This Campaign Finds a Clever Visual Way to Show Our Connection to the National Parks

The National Park Service has a sightseeing stop for everyone, so long as you're wearing body paint to match the scenery you're planning to visit. In this new ad for the National Park Foundation, which raises money to sustain government parks, Grey New York creates a world full of colorful lost souls trying to find their way home—to whichever tourist attraction happens to match their stripes. Titled "Find Your Park," it risks coming across as corny—but actually nets out as visually charming, smartly riddled with rich and inviting landscapes, and armed with a strong, simple metaphor. In fact, if you're a U.S. taxpayer, you're already funding the parks, so they really are yours (though the ad aims to bring in more much-needed cash to sustain them). It's not the first time an advertiser has relied on camouflage body paint to make its point. In 2012, Sprite and then-agency BBH New York used the same basic gimmick, with a dystopian twist. But here, Grey casts the act of blending in with your surroundings as a positive—at least, assuming you can find the place you belong. (The National Parks also technically include historical institutions like Federal Hall in New York City. If you do go on a vision quest, the correct protocol is to gaze in wonder at whatever scene of natural or manmade beauty and significance you find.) It's also easier to like an ad that peddles public institutions by showcasing their broad aesthetic and cultural value than an ad that peddles sugar water by appealing to crass individualism (perplexingly defined as drinking the same sugar water as everyone else). A print ad (below) in Grey's new campaign, meanwhile, takes a slightly more straightforward approach, juxtaposing a photo of Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River in Arizona with that photo of a donor—to create a portrait resembling what Batman villain Two-Face might look like if half his face were good and half were a rock. (That follows similar print mashups that rolled out this summer.) And yet, that still manages to appeal to the vanity of audiences who might wish to be lauded—or just feel good about themselves—for contributing to the cause … even, or perhaps especially, if they don't fancy themselves walking around like a bunch of street artists squeezing a little vacationing between sets. CREDITS Advertiser: National Park Foundation Agency: Grey New York —TV Creative Group Creative Director: Sean Crane Group Creative Director: Joe Mongognia Creative Director (Art Director): Chris Perrone Creative Director (Writer): Tony Muller Project Manager: Craig Lucero Production Director: Floyd Russ VP Producer: Keira Rosenthal Production House: Vision Executive Producer: Bethanie Schwartz Line Producer: Stephanie Cohen Production Manager: Michael Sapienza Editorial Company: Whitehouse Post Editor: Trish Fuller Assistant Editor: David Rothstadt Executive Producer: Lauren Hertzberg Producer: Samantha Havas Account Management VP Account Director: Casey Potash Account Supervisor: Kate Neupert Account Executive: Abel Gachou —Print Creative Group Creative Director: Sean Crane Executive Creative Director: Rob Perillo Group Creative Director: Joe Mongognia Art Director: Jackie Blaze Writer: Louis Wittig Project Manager: Craig Lucero Production Photographer: David Johnson VP Manager Art Producers: Jayne Horowitz Senior Print Producer: Stan Pribichevich Print Project Manager: Barbara Youngblood Business Manager: Christine Osborne Director of Studio Services: Joe Raffio Account Management VP Account Director: Casey Potash Account Supervisor: Kate Neupert Assistant Account Executive: Katie Robison

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This Campaign Finds a Clever Visual Way to Show Our Connection to the National Parks

Grey breaks out the body paint for stirring spot

Gabriel Beltrone

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Gabriel Beltrone