OKRP Autotunes for Big Lots

O’Keefe, Reinhard & Paul launched a new spot for Big Lots, which named the agency its AOR back in January of 2014, promoting the brand’s fall offerings with “Have You Ever?”

The spot features a series of women rendered speechless by Big Lots’ furniture and home accessories — well, not completely speechless. Instead, a montage shows different women repeating the same few words and phrases (“I can’t,” “I know,” “Loving this” and “Have you ever?”) ad nauseum. A music track gradually creeps in, followed by auto-tuned versions of the phrases, as the agency borrows a trick from the Gregory Brothers (of AutoTune the News fame). It’s a very simple approach, with the borrowed autotune gimmick taking the extra step to try to get it stuck in viewers’ heads. The downside, of course, is the risk of annoying and alienating those viewers, who may or not associate their annoyance with the brand.  Getting musical is not a new approach for the agency, as evidenced by its first work for the client, as well as its holiday effort last year. Compared to some of its other work for Big Lots, “Have You Ever” could almost be called subdued. Almost.