High Five: Punchy Projects from Dress Code's Brad Edelstein
I took a quick stroll through some projects that recently hit the airwaves - which I just want to caveat that I purposely left out some of the more obvious projects we’ve all recently seen and are loving, eg) Squarespace’s backstage with Adam Driver - so good. I wanted to take a look at some of the 'under the radar' pieces that I personally enjoyed. There’s truly a lot of great ideas being presented in project briefs along with several ways to craft a story, an emotion, an aesthetic, a wince or a smile - all while wrapping it into a brand message. That’s what excites me about advertising today, and for the future of our industry. Here’s a few that I appreciated as well as a selfless promotion of one of our own projects we recently wrapped because we're all hustlin’, so why not go ahead and pat ourselves on the back...
adidas x Hebru Brantley - 'Ten Toes Down'
Agency: Kitchen Table New York
Production: Light Farm Studios
Directors: Gabriel Agustin Freire x Thiago Paladino
I like when brands use bold choices to push a story through layered mediums. There’s a lot of texture to this creative which instantly unfolds in the chase. Visually, I was connected to the story. Art direction wise, it has a 'Travis Scott Astro World' vibe (minus the tragic turn of events at AstroWorld). You can tell there was a strong consideration in craft in the style(s) of animation along with thoughtful choices in sound design.
Ocean Spray - 'Don't Clown'
Agency: Orchard Creative
Production: Biscuit Filmworks USA
Director: Jeff Low
Editorial: Arcade Edit
When I think of Ocean Spray, I can't help but to think of those two guys in water waders sitting in the middle of a cranberry bog. Ocean Spray has been doing that forever now, it feels like. This is definitely a departure from the bog. We actually had the pleasure of working with Orchard Creative on an animated Ocean Spray spot not too long ago when there was discussion of how to re-craft the brand and messaging. It’s incredibly hard to gain a brand’s trust to have them change course on something that’s been working comfortably for them, it’s a challenge. The 'Yes You Cran' is a clever one and opens up a lot of fun possibilities for the brand and agency to explore.
Tito’s - 'Dry January'
Agency: Arts & Letters Richmond
Production: Classified Pictures
Director: Gavin Bellour
Post: The Mill New York
Sound: Overcoast Music & Sound
For starters, I support Dry January. I don’t partake, but I support it. For spirits brands, January is a rocky hangover for their sales. I thought this was a clever defence marketing mechanism. Also, Martha Stewart is my Aunt. (That’s false).
Bombay Sapphire - 'Saw This Made This'
Agency: AMV BBDO
Production: MJZ London
Director: Juan Cabral
Post: Rohtau
Editorial: Whitehouse Post London
Sound: 750mph
I love the simplicity of this. Striking imagery accompanied by poetic copy. I felt as if I was sitting in an art gallery rather than viewing an ad. The visuals were an extremely strong vehicle for this piece, especially if you're unable to hear the carefully selected words being recited. There’s a brilliance in choice shots, camera angles, depth of field, framing and camera blocking, all of which are intentional to be eye-catching.
Adobe - 'Adobe Premier'
Agency: Jam3
Production & Post: Dress Code
Director: Tucker Phillips
Sound: You Too Can Woo
When the world suddenly stopped back in April of 2020, Kelly lost her job on Broadway and her husband lost his love for studying law. The next obvious step for them was to become...TikTok stars? In a matter of a couple videos being uploaded their life's course changed. This was a fun task to create such a fun packed story involving several setups that balanced reality and dreamlike sequences into a short amount of by use of thoughtful set design, transitional moments and clever production and post production magic. For the record, I'm still not on TikTok...
