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August 2002

COPPOS DIRECTOR BRIAN ALDRICH PUTS THE BOSS IN THE HOT SEAT FOR BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD

Coppos Director Brian Aldrich has just completed a three-spot campaign for Blue Cross/Blue Shield. "Kick Me," "Watches," and "Shoelaces" put corporate leaders in the hot seat as it asks them about their choice of health care for their valuable employees.

"Kick Me" begins with a boss making his way to lunch. "The Eagle is leaving the nest," covertly reports one of his staffers. "Did you do it?" queries one colleague to another in the coffee room. "It's done," the co-conspirator replies. As the boss makes his way to lunch, he is viciously kicked by a bike messenger in the elevator, by a man in the lobby, and by two women on the street. Although he takes the kicks in stride, he seems strangely puzzled by them. As he continues on his way, viewers see a "Kick Me" sign has been applied to his backside. The voice over notes: "If you're not offering your employees independent Blue Cross, maybe you should."

"I loved this campaign from the beginning because of the core idea," explains Director Brian Aldrich. "In each spot, employees are conspiring against their bosses and there is a real dark side to the comedy involved. You see a lot of health care advertising on the air these days, but you rarely see this angle used to express a message. The agency creatives really took a risk, and I think it shows in this campaign."

POP SOUND MAKES "BROWN" THE MOST EFFICIENT COLOR OF THE RAINBOW FOR UPS

For an innovative way to exemplify the outstanding service of UPS, The Martin Agency enlisted Mixer Mitch Dorf and the team at POP Sound to add flavor to a series of new spots. The six :30 spots, "Logistics Manager," "Mailroom Clerk," "Shipping Manager," "CFO," "Customer Service," and "CEO," personify the brown packaging used by UPS as dependable, reliable, and a necessary component for running a business.

The first spot, "Logistics Manager," begins with a professional explaining how "Brown" has given her more power and control over her work. In the next shot, the camera pans across a world map to emphasize how UPS allows the logistics manager to be instantly connected to her contacts worldwide. She candidly comments on the reliability of the brown packaging of UPS, "Other colors may be cute, but they don't call you back."

In "Mailroom Clerk," the opening shot depicts a mailroom employee emphatically professing his love for "Brown." A quick montage shows how "Brown" does all the work for the mailroom clerk, from keeping track of addresses to printing mailing labels. The camera pulls back to reveal the mailroom worker comfortably sprawled in a bowling alley with his friends. He sheepishly remarks, "Brown makes work easy."

The other spots, "Shipping Manager," "CFO," "Customer Service," and "CEO," follow the same creative storylines, emphasizing the reliable and efficient service of UPS.

RING OF FIRE MAKES SECURITY A PRIORITY IN TWO NEW SPOTS FOR GENUITY

To exemplify the ingenious security features of network solutions company Genuity, the talents of creative digital effects and design studio Ring of Fire were enlisted for two :30 spots for the "Behind the Wall" campaign. In "Security" and "Continuity," key aspects of Genuity's new Black Rocket eBusiness network platform are personified to demonstrate the company's commitment to creating a complete and stable system.

"Security" opens with a frustrated employee yelling to a co-worker that the company is experiencing a computer network problem. The camera zooms behind a wall to reveal the network components sitting around a conference table discussing the security problem. "Network" is determined to find out who left the firewall door open, while "Access" and "Applications" firmly deny responsibility. The next shot exposes two thieves quietly trying to sneak by with the missing files. Immediately, the network components stop arguing and capture the thieves while the VO announces, "We manage and monitor every inch of your network."

According to Ring of Fire Senior VFX Producer Casey Conroy, the goal of the project was to create a visual metaphor of the Genuity network.

"We wanted to produce a subtle but cool look to the characters who represented the Black Rocket network platform," explains Conroy. "The Genuity board room spawned the idea of compositing circuitry to the clothing of the actors, which identified them as part of the system."

In designing an entirely new end tag for the Genuity Black Rocket logo, Ring of Fire Graphic Designer Todd DuFour utilized an arsenal of tools including Cinema 4D, Photoshop, Maya and After Effects.