BBDO, Michel Gondry and Bacardi Spend a Night Out on the Town

BBDO New York teamed up with acclaimed director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, music videos for, Björk, The White Stripes, Beck and others) in a new 30-second spot for Bacardi to launch the brand’s largest-ever global ad campaign. 

As you may recall, BBDO New York released its first campaign for Bacardi as AOR last October, after winning creative duties that April following Bacardi’s decision to consolidate creative and media without a review.

In the new spot, “The Night,” they’re clearly going for the younger crowd. The spot celebrates those who emerge after dark: the “brave shirts” and the “still-at-work shirts,” or a bunch of total bros who stand “united against all dress codes.” These groups are “illuminated by 1,000 likes” and seem exist for the sole purpose of partying as much as possible before catching the last train home. It ends with the tagline, “We Are The Night.”

It’s a type of blanket nightlife celebration designed to appeal to to party-happy 20-somethings, which makes sense for the brand.

There are traces of Gondry’s signature style here and there, though these touches aren’t quite strong enough to elevate the spot above a series of like-minded ads despite its fine direction and an obviously sizable production budget. It feels a bit plain for a project with Gondry’s name attached to it, though we wonder if the parties involved might go more abstract if given some room to move.

Credits:
Agency: BBDO New York
Client: Bacardi
Spot: “The Night”
Chief Creative Officer Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Danilo Boer
Executive Creative Director: Marcos Kotlhar
Associate Creative Director: Marcus Johnston
Associate Creative Director: Jim Connolly
Global Executive Producer: Angelo Ferrugia
Producer: BreeAnn Stuart
Business Manager: Matt Friday
Jr. Music Producer: Julia Millison
Evp, Senior Account Director: Steven Panariello
Account Director: Joshua Goodman
Account Manager: Meghan Wood
Account Executive: Lindsay Vellines
Evp, Group Director, Behavioral Planning: Gordon Mclean
Head of Communications Planning: Julian Cole
Communications Planning Director: Patrick Tomasiewicz

Production Company: Partizan
Director: Michel Gondry
Director of Photography: Shawn Kim
Production Designer: Maxwell Orgell
Head of Production: Molly Griffin
Executive Producer: Lisa Tauscher
Producer: Raffi Adlan
Production Manager: Debo / Joseph DeBartolo

Edit House: Final Cut
Editor: Jeff Buchanan
Head of Production: Jen Sienkwicz
Executive Producer: Sarah Roebuck
Producer: Penny Ensley
Assistant Editor: Spencer Campbell

Vfx & Design: The Mill
Producer: Chris Harlowe
Production Coordinators: Chris Lewis, Carlos Zalapa (New York)

Shoot Supervisors: Glyn Tebbutt and Felix Urquiza
2-D Lead Artist: Glyn Tebbutt
3-D Lead Artist: Felix Urquiza
2-D Artists: Katerina Arroyo, Tom Van Dop, Brad Scott, Dag Ivarsoy, Jake Elbers, Peter Sidoriak, Chris Knight
3-D Artists: Cory Cosper, Juan Salazar, Ahmed Elmatarawi, Blake Guest, Monique Espinoza, Troy Barsness, Mahmoud Elragheb, David Tyler Young, Michael Lori, Danny Garcia, Steven Olson

Matte Painting: Ed Laag
NY 2-D Lead Vfx/Finishing: Krissy Nordella
Colorist: Fergus Mccall
Executive Producer, Color: Dee Allen
Color Producer: Natalie Westerfield
Production Coordinator, Color: Evan Bauer

Audio Post: Heard City
Mixer: Philip Loeb
Producer: Talia Rodgers

Music: Soundtree
Song Title: “Night Creatures”
Composers: Luis Almau and Peter Raeburn For Soundtree Music Limited
Publisher: Soundtree Music Publishing Limited
Managing Director / Music Supervisor: Jay James

Additional Credits for Social and Bar Call:
Social and Bar Call Films Editor: Spencer Campbell
Finishing: Significant Others NY
Creative Director: Dirk Greene
Sound Mixer: Terressa Tate
Finishing Producer: Alek Rost
Color: Color Collective NY
Colorist: Mike Howell

Michel Gondry Made This Surprise Music Video for the First White Stripes Song Since 2008

Michel Gondry famously directed four classic music videos for the White Stripes:

“Fell in Love With a Girl”
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground”
“The Hardest Button to Button”
“The Denial Twist”

Now, much to Jack White’s surprise, Gondry has added one more.

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Gillette – NFL Players Tracks

Le français Michel Gondry a réalisé récemment cette pub pour Gillette intitulée « Training Tracks ». Se servant des aptitudes physiques de plusieurs joueurs de la NFL, cette création réalisée en collaboration avec Phil Mossman (LCD Soundsystem) produit une musique lors d’une session filmée et enregistrée à Hollywood.

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Michel Gondry Directs ‘Training Tracks’ for Gillette

To celebrate the end of NFL training camps and the start of the regular season, Gillette and BBDO NY released “Training Tracks” a music video using only the sounds of NFL players and other athletes training.

Who could pull of such an unusual, even avant-garde concept? Probably only Academy Award-winning director Michel Gondry. So that’s who they got. Gondry directs the spot, based on a track conceived by Phil Mossman of LCD Soundsystem fame. The “music experiment” was produced at the acclaimed Ocean Way Studios in Hollywood.

“Training Tracks” features NFL stars Champ Bailey, Kayvon Webster, BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Giovani Berard, as well as former Notre Dame offensive guard Mike Golic, Jr., all of whom participated in Gillette’s  “Built for Training” program this summer. You may not recognize all the athletes as they come into and out of focus, but the sounds they make work surprisingly well. The spot is also expertly shot (obviously) and a much-welcome departure from Gillette’s normal blase approach to advertising (or worse yet, that terrible Adrien Brody/Andre 3000/Gael García Bernal campaign). Let’s hope they continue putting out more interesting and unique (an overused word in the ad world for sure, but one that definitely applies here) work like this spot with new agency Grey in the future. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Michel Gondry for Mia Doi Todd

Voici le nouveau clip du célèbre réalisateur Michel Gondry séduit par l’univers musical de l’artiste Mia Doi Todd, une multi-instrumentiste surdouée auteur de sept albums. Son clip très coloré sur le titre “Open your heart” est à découvrir dans la suite.

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Previously on Fubiz