Just as the movie industry hits the boredom wall after New Year’s, the ad industry has really seemed to stall out since the Super Bowl. Makes sense: big budgets used up on Rob Riggle psuedo-celebrity endorsements and Stephen Colbert pistachio suits. What we have now is the calm after the storm, best exemplified by Carmichael Lynch’s new “Best Dad” spot for Subaru.
“Best Dad” is a simple 30-second clip that positions Subaru as the sweater-wearing dad of car brands, which is a fairly accurate representation, but maybe not the most tantalizing choice for an ad campaign. Take this recent video, for example, of a small Subaru sedan towing a Dodge Charger police cruiser out of the snow as one way to uniquely position the brand, especially in the winter. What Carmichael Lynch chose to produce instead is so typical that’s it’s hard to remember what happened 30 seconds ago. All car brands mention awards in their commercials. Motor Trend and J.D. Power and Associates give out awards the way Little Leagues give out trophies. Even if the message stays the same, at least try to present it in a fresh way. Just try, that’s all I ask.
Credits after the jump.
Agency: Carmichael Lynch
Chief Creative Officer: Dave Damman
Executive Creative Director: Randy Hughes
Writer, Associate Creative Director: Conn Newton
Art Director, Associate Creative Director: Michael Rogers
Head of Production: Joe Grundhoefer
Senior Content Producer: Jennifer David
Director of Business Affairs: Vicki Oachs
Account Service Team: David Eiben, Krista Kelly, Greta Hughes
Director of Project Management: Jennifer Abbey
PRODUCTION
Production Company: Furlined
Director: Brian Aldrich
Executive Producer: David Thorne
Line Producer: Pete Vitale
Director of Photography: Bryan Newman
POST PRODUCTION
Edit House: Whitehouse Post NYC
Editor: Stephen Jess
Assistant Editor: Alejandro Villagran
Online Artist(s): Drive Thru/ Derek Johnson
Telecine: Company 3/ Sean Coleman
Audio Mix: BWN/Dan Kramer
MUSIC: Singing Serpent