The Force is with Rob Travalino. Both Lucasfilm and Hasbro recently entrusted him to direct the new TV spot for Hasbro's Star Wars toys.
The 38-year-old creative director at Grey Advertising, New York, undertook the mission with high seriousness. "Star Wars is about human beings struggling to become something greater than ourselves," said a passionate Travalino, who still has an original program from the movie's 1977 premiere.
The national TV spot on the estimated $8 million account broke last week as a precursor to nine episodic spots breaking throughout the year.
It features a boy battling the dreaded Darth Maul in a quest to become a Jedi and ends with a voiceover directing traffic to the www.StarWars.Hasbro.com site. Storylines in each successive spot have cliffhanger endings, and consumers can go to the site for more information.
As for Travalino, although his nickname in high school was Han Solo, he counted a limited-edition Darth Vader helmet as among his most prized Star Wars possessions. Now that's a fan.
--Kathleen Sampey