A high-profile comedy ad on this year’s Super Bowl, a PSA designed to promote tolerance, a two-minute animated history of a multi-faceted company perhaps best known for its vehicular acumen, a tribute to retired NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, and a retrospective on 2015 are in the running for this year’s primetime commercial Emmy Award. Nominations were announced at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences this morning in North Hollywood, Calif.
The alluded to Ad Council public service piece is “Love Has No Labels” from agency R/GA and directed by Danielle Levitt via Persuade & Influence which produced the job along with Mindride. The online video features a variety of couples interacting behind a large X-ray installation. As the skeletons kiss and dance, viewers mentally fill in the blanks. When unexpected duos step out from behind the screen, including a loving gay couple, the surprise gives viewers a simple demonstration of their implicit bias–and often leads to their acceptance of something that is actually quite beautiful.
The Super Bowl spot is Snickers’ “Marilyn” from BBDO New York, which takes us back to 1955 and features a hungry Marilyn Monroe on the set of the classic film The Seven Year Itch. In the :30 the blonde bombshell is a cranky version of herself, played by actor Willem Dafoe. But once she takes a bite from a Snickers bar, Monroe is herself again. This latest iteration of the “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” campaign was directed by Jim Jenkins of O Positive. The cast also includes Eugene Levy in the role of a stage hand who’s charged with the task of making Monroe’s dress flap in the wind above a New York City subway grate, an iconic cinema scene.
As for Super Bowl QB Manning, we see notable recipients of hand-written letters from him read excerpts from those notes. Among those appearing in this Gatorade commercial titled “Dear Peyton” from TBWAChiatDay LA are another retired great, NY Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, Manning’s long-time teammate, center Jeff Saturday, their head coach with the Indianapolis Colts, Tony Dungy, the parents of a boy who died from cancer (a lad befriended by Manning), and Peyton’s little brother Eli Manning. This tug-at-the-heartstrings spot was directed by Henry-Alex Rubin of Smuggler.
The animation piece, “Paper,” chronicles a history of products and innovations from Honda. Directed by PES, the stop-motion maestro of production house RESET, the two-minute film was conceived by a creative ensemble at ad agency RPA. The mesmerizing stop-motion fare also benefits from a seamless infusion of visual effects and finishing by VFX supervisor and lead Flame artist Andy Rafael Barrios of a52.
And the retrospective is Google’s “Year In Search 2015” from agency 72andSunny and produced by Hecho en 72.
The winner of the primetime commercial Emmy Award will be announced and honored during the course of the weekend (Sept. 10 & 11) Creative Arts Emmy ceremony proceedings in Los Angeles.
