PRO-LINE - ZAMBONI, GRASS - CANADA
CREDITS
Project: Zamboni, grass
Client: Chris Parrott, brand manager, Ontario Lottery and Gaming
Corporation
Brief: Show how Pro-Line gives gamblers a stake in the game and enhances
the experience of sports-watching
Creative agency: Bensimon Byrne, Toronto
Writer: Mike Blackmore
Art director: Jeff MacEachern
Media agency: MBS
Media planner: John Ware
Production companies: Another Film Company, Untitled Films
Director: James Haworth
Editor: School, Toronto
Post-production: AXYZ, Toronto
Audio Post-production: Imprint Music
Exposure: TV in Ontario
THE LOWDOWN
Canadian punters who will grasp at any small piece of "inside information" to win a bet, get sent up in new TV advertising for the Pro-Line fixed-odds sports betting service.
Each of the two new TV spots feature a spoof sports broadcast. In one, a gridiron football commentator speculates whether the fertiliser used on the pitch could affect the outcome of the game.
In another, a reporter at an ice-hockey match wonders if the fact that the ice resurfacing machine has switched from a clockwise to an anti-clockwise direction is significant. The endline is: "Everything matters."
Pro-Line is part of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, which was set up to operate and manage lotteries, casinos and gambling facilities at horse-racing tracks. Its aim is to encourage responsible gambling, while earning revenue for the province.
WASHINGTON STATE LOTTERY - BROKEN ARM - US
CREDITS
Project: Broken arm
Client: Washington State Lottery
Brief: Promote the lottery's 25th anniversary draw
Creative agency: Publicis West, Seattle
Writer: Todd Mitchell
Art director: John Meyer
Media agency: Publicis in the West
Media planner: Kevin May
Production company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Jim Hosking
Editor: Kelly Vander Linda, Collective
Post-production: Biscuit Filmworks
Audio Post-production: Scott Weis, Justin Bragelman, Pure Audio
Exposure: TV in Washington state
THE LOWDOWN
The Washington State Lottery is marking its 25th anniversary draw with TV advertising featuring a man seemingly prepared to put himself through pointless pain to get his hands on a ticket.
The TV spot is based on the premise that because only a limited number of tickets are available, they ought to be kept in a safe place.
The action centres on an office worker who mystifies his colleagues by slamming a drawer on the plaster cast protecting his broken arm, and then pounds it into a door.
It turns out that he is putting himself through this ordeal to retrieve his ticket, which is trapped in the cast.
The lottery was established in 1982 to support public education and stadium construction programmes within the state.
HONDA - ASIMO ALIVE & UNPLUGGED TOUR - AUSTRALIA
CREDITS
Project: ASIMO Alive & Unplugged tour
Client: Marian Dekker, promotions and event manager, Honda Australia
Brief: Promote ASIMO's Australian tour
Creative agency: DraftFCB, Melbourne
Writer: Evan Roberts
Art director: Mikey Tucker
Media agency: Optimedia
Media planner: Justine Bucci
Production company: Prodigy Films
Director: Tim Bullock
Editor: Andrew Stalph
Post-production: Mrppp
Audio Post-production: Risk Sound
Exposure: National TV, cinema
THE LOWDOWN
ASIMO, Honda's famous robot, is getting the rock star treatment to promote his Alive & Unplugged tour of Australia.
The robot, which can walk and move its arms, is showing off its skills during a nine-week national tour, which is being promoted via a TV campaign.
The DraftFCB agency in Melbourne produced a series of commercials featuring ASIMO's robot "fans", who talk about his show and how much they like him. In one spot, a robot is disappointed he can't see ASIMO "because I'm screwed to the floor".
Honda began working on the ASIMO robot in 1986. One version has been specially programmed to act as receptionist at the company's offices near Tokyo.
ARIEL - A LITTLE BOY - ARGENTINA AND CHILE
CREDITS
Project: A little boy
Client: Procter & Gamble
Brief: Promote Ariel's ability to deal with hard-to-remove stains
Creative agency: Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi
Writer: Davis
Art director: Ariel Senzacqua
Planner: Maria Lorena Pascual
Media agency: Starcom
Media planners: Cecilia Albinati, Eugenia Anselmi
Production company: Palermo Films
Director: Martin Hodara
Exposure: TV in Argentina and Chile
THE LOWDOWN
A small boy who hates having to wear his big brother's clothes is the star of a new commercial promoting the stain-removing qualities of Procter & Gamble's Ariel to South American consumers.
The film shows the boy doing everything he can think of to make his clothes unwearable.
Feigning chivalry, he spreads his shirt in a muddy path so some girls can walk over it, and gets a car mechanic to wipe his greasy hands on his sweater. But it's all to no avail. He wakes the following morning to find them spotless again, having been washed with Ariel Hidrogel Max, and hanging on his mother's washing line.