In this short promoting AICP Week 2024, our journey starts with news that doesn’t go over entirely well. An advertising creative comes home to tell his husband–a struggling fine artist/house husband–that his commercial for “cheesy bread” is going to be in “that museum in New York you’re always talking about.” Turns out he’s made it into the AICP Awards, and the news that his work will be on display at the legendary Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is met with a look of incredulity. His response is to proclaim that he thinks it’s worth making the trip to go see it.
The Journey humorously follows our hero in his quest to reach MoMA. Co-written by O Positive’s David Shane, Ian Reichenthal and Michael Clancy and directed by Shane, it was executive produced by Ralph Laucella (who is the 2024 AICP Show chairperson) and Marc Grill.
“Making a short film is different from making an ad or a branded content film,” said Shane. “It’s not just a collection of jokes. It has to have a story that sustains itself, and hopefully this does. We made The Journey as both a parody of–and a little love letter to–creatives like us who aspire to make ads that are art adjacent.” Journeys, like the creative process, can be winding and treacherous, as our hero exemplifies. Added Reichenthal, “We read a book that said you’re supposed to torture your main character, and with this piece we feel like we accomplished that.”
A metaphor for every creative’s struggle to get to MoMA, the AICP Awards and AICP Week, the pilgrimage ends with a message urging viewers to attend the upcoming AICP Week.
