Kids Talk" and "Wedding," for Quaker’s Chewy Graham Slams via Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB), Chicago, and directed by Bob Ebel of Ebel Productions, Chicago, are exceptions to the belief that kid-oriented spots aren’t laugh-out-loud funny. Playing on the notion that kids have a tendency to say unpredictable and embarrassing things, the ads present the Quaker snack bar as a mouth-filling solution.
The two commercials had somewhat of a serendipitous beginning: FCB was working on the new business pitch for the Quaker snack bar late last year when they contacted Ebel for advice on how to shoot funny kids. Rather than give his input, Ebel convinced the agency that it would be better to let him go ahead and shoot a test spot.
FCB client creative director Tom O’Keefe (who has since relocated to FCB’s San Francisco office) relates, "Trying to wrangle kids is a nightmare if you don’t know what you’re doing, and we didn’t know what we were doing. We knew Bob [Ebel] was the guy for kids, and he said he’d help us out."
"We collaborated," says Ebel, "and I brought in some of my A-kids—the better kids that I thought were little characters. We let the kids do the written lines and also let them tell us things they thought would be funny."
That demo, shot on digital video and edited by Mike Johnson of Ebel’s in-house editorial division, Bass Editing, was enough to win over the client, who awarded the account to FCB. "From what I understand, there were eight campaigns presented," says Ebel. "Because of our facility, to be able to cast it, shoot and edit it under one roof, made it very inexpensive and reaped big rewards for the agency."
Ebel and the agency team—which included O’Keefe, creative director/art director Kurt Fries, art director Chris Kloet, copywriter Pat Durkin and producer Tony Wallace—regrouped to produce the real spots in January.
In "Kids Talk," adorable children speak directly to camera and offer up zingers such as: "My little brother was an accident." "My dad wears a wig." "Dad’s lazy." "Lost his paycheck at the racetrack." "My mom’s got a tattoo on her—" a fast cutaway prevents the boy from revealing where. "She’s a lot older than she tells people." And lastly, "The neighbors are hillbillies."
From there, the super "Kids talking too much?" comes up, as the voiceover, supplied by Danny Bonaduce, who played a precocious youngster on The Partridge Family, suggests giving kids a Chewy Graham Slam bar. At this, the song "Chewy, Chewy," a ’60s rock tune performed by the Ohio Express, begins to play. "The best part: they’ll be too busy chewing to talk," says the voiceover, as the previously chatty children are now seen munching away. "Chewy stops the chatter."
In "Wedding," the second spot in the campaign, a little boy dressed in a blazer and slacks waits to greet the happy couple on the receiving line. Standing directly in front of the bride, the youngster leans in and earnestly tells her, "My mom said she can’t believe you wore white!" The camera is focused on the boy during this shocking statement, leaving viewers to imagine the bride’s presumably mortified expression.
As O’Keefe explains, the spot was created bearing in mind "what would be the worst things you can imagine kids saying, and which would be the ones we could actually get away with saying on television."
Ebel says the spots have gathered a great deal of awareness, judging by the positive phone calls and letters the client has received. Ebel’s company has also fielded more calls about the Quaker spots than for any other ads he’s done.
Ebel observes, "The whole idea—kids talk too much, [so] give them something to chew on—just falls right into your lap. Anybody who’s been around kids knows they say things that, many times, they shouldn’t. To me, the secret was in the idea and [in] using great kids who seemed very natural saying the lines."
Ebel says about 80 percent of the kids’ lines were scripted. "If there were lines we liked from the test, we had the kids say those lines [again]. The way they delivered the lines looks very natural, and most of that came from the casting; we probably did more casting for that spot than for anything we’ve done in years."
The other explanation behind the unaffected performances could be attributed to Ebel’s time-tested modus operandus of directing kids: With the camera obscured, Ebel sits in front of the kids and has them mimic what he says. "We film the rehearsals," says Ebel. "The kids are less pressured [that way]."
"It’s quite a system that [Ebel] has in working with kids," observes O’Keefe. "He builds this tent where it’s just him and the kid and there’s nothing to distract them. Even though we were feeding them lines, Bob has a way of making it seem like it came off the top of their heads."
The Quaker ads also stand out, Ebel believes, due to their documentary look, achieved by a 420mm lens used by DP Robert Blatman; and by the desaturation of some of the colors in the transfer, which was handled by colorist Tom Rovak of Swell Pictures, Chicago.
"It was fun and something different from what we’re used to doing," said Ebel. "What makes me happiest is that I know their sales have gone up—way up."
For Ebel, the ads continue to draw real-life parallels. While he was out driving with his grandson, the child suddenly blurted, "My mom and dad never listen to Pastor Brian in church." Ebel laughs, "That’s the way kids are."o
