Ellie Kemper Crashes Old Droga5 Ads in the Agency's New Ads for Chase

Droga5's new work for Chase's Freedom Unlimited card is advertising about advertising. It stars Ellie Kemper, who amusingly points out how the world is inundated by commercials, billboards, product placement and more—but the upside to endless ads is that, thanks to Chase, you get 1.5 percent unlimited cash back on whatever they convince you to buy. The self-referential campaign launches with the spot below, in which the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star, as charming as ever, navigates this world swimming in sales pitches with typical good humor and self-deprecating comedy. In a particularly meta touch, the campaign includes other spots in which Kemper comments wryly on old ads—ones, not coincidentally, that were also made by Droga5—beginning with a Quilted Northern spot that we wrote about last May starring a frog toilet-roll holder. More spots are forthcoming with other brand partners, beyond Quilted Northern, that are also Droga5 clients. (Not that the average viewer will be aware of that connection.) The idea could be dismissed as navel-gazing, and there's certainly an element of that. But Kemper's involvement balances it out: The actress—who is suddenly a major ad star, following this and her extensive Buick work—makes the work more broadly appealing and keeps it from falling too far into solipsism. "What I love about the Chase Freedom Unlimited campaign is that it's fun and unique," she said in a statement. "The tone of the campaign is funny and fresh, and I think we're bringing the new product to life in an interesting way. We had a blast making it." The campaign was developed with media agency Zenith. "Having a creative idea that is dependent upon media placements is a dream for a media agency to sink its teeth into," says Eric Pisick, the Chase account lead there. "We had a blast coming up with new to market opportunities that brought this funny, lighthearted notion of the inundation of sales messages to life." "With the insight that, as consumers, we are bombarded daily by thousands of selling messages on every conceivable media, we simply decided to immerse our message within and around them," says Duncan Marshall, creative partner at Droga5. "With the help of the delightful Ellie Kemper, as well as several enthusiastic brand partners, we played with the world of the sell to promote our own." As part of the campaign, Chase is partnering with NBC's The Voice to create custom bumpers that reference upcoming ad breaks and remind viewers they can get 1.5 percent cash back on anything those ads are selling. CREDITS Client: JP Morgan Chase Campaign: Chase Freedom Unlimited "Everything Unlimited" Agency: Droga5 NY Creative Chairman: David Droga Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer Creative Partner: Duncan Marshall Creative Director: Casey Rand Creative Director: Karen Short Senior Copywriter: Pete Gosselin Senior Art Director: Jay Hunt Copywriter: Colin Lord Art Director: Inna Kofman Associate Design Director: Devin Croda Junior Designer: Alex Lumain Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale Head of Broadcast Production: Ben Davies Executive Producer: Carlin WilsonWebb Group Integrated Production Manager: Topher Lorette Associate Broadcast Producer: Jackie Omanoff Head of Interactive Production: Niklas Lindstrom Executive Interactive Producer: Thomas Longo Interactive Media Producer: Madison Goldberg Senior Social Producer: Chris Parke Associate Social Producer: Kylie Loeffler Head of Art Production: Cliff Lewis Senior Art Producer: Bianca Escobar Senior Print Producer: James Deprima Senior Retoucher: Peter Gibson Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer Group Strategy Director: Colm Murphy Strategy Director: Tom Haslow Senior Strategist: Nick Maschmeyer Senior Strategist: Ned Sonnenschein Group Communications Strategy Director: Alan Smith Senior Communications Strategist: Yan Wang Communications Strategist: Parks Middleton Executive Group Director: Agnes Fischer Account Director: Megan Gokey Account Supervisor: Caroline Engram Account Manager: Taylor Holland Associate Account Manager: Kelby Schmidt Project Manager: Emma Tonetti Client: JP Morgan Chase Chief Marketing Officer: Kristin Lemkau Chief Brand Officer: Susan Canavari President of Chase Branded Cards: Pam Codispoti General Manager, Chase Freedom: Naney Pandit Executive Director, Card Brand & Advertising: Ryan MacDonald VP, Card Brand & Advertising: Greg Stranz Marketing Analyst, Card Brand & Advertising: Stephanie Byard Production Company: Hungry Man Director: Hank Perlman Executive Producer/Managing Partner: Kevin Byrne Executive Producer/Head of Sales: Dan Duffy Executive Producer: Mino Jarjoura Executive Producer: Nancy Hacohen Producer: Tom O'Malley Production Supervisor: Lucy Sheridan Editorial: PS260 Editor: JJ Lask Editor: Ned Borgman Senior Producer: Laura Patterson Postproduction: The Mill Executive Producer: Chris Kiser Producer: Andrew Hamill Lead Flame: Mike Smith Animator Clemens: Den Exter Music: Dutone Sound: Sonic Union Mixer: Steve Rosen Photography: Walter Schupfer Management Photographer: Andrew Eccles

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Ellie Kemper Crashes Old Droga5 Ads in the Agency's New Ads for Chase

Meta view of a world awash in sales pitches

Tim Nudd

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Tim Nudd