Creative Briefs

On the Road Again

Reality intruded on D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles’ reality-TV-style shoot for Pontiac.

The Troy, Mich., agency’s concept for the campaign was to film people picked at random and given a week off from work to tool around in a new General Motors Pontiac. An initial batch of spots was shot in New York and Los Angeles by Road Rules director Adam Cohen, with shooting completed on Sept. 10. The plan was to pick another round of winners from the New York area for subsequent spots. But after the terrorist attacks, the shoot was moved to Chicago because of security concerns and logistical problems, according to Pontiac officials.

The first round of spots broke during the Emmy Awards telecast on Sunday. They intersperse foot age from winners of the weeklong spree in and around New York and Los Angeles.

Once Upon a Time

NEW YORK—After Crispin Porter + Bogusky was awarded the Telluride Ski and Golf Co. account last month, the Miami shop quickly decided it was working for a “storybook town,” says art director Paul Keister. And so a print and radio brand campaign that will break in November is delivered in the style of a 1930s storybook, with a twist of deadpan humor.

The team was especially inspired by the mountain vacation spot’s residents and their efforts to resist overdevelopment, explains copywriter Bob Cina frone. “[Telluride] has maintained its integrity,” he says, and “has very few posers.”

The first ad tells the tale of Fran chise Fred, who arrives in Telluride to build his “one zillionth Clone-A-Burger.” At a town meeting he is told, “No, no. Your idea is not so good. … Your eyesore will ruin our happy mountain town.” The townspeople take him above the tree line and leave him there. “Maybe Franchise Fred made it home,” the story concludes. “No one will really know for sure until the spring thaw.” Future stories will also feature bad-guy intruders who “get their just desserts,” says Cinafrone.

The ads were illustrated by Douglas Jones, chosen for his ability to recreate the feel of old storybooks like Virginia Lee Burton’s Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. “Doug was able to capture a more innocent time,” Cinafrone says. K

Kids Stuff

Graduates of the Inner-City Filmmakers advertising and production summer course in Los Angeles will soon release three PSAs created for the Anti-Defa mation League. Tony Stern, creative director at TBWA\Chiat\ Day in Playa de Rey, Calif., developed the eight-week program, recruiting staff ers from the agency, as well as production and post production professionals, to mentor the 12 recent high school graduates. The students based the spots on their own experiences. One ad shows a festive crowd grooving to a rapper’s tune. Slowly, as the camera draws closer, the music fades and the crowd disappears until all that’s left is the rapper, who is reciting words of hate. The title simply reads, “Listen.” Two other spots show how parents who pass on intolerant messages to their children are fueling the cycle of racism. A little girl draws pictures of white knights, which turn out to be Ku Klux Klansmen. And the mother of a white boy snatches him away from his black friend, saying, “I do not want you to play with his kind.” The message of the spots is “almost more relevant” after the Sept. 11 attacks, says Inner-City board member Jeff Koz, founder of Hum Music and Sound Design, which offered its services. The students closely followed the creative process used at ad agencies: Teams of four presented concepts, which were rejected or refined and eventually accepted. One Such Films and Celsius Films oversaw the production process. “[The professionals] were amazed at how talented the kids were,” says Stephania Lipner, co-founder of Inner-City Filmmakers. “And I think, in a lot of ways, these kids surprised themselves.”

Athena Award Goes to Target

Target Stores and Peterson Milla Hooks in Minneapolis snagged the Athena Awards’ $100,000 grand prize for a visual-wordplay cam paign that combines retail with brand advertising. It shows images of people in Target outfits, such as a tummy-revealing top, paired with packaged goods, such as Tums. The Newspaper Association of America sponsors the awards, which recognize creativity in newspaper advertising.

Cattle Call

Gateway’s talking bovine will have company on the airwaves starting this week. Two new spots bring back the happy cows that star in Deutsch/LA’s campaign for the California Milk Advisory Board. In one, the milk cows enjoy a mild earthquake, which they consider a “foot massage.” In the other, a bull asks his buddy to be his “wing man” as he tries in vain to impress a cute cow. The theme remains, “Great cheese comes from happy cows. Happy cows come from California.”