The Discovery Channel has recreated a nuclear explosion for its
latest pounds 2 million television drive by Bates Dorland.
The spectacular mushroom cloud effects feature in the first of two new
commercials, breaking this week, which are intended to raise the
station’s profile in the expanding multichannel market.
The ad shows a group of army officers in a bunker watching as an H-bomb
is detonated in the distance. The force of the explosion throws many of
them off balance, while the light bathes them in an eerie glow.
At the same time, captions appear on screen putting the detonation into
perspective. The first says: ’One thing has killed more people than
every war in history.’ The film finally cuts to a shot of one of the
observers slapping an insect on the back of his neck, as another caption
reveals that one of the world’s most devastating killers is ’the
mosquito’.
The ad is the latest in a series of spots for Discovery by Dorlands
which depict the kind of ’strange but true’ facts that feature in the
station’s documentary programming.
The special effects were created by Chris Palmer of Gorgeous while the
explosion was created from stock footage from Discovery. The ad was
written by Ruth Jackson and art directed by Nick Simons.
The ad will run for the next few weeks, with a second spot appearing
later this month and a cinema push being planned for the new year. Media
planning was by Dorlands with buying through Zenith.
Adam Kirby, the board account director on the business, said the new
work was the first sign of increased commitment to advertising in the
increasingly competitive television market.
He said: ’Digital represents an enormous opportunity for Discovery and
the station is keen to establish itself as the learning and educational
brand on new multichannel networks. As time goes on, it’ll be increasing
its advertising budget to show that.’
