Hasta La Creative!

Barton F. Graf 9000 delivers one of the stranger campaigns you’re likely to see this week, with “Dead Mouse Theatre” for Tomcat mousetraps.

In the campaign, Barton F. Graf 9000 dreams up a solution for all the dead mice left in the wake of Tomcat, repurposing the corpses as puppets for theatrical purposes. It’s a pretty dark premise, but it’s certainly attention-grabbing. In the best of the 30-second spots (or my favorite, at least), a washed-up old-timey baseball player named Fitzy Gibbons revisits the scene of his downfall when questioned by a young fan. Other spots feature a leprechaun confronting a gangster who stole his gold and a lifelong friendship destroyed by a Viking raid. Strange stuff, indeed. (more…)

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It takes a comfortable man to perform karate in a barber’s robe and tinfoil, not to mention skintight jeans and snakeskin boots. Meet the face of Southern Comfort, a moustachioed man we’ve met once before in “Shampoo,” one of the previous spots in W+K’s SoCo “Whatever’s Comfortable” campaign.

Then, he was meditating amidst soft suds, opening his eyes only to check out the woman across the barbershop. Now, he’s showing off for all the ladies.

Director Tim Godsall and the W+K creative team wrote the spot after seeing our protagonist’s casting tape for “Shampoo,” in which he did karate – he’s actually skilled in the martial art, and owns a few dojos. Given the nature of the campaign, they wanted to play to his natural skills. It was a good choice, because this is the best spot yet. While “Beach” and “Shampoo” play to the relaxed side of comfort, “Karate” has more personality and ease. Especially when backed by “I’m a Fool to Care,” by Les Paul and Mary Ford, this barbershop guy paints a poignant picture, and will probably ascend to be your new role model.

Credits after the jump.

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