top or beautiful vista," says ecd Kevin Roddy. "We thought it was more interesting to point the camera in, where people spend most of their time." Translating the satirical copy for foreign markets—it breaks in Europe, South America, Asia and Canada in the fall—wasn't as easy as writing the originals, Roddy says. For example, it seems interior-decorator jokes don't go over well in England, so the copy was changed to, "No one calls it the great indoors."

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