LG's New Smartphone Takes Abuse From Meatballs, Milk and More in Heat's Global Ads

To tout the advanced features and durability of its new G6 smartphone, LG takes a hands-on approach in a series of playful ads created by Heat. Each commercial presents the device front and center, positioned literally in the middle of the shot, manipulated by various hands. And of course, there's the occasional meatball smashing into the touchscreen, followed by a thorough hosing down: [kickout id="3"] Hey, who threw that spicy Italian treat? Apple, we're looking in your direction! "The sweet spot for our audience is anybody who has ever had trouble using a modern smartphone because of its size," Evan Slater, Heat's executive creative director and New York creative chief, tells AdFreak. "The toilet-droppers, two-handers, smash-scratch-n-denters are who we're talking to. That's pretty much all of us." But some people really like large phones. What's wrong with that? "If you've got a phablet and you're happy, more power to you for having hands the size of a prehistoric creature's," says Slater. "The same goes to the people that are OK with smaller screens. The users we're talking to are looking for a simple solution—a big screen that they can actually hold." Well, you know what they say about folks with big hands. Now, how about a cool glass of milk to wash down that spaghetti dinner? [kickout id="4"] "The visuals convey our message clearly, without a single word, and as a result translate into any country, culture or language," Slater says. "For LG, this meant a campaign with truly global appeal and touchpoint versatility." This next ad actually takes place high above the globe: [kickout id="5"] "The glove was an actual astronaut glove," Slater says, "but I don't think it's been to space." Here's a longer video that dropped a few weeks back showing the G6 weathering all sorts of indignities: [kickout id="1"] Word to the wise: When skydiving, it's probably best to take selfies after you've pulled the cord. "The phones we shot with were not the final released handset, and given that we had a limited number of them, we were absolutely terrified to do things like dunk them into fish-bowls," says Slater. "Each time we did it, we held our own phones and cringed, but each and every time, the G6 kept ticking. It made it through water, milk, showers and meatballs—and it's still working away today." When filming "Meatball," the creative team "originally had the hand model wearing a lovely white long-sleeve shirt," he adds. "The first meatball toss not only missed the phone, but landed perfectly on the cuff of the shirt, rendering it useless. So, we swapped it out for a lovely yellow long-sleeved shirt. Second throw. Second miss. And that was the end of the shirt in that scene. We decided to stick with a T-shirt and work on our aim." Separately, LG produced a Rube Goldberg-style video illustrating the various quality tests each G6 must pass. Heat didn't have a hand in this particular film, which was created by Ukrainian shop Radioaktive Film: [kickout id="2"] CREDITS Agency: Heat Chief Creative Officer: Steve Stone Chief Executive Officer: John Elder President: Mike Barrett ECD / Head of Creative – Heat NY: Evan Slater Creative Director: JB Byrne Creative Director: Elaine Cox Senior Writer: Jon Korn Art Director: Justin Hargraves Head of Integrated Production: Joyce Chen Senior Producer: Andy Rosenthal Producer / Post Production: David Cardinali Associate Producer: MacKenzie Huff Group Account Director: Matt Huntington Account Director: Elaine Feinstein Assistant Account Executive: Paris Clark Director of Strategy: Justin Cox Senior Strategist: Apo Bordin Director of Business Affairs: Jenn Kennedy Advertiser: LG Electronics Global MC President: Juno Cho VP Global Marketing Communications: Suyoung Kim Director Global Marketing: YH Kang Global Senior Marketing Manager: DK Seo Global Marketing Manager: Leine Kim Global Marketing Manager: Hayley Jun Global Marketing Manager: Sunny Kim SVP Marketing, US: Chang Ma Director US Marketing: Romi Yoon Sr. Marketing Manager, US: Jin Choi Production Company: Gentleman Scholar Directors: William Campbell & Will Johnson Executive Producer: Jo Arghiris Head of Production: Rachel Kaminek Line Producer: Richard Kaylor DP: Rebecca Baehler Design & Animation: Gentleman Scholar Creative Directors: William Campbell, Will Johnson, Chace Hartman Associate Creative Director: JP Rooney Executive Producer: Jo Arghiris Head of Production: Rachel Kaminek Senior Producer: Sue Yee Hubbard Producer: Gregory Behrens 2D Animation & Design: Dennis Go Designer: Trish Janovic Designer: Christina Barna Designer: Mike Tavarez Designer: Chris Finn CG Supervisor: Adam Burke 3D Modelers: Adam Rosen Rigger: Lee Wolland 3D Animator: Nick Dubois 3D Lighting Artist: Mike Papagni 3D Texture Artist: Adnan Hussain Editorial: Lost Planet Editor: Charlie Johnston Assistant Editor: Steven San Miguel Executive Producer: Gary Ward Producer: Tim Kirkpatrick VFX/Finishing: Carbon VFX Executive Producer: Frank Devlin Senior Producer: Paul O'Bierne Lead Flame/VFX: Kieran Walsh Flame: Matt Reilly Flame: Chris Wiseman Flame: Peter Charles Flame: Jamie Scott After Effects: Max Benjamin SDX + Mix: Heard City NY Engineer: Keith Reynaud Executive Producer: Sasha Awn Music Production: Beta Petrol Song: "Something's Got a Hold on Me" by Etta James Remix by: Fabio BOI Angelini Executive Producer: Brent Asbury Music Supervisor: Bryan Turcotte Color: Company 3 Colorist: Dave Hussey

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LG's New Smartphone Takes Abuse From Meatballs, Milk and More in Heat's Global Ads

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