Lorraine Bracco Brings Her Signature Rasp to Deutsch’s Holiday Netflix Spot

Lorraine Bracco (she of The Sopranos and Goodfellas fame, of course) lends her familiar voice to Deutsch LA’s new holiday spot for Netflix, and predictably, makes the ad work.

In the spot, “Tree Topper,” Bracco voices the part of the smiling porcelain tree topper that has been part of the McDermott family for 34 years. Through the tree topper we see the wild antics of the McDermott boys, as well as Christmas cooking failures and Uncle Luther’s fake snow. Despite the occasional difficulties living with the McDermott family, Bracco’s tree topper enjoys when the family curls up to enjoy watching something on Netflix.

It’s not the most original of concepts, but Bracco makes it work. Her voice is not only recognizable, but dramatic and expressive. This helps make the idea of a sentient tree topper seem less ridiculous, and even imbues the character with emotion and personality. It helps make the spot not seem overly sentimental, and her delivery of the spots’ final line really brings out just the right amount of curmudgeon from Bracco’s character. While celebrity voice acting is so often an afterthought used as an easy cash-in, Deutsch LA hits the mark by casting Bracco for “Tree Topper.” Hopefully other agencies are taking notes. Credits after the jump. continued…

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Elm Takes Creative Helm at DDB California

In case you haven’t heard the news today, 15-year Deutsch LA vet Jason Elm, who last served as EVP/group creative director on Diamond Foods and Playstation (he was joined by 180LA alum Gavin Lester on the latter account late last year) has assumed the chief creative officer post at DDB California. Elm assumes a position that’s been left vacant at the Omnicom-owned agency’s Cali operations (L.A., San Francisco) since January when Lisa Bennett stepped down from her CCO role. Bennett has since been appointed as EVP/creative for DDB North America.

As for Elm, during his lengthy stay at Deutsch LA, where he started as a copywriter, the senior creative subsequently played a major role in PlayStation efforts, creating the Twitter feed for @TheKevinButler and leading creative on the award-winning “Michael” work for the console. His new boss, DDB California (formerly DDB West) CEO Mike Harris, speaks his name and sings his praises in a statement, saying, “Jason was recently, and rightly so, named to Business Insider’s ‘people most-sought after by rival agencies’ list. He is a creative genius and a superstar in the industry and I have no doubt that his creative vision will elevate the level of our work, across departments.”

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