CP+B Miami brings a couple of parents’ anxiety-fueled thoughts of what might happen at home while they’re out on a date to life in a new spot for home security brand Canary.
The ad opens with the parents waving goodbye to their children and the babysitter. “While you were out,” the voiceover begins, “the babysitter never invited her boyfriend over.” He, in turn, never invited over his sketchy friends, who never ordered a pizza they forgot about (while going through your closet) and the dog stole, setting off a chain of events leading to all sorts of destruction.
The imaginative chain-reaction scenario acts as a stand-in for all sorts of fears homeowners have when leaving the house. It may not be likely that the twins gave the cat a bath and left the water on, flooding the house, but seeing that everything is fine can assuage those illogical fears.
“While You Were Out” concludes with the reassuring, “None of this ever happened, but you already knew that” as the couple checks in on things at home (which is not burning down) with Canary. The approach acknowledges that Canary is selling not just security, but peace of mind in such situations, and while that may not be a new revelation for the category, “While You Were Out” manages to do so in a memorable, fairly entertaining way. Having Gifted Youth’s Peter Atencio, who directed Comedy Central’s Key & Peele, behind the camera surely helped pull off the effort.
“The whole thing came together almost without incident, which was pretty amazing considering it involved very young children, several animals, some fire, shattering glass and little bit of flooding,” CP+B executive creative director Jay Gelardi told Adweek. “It’s a challenge to trash a house on film while not doing any damage to the actual, beautiful house. So, parts of the house needed to be recreated in a studio, but much of the destruction actually happened—very carefully—on location. And some of the slips and stumbles were unintentional, which always adds to the painful authenticity.”
Credits:
Client: Canary
Campaign: “While You Were Out”
Agency: CP+B Miami
Executive Creative Director: Jay Gelardi
Creative Director: Graham McCann
Designer: Andrea Novo
Project Manager: Ethel Jones
Director of Video Production: Kate Hildebrandt
Integrated Producer: Jackie Maloney
Production Company: Gifted Youth. Los Angeles, CA
Director: Peter Atencio
Managing Partner/EP (Production Co): Dal Wolf
EP of Production (Production Co): Anthony Ficalora
Producer (Production Co): Michele Robb
Director of Photography: Jas Shelton
Editorial Company & City: Arcade Edit. Santa Monica, CA
Editor: Sean Lagrange
Executive Producer (Editorial Co): Crissy DeSimone
Producer (Editorial Co): Alexa Atkin
Music Company & City: Beacon Street Studios. Venice, CA
Executive Producer (Music Co): Leslie DiLullo
Principals: John Nau, Andrew Feltstein
Sound Design Company & City: Lime Studios. Santa Monica, CA
Sound Designer: Rohan Young
Executive Producer (Mix And Sound Design Co): Susie Boyajan
Mixer: Mark Meyuhas
Telecine Company & City: CO3. Santa Monica, CA
Senior Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld
Executive Producer (Telecine Co): Rhubie Jovanov
Visual Effects Company & City: Method Studios. Santa Monica, CA
Visual Effects Supervisor: Michael Kennedy
Senior Executive Producer (Visual Effects Co): Robert Owens
Producer (Visual Effects Co): Cara Lehr
Lead Compositor: Kelly Bumbarger
Director, Strategy: Sam Alonso
Group Account Director: Marci Miller
Management Supervisor: Julie Pfleger
Content Supervisor: Katie Perez
Executive Business Affairs Manager: Katherine Graham-Smith