A car that calls for help when it gets into an accident is more than just your ordinary car, argues Ralph Yznaga. Especially when that car is a Mercedes. "It’s the ultimate car," says Yznaga, senior art director at Lowe & Partners/SMS, New York. "And what better way to make a comment about it than to compare it to other ultimates?"
This clear-headed thinking resulted in the deceptively simple "Words," an elegant, understated spot for the Mercedes 2000-S Class that features Ernest Hemingway, the Parthenon, Laurence Olivier, the first moon walk and Jackie Robinson.
"We took the high ground," says Steven Hanratty, senior copywriter, who teamed with Yznaga on the spot, one of the last Lowe & Partners/SMS had done for the car maker, which recently took its account to Merkley Newman Harty, also in New York. The duo also proved anew the power of stock footage by pairing these icons, researched and cleared by New York-based Second Line Search, with simple words: "a writer," "a building," "an actor," "a visit," "a ballplayer." The spot ends with a shot of the 2000-S Class paired with "a car," and then the tag, "Sometimes words can be hopelessly inadequate."
Adding another dimension to the :30 is a classical composition "Gassenhauer" by another icon, Carl Orff, from his masterpiece "Musica Poetica" (used to an entirely different, and eerie, effect in Terrence Malick’s Badlands). "It’s not gratuitously elegant," says Yznaga. "It’s not a piece of fantastic opera that says ‘This is what people with money listen to.’ "
The Lowe team started with a list of 50 images, which they edited down to approximately 20 before going to Second Line. Hanratty says that the trimming process taught them a thing or two about fame versus talent. "We found an interesting distinction between someone being a movie star, like Errol Flynn, and someone who is the consummate actor, like Laurence Olivier. [Olivier’s] not only a star in terms of the Hollywood thing, but also beyond because of his theatrical prowess."
As for the choice of Hemingway, it was almost a given, adds Yznaga. "He’s recognizable on so many levels to so many people."
Strategy
Coordinating the search with Second Line was the job of Lowe producer Rachel Novak, who has worked with the research, licensing and clearance company on a variety of jobs over the years.
"It was a search and destroy mission," says Second Line project coordinator Giovanna Righini. She explains that Novak came to her team of approximately six people-including researchers, editors and clearance people-with some 20 ideas, including the Taj Mahal, Mardi Gras, the Mona Lisa and a raft of famous people. Second Line then assessed that list and, says Righini, "cast the net wide, going all over the world and approaching different kinds of sources" to track down the appropriate images. The Hemingway image, for instance, was sourced through an archival supplier; Jackie Robinson through a sports supplier; and Olivier’s image, taken from Hamlet, was licensed. "With our expertise," she adds, "we know what kind of sources there are to hit in terms of standard stock footage and then how to hone in and start finding more alternative, off-the-beaten-track sources to access footage."
A global search is important for several reasons, adds Righini. "There are major archival and contemporary stock footage libraries all over the world," she explains. "It’s not like we just search in the U.S., especially for people who spend a lot of time in other countries. Olivier was in London, the shots of buildings like the Coliseum or Taj Mahal we can obviously access through stock footage libraries, but we can also go to those countries to find more interesting footage or documentary sources."
Second Line finds as many appropriate choices as possible, to give the creatives the widest range of choices. "We also try to suggest alternatives as well as finding footage," she says. "They hire us because we’re knowledgeable about what’s out there. [We know] realistically what we can find and get a hold of, so we can contribute creatively in terms of, ‘We know you’re going down this road, but this has popped up as a possibility, what do you think?’ "
Lowe gave Second Line several weeks to create a budget, pull in footage, and do clearances. The biggest challenge, says Righini, was Hemingway. "He was the hardest because they had a set image in their minds," she explains. "There was more of an idea of how they wanted it to look. And [because] you’re providing footage that exists, we can’t guarantee that it’s going to be a specific shot."
Eight hours of footage was delivered to Lowe, where final selections were edited in-house by freelancer David Kirman. Each image was then given a distinctive color palette (Hemingway, for instance, has a blue tint; the Parthenon is sepia). "The important thing was to make sure the pieces were distinct from each other and didn’t run into each other," explains Hanratty.
All in all, adds Righini, "We had the usual snafus, but everything panned out. It was a beautiful spot, and it’s always really great when you work hard on something and the finished piece comes out as great as it did."
