NFL, True Gent and Two Gentle Giants
Jordan Brady is no stranger to crafting automobile spots. Even if you don’t know him personally, you’ll probably know his work. He’s the guy responsible for 17 years (yep, that's right, 17) of Toyota Valley ads that chronicle the chucklesome life of Pat Finn. This however, would be his first time working with Hyundai. You might find yourself wondering how it’s possible to create a distinctive brand tone when dealing with the same subject matter: cars. But the True Gent director pulls it off beautifully.
The spots have been a staple of Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime since October, featuring iconic American football players, Troy Polamalu and Brian Dawkins. The pun-heavy campaign, ‘Safeties Depend on Safety’ communicates its message through one of the most palatable mediums - humour. In this interview, Jordan, joined by Innocean creative director Tony Kalathara, speaks to the challenges and triumphs involved in working with limited time, high expectations, and the need to distinguish Hyundai’s identity in a market already saturated with strong competitors.
LBB> Jordan, this is your first collaboration with Hyundai. How did this partnership come to be?
Jordan> I’ve directed spots for about every automaker in the US, but never Hyundai. It was, however, on my proverbial vision board. Interestingly, cinematographer Michael Svitak had been shooting promos for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime, so he threw my name in the ring when these spots came along. We’ve done so many cars with celebrities, not to mention we’ve done many safety features for various cars - we knew how to be efficient. Everything needed was on the reel.
LBB> Could you describe the collaborative process of working with Hyundai & Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime?
Jordan> In a word, delightful. Innocean USA created the campaign for Hyundai. The creatives had me take a pass to flesh out the 60-second ads and together we customised each to both Troy Polamalu and Brian Watkins. We wanted comical stories versus spots that were too overtly talking about the car's safety features.
The Amazon Prime Thursday Night Football team was sensational too. They made sure we had all the toys and production support to pull this off. Kudos.
LBB> What kind of creative ideas did you have when you started the project? If they changed during production, how did those ideas evolve?
Jordan> I knew this had shot entirely in slow motion with anamorphic lenses. The more dramatic the voiceover and footage, the better… because these legends are doing such ordinary, mundane tasks.
Initially, I added too much backstory, like characters that were superfans of Troy and a rival of Brian Dawkins. So we had enough story to fill 60 seconds, but we dialled back in the edit. Staying true to the theme of, “Safeties need safety features” was our north star, as they say. Now, a true NFL fan will still pick up on the subtle clues, like the woman who wears Dallas Cowboy colours and earrings. She’s a foe to Brian Dawkins, a former Philadelphia Eagle Hall of Fame Safety.
LBB> Tony, from a creative perspective, tell us a bit about your experience working on the project.
Tony Kalathara> Collaboration is key when working with three iconic brands such as Hyundai, Amazon and the NFL. We rallied around a product truth: Hyundai has class leading safety features to catch mistakes before they happen. And we didn’t work in a silo. Everyone got a chance to plus-up the original concept as it grew, including director Jordan Brady and even some riffs from stars Polamalu and Dawkins made the final cut.
LBB> What unique challenges came from this project?
Jordan> Time is always the enemy. We had Troy and Brian each for one day. Luckily, I had my True Gent crew and producer Kim Bradshaw, so I really could just focus on performance.
Since we had no time to have Troy nor Brian actually drive the vehicles, I went green screen to maximise performance time and leaned into the Austin Powers approach. We’re not expecting to fool anyone that they’re really driving.
LBB> You’re known for being the guy responsible for directing almost two decades of Toyota ads. How did you work to ensure Hyundai was treated as its own separate entity, when you’ve worked so closely with another for so long?
Jordan> I love all my children equally. Each brand has its own voice and Innocean served as the rudder of the Hyundai voice. As a gun-for-hire, each client benefits from my experience, while pushing me to improve the way we tell the story. In the edit, we ended up with a tri-split screen among the features, Troy’s reaction and the jaywalker he avoided hitting. That’s a new approach to telling that moment.
LBB> If you could redo this project again is there anything you would’ve changed/done differently while creating this ad?
Jordan> Other than another shoot day to try more stuff, not really. But sometimes that time constraint forces the best takes and ideas to rise to the top on set. I love the over-the-top dramatic voiceover, which got tweaked in post to match what we’d shot.
LBB> How was it working with such a major character as Troy Polamalu and Brian Dawkins?
Jordan> They were the nicest gentlemen ever. They both ate lunch with the crew, hung out and took photos. Troy has done so many commercials, like his Head & Shoulders spot, so knows what to do when it comes to production. Brian was super engaged and knew the juxtaposition between his fame and the accidents he almost was involved in. I think they played the tone perfectly.
I call these men “gentle giants” because if you watch any highlight reel, they each would rush in and grab a grown man and toss him to the ground like a rag doll. But on set, they were collaborative, engaged and more.
LBB> Anything else you’d like to add?
Jordan> Thanks to everyone at Hyundai, Innocean, Thursday Night Football, DLP and Amazon for having me a part of the fun and offering me such leeway in bringing these to life.
