Is Rolling Rock’s attempt to affix its logo to the moon with a laser beam an actual occurrence or another wacky advertising idea from V.P. of marketing Ron Stablehorn?
In “Satellite”, a 45-second spot that plays at www.Moonvertising.com and other sites, we actually see the green laser beam shot from a Rolling Rock office traverse the globe and brand the moon with a bright green Rolling Rock logo.
Of course the spot, created for Anheuser-Busch (A-B) by Goodby Silverstein & Partners/San Francisco (GS&P/S.F.) and produced by Tool of North America/Santa Monica, is a spoof. “It was preposterous to make it feel real, it was tongue in cheek and corny, which was okay, since it was so over the top,” said Tool director Geordie Stephens.
Stephens, who also worked with GS&P on the “Urban Legend” spot for Comcast about an organ dealer who puts bloody body parts in a plastic bag, said “Satellite” is another example of “whimsical Goodby humor.”
The humor derives from the visual gags Stephens employed to show the laser beam in action. After it is beamed out of the Rolling Rock office by Stablehorn’s technician Dr. Rudy, it doesn’t go directly to the moon, but hits a satellite and is deflected earthward, where it zaps the Egyptian pyramids, Easter Island statue heads, a River Kwai dam, a Chicago Bears running back and Florida.
“Old ’70s Godzilla sci fi movies were the inspiration,” Stephens said. “We wanted to make it feel like a Doomsday scenario and still be funny. We wanted to make it something precious that you would never expect to be destroyed, like the Pyramids, which took years to build.”
To create the footage, he combined a laser beam done in post with low tech explosions shot on plates and stock footage of Easter Island and the other sites. “We combined them and blended them together in post,” he said.
He also used a stock image of the moon for the final shot, when the laser beam affixes the Rolling Rock logo to the lunar surface. He shot the spot in a Hollywood loft with a Sony AR-100 HD camera.
From Moonvertising.com to MySpace The spot debuted March 23 at Moonvertising.com and is also running at YouTube, Break.com, Heavy.com, Theonion.com, Funnyordie.com and MySpace. Visitors can put their own messages on the moon and click green moon dots to read posted messages. Visitors click “Watch Ron’s Attempts” to see “Satellite” and five other videos that show Stablehorn discussing his moonvertising strategy with young people. In the last video, Apology, he apologizes for his efforts to put the logo on the moon.
The campaign is the latest one starring Stablehorn, the fictitious marketing director who has been apologizing for Rolling Rock advertising since 2006, when Rolling Rock ran a risque Beer Ape ad online that had been banned from TV. The alleged ad, which generated over a million views in a 24 hour period on YouTube and other video sharing sites, features an ape that “parachutes into a pool party and dances in a suggestive manner with a sexy lady,” Stablehorn says in his apology ad. “We regret this lapse in judgement.”
Stablehorn has since apologized for Rolling Rock ads that show men in thongs and a foul ball that struck men in sensitive area. In “Satellite,” he apologizes by saying, “Maybe you like the moon as it is. Perhaps you were troubled by the way I accidentally blew up the Pyramids, Easter Island and Florida. I promise on my next attempt on April 20 [when a new spot debuts] fewer world treasures will be harmed.”
Rolling Rock’s moonvertising idea isn’t completely original. Coca-Cola apparently tried to do it in 1999 as the millenium approached, but the Federal Aviation Administration was worried about interference with aircraft.
Rolling Rock’s Moonvertising effort may be a spoof, but it’s been taken seriously by some. “This is viral advertising; the company isn’t actually going to project a laser beam 237,000 miles into space. Still, this spoof comes a little too close for comfort,” the Boston Globe reported.
