BBDO New York topped this year’s field of primetime commercial Emmy nominees, garnering a pair of nods for: Procter & Gamble’s “The Talk”; and the Monica Lewinsky anti-bullying PSA “In Real Life.”
Directed by Malik Vitthal of The Corner Shop, “The Talk” is part of P&G’s continuing My Black Is Beautiful initiative. The piece features different African-American parents having “The Talk” with their kids about racial bias and how it can make life more difficult–and at times even more dangerous. In one of this piece’s most poignant moments, a girl behind the wheel of a car insists she’s a good driver and her mom doesn’t need to tell her what to do if she gets pulled over. The girl has no intention of getting pulled over because she obeys the speed limit and the rules of the road. Mom doesn’t doubt that but she has to explain to her daughter, “This is not about getting a ticket. This is about you not coming home.”
Meanwhile Lewinsky’s PSA serves as a powerful exploration of bullying by recasting the issue and asking the question: “If this behavior is unacceptable in real life, why is it so normal online?” The film portrays people publicly acting out real online comments to illustrate that at the receiving end of every comment is a real person–a fact all too easy to forget in today’s online culture. While the bullies and the recipients of denigrating talk are actors, those who intervene to stop the bullying are real people, which gives a life-affirming positive tone to the work. The PSA was directed by Win Bates via BBDO Studios.
P&G is also a major Emmy honoree, garnering nominations for both “The Talk,” and Tide detergent’s “It’s A Tide” ad, part of this year’s Super Bowl campaign helmed by the Traktor collective via Rattling Stick for Saatchi. The work hijacked the 2018 Super Bowl by turning every ad into a Tide ad. It kicked off with actor David Harbour establishing that whenever the viewer sees clean clothes, it’s a #TideAd. He then appeared six more times in stereotypical Super Bowl ads, send-ups of several infamous past Super Bowl spots, and even as part of the broadcast. #TideAd trended on Twitter immediately, with people even generating their own #TideAd content.
Another Super Bowl ad, the first out of agency Lucky Generals, made the Emmy cut: Amazon’s “Alexa Loses Her Voice” directed by Wayne McClammy of Hungry Man. The :90 spot shows what happens when news breaks that Amazon’s personal digital assistant has lost her voice. Thankfully Amazon has a backup plan with celebrity stand-in voices at the ready–from Gordon Ramsey to Rebel Wilson, Cardi B and Sir Anthony Hopkins. The plan works–kind of.
And rounding out this year’s field of primetime commercial Emmy nominees is TBWAMedia Arts Lab for Apple iPhone’s “Earth: Shot on iPhone,” capturing the beauty of the natural world as chronicled by everyday Apple users on their iPhone cameras. The scenes of natural beauty are narrated by the now late Carl Sagan who reads passages from his book, “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space.” The “Earth: Shot on iPhone” piece is an homage to our planet’s beauty, underscoring how important it is to protect and preserve our natural resources.
The primetime commercial Emmy Award winner will be announced and honored during the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony. The Creative Arts proceedings will be a two-day event held over the weekend of Sept. 8-9 in Los Angeles.
