To promote the new version of AMP Energy that blends the energy drink with electrolytes that launched March 23, BBDO New York created a long-form viral video in which a group of young people march down a narrow West Village street singing, “We will not be ashamed.”
“It’s like a morning-after drink, and after a long night of partying when you’re all dehydrated, it helps you out,” said Peter Kain, a creative director at BBDO New York.
“Walk of No Shame,” the one minute forty second viral that was produced by Biscuit Filmworks , features a cast of young people who sing about their confusion after waking up disheveled and declare their shamelessness after getting cans of AMP Energy from a street vendor.
The viral began playing online May 5, with a 60 second version playing on cable TV.
All the characters in the spot sing, but none will be getting recording contracts from their performances. “We weren’t looking for people who could sing well, but they had to have a presence to carry it off,” said Tim Godsall, the Biscuit Filmworks director.
Mary Wood, founder of Frisbie Music, which coordinated the recording, said, “The trick was to get the performance and arrangement right so the humor would come through. The agency made it clear they wanted the performance to be less than perfect, so they sound like real people, not professional singers.”
Godsall shot it on film with an Arri SR3 16mm camera “to make it a little more rich, instead of a homemade YouTubeness to it,” he said.
“We moved fast enough to wing it and do it on a fairly constrained budget with a lot of people in it,” he said. “It was shot on the streets of New York which made it a challenge, like a train running along at 100 mph with a few bolts falling off, but it worked in the end.”
Wood said they cast for “distinct voices” that didn’t sound professional and used a single piano player to accompany them, after trying guitar and full band versions. Godsall said he needed to have the song changed in at least one spot, “to add some breathing room, so we could get the actors from one place to another and they could sip the drink. They retooled it so we had a longer song and pulled some lines in the final edit.”
The video shows consumers holding cans of AMP Energy, but it’s hard to discern the brand and there’s no product tag at the end. But the website features branding images and YouTube posts the product name above the video screen, Kain said.
The shoot was fun for Wood because of the imperfection of the performers and for Godsall because of the fast pace of the New York shoot. The fun for BBDO is to create a successful ad that reintroduces a familiar product. Sixty and 30-second versions of “Walk of No Shame” are being used as TV spots on MTV, Spike and other cable networks, Kain said. The viral video runs at www.walkofshame.com, a site developed by Tribal DDB. It’s also on YouTube, where it’s been played over 149,000 times. It’s additionally playing on other video sharing sites. “They wanted a web component because their audience is on the web,” Kain said.
Gravy Films Signs Director Victoria Rivera
Gravy Films has added director Victoria Rivera to its roster. A Colombian filmmaker based in New York City, Rivera directs in both English and Spanish. Her emotionally resonant work has earned multiple Vimeo Staff Picks and premieres at top-tier film festivals. Her commercial work includes the AICP-nominated “Los Viejitos” for McDonald’s and the powerful Gold Telly Award-winning PSA “More Donors More Hope” for the HRSA, which encourages Hispanic communities to donate so that they can find life-saving genetic matches. Her adaptable skillset and emotive directorial sensibilities have been tapped by brands like Verizon, Google, NHTSA, Johnson & Johnson, Lysol, Neuriva, Blueprint Medicines, and The New Yorker to bring their commercial films to life. Prior to joining Gravy Films, Rivera had most recently been with SLMBR PRTY for commercial representation. Masterfully telling empathetic and powerful stories that center on young people, Rivera has turned out work such as the short film Night Swim which portrays a teen friend group’s night out, premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival. Lucia, the short film that tells the story of a seven-year-old girl in foster care, debuted at the Austin Film Festival and premiered on Short of the Week. Rivera’s other shorts include the narrative film Verde, the commissioned short The Longest Breath for Hulu and Disney+’s Bite Size Halloween series, the public service film Together We Rise for Vital Voices, as well as documentaries such as Amma, Skull + Bone, and Mapelo: An Expedition. “I’ve always believed the best work comes from curiosity, openness, and a deep love for the medium,” remarked Rivera. “My process is rooted... Read More