LOS ANGELES Independent G&M Plumbing’s 1950s science fiction-inspired spot for THQ’s soon-to-be-released video game Destroy All Humans breaks Monday on national cable, the agency said.
The campy, 30-second commercial depicts a Leave It To Beaver-style American family, caught absorbing news that the Earth will soon be overtaken by malicious invaders from outer space. Following 15 seconds of action-packed game footage, the commercial ends with family members revealing edgy, end-of-the-world confessions.
“The challenge,” said Mickey Taylor, co-creative director at the Newport Beach, Calif., agency, was “to deliver a memorable message and still show off the product . . . ending with a button that people would want to watch again and again.”
To meet that goal, the shop wrote and shot multiple conclusions, three of which will rotate through July, Taylor said.
In one version, for example, the family’s pearl- and apron-clad mother pauses momentarily after hearing the hysterical radio announcer report that “entire cities will be leveled!”
“And I thought we were going to die of boredom,” she says.
“And how!” agrees her cardigan-wearing husband.
“Five or six” of the original conclusions were nixed soon after shooting, according to Glenn Miller, co-creative director. Those versions included “some stuff the networks just wouldn’t buy into,” he explained. One of the shelved endings, Miller said, featured the family’s young son, Reggie, mentioning that “now would be a good time to tell you you’re going to be grandparents.”
“We thought that was pretty funny, coming from a 10-year-old,” Miller said.
The commercials are scheduled to run on cable outlets including MTV, Fox and Comedy Central. They are also set to appear prior to movies in Regal-owned cinemas.
The ad budget was undisclosed, but Miller noted that creative was “cost effective” and the media buy was “probably THQ’s biggest ever for a product launch.” WPP Group’s MindShare in Culver City, Calif., handled media.
Los Angeles-based THQ, with which G&M has partnered since 1999, spent $30 million advertising in 2004, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus; at least 15 of the company’s 2004 game launches relied on ad spends of $100,000 or more.
Taylor said complementary print, online and point-of-purchase efforts directed primarily at “typical gamers” would appear in July issues of gaming magazines.
G&M Spoofs '50s Sci-Fi for '05 Game
