Two new spots from Fried Okra Entertainment’s director Ernie Mosteller, promoting pet adoption from North Shore Animal League America, tweak countless online pet videos to deliver a chuckle and a simple message: Life is better with a pet.
The bare setups showcase Mosteller’s signature penchant for unadorned reality, along with his deadpan take on humor. Each :30 is built from two 15-second segments – one dog, one cat – each with a logo and call-to-action.
“I love the simplicity of the humor in these concepts,” says Mosteller. “Everybody knows the standard funny pet videos on the web – dogs chasing stuff, dogs knocking over the cameraperson, cats attacking feathers or lasers or, well, nothing at all. All done very real and raw. But if you don’t have a dog or a cat, the whole idea of the video is ridiculous. That makes me laugh. Of course, the best way to solve the problem is to adopt a shelter pet.”
The spots were shot over two days in Florida, and edited in house. Fried Okra worked direct-to-client. Fried Okra’s Executive Producer Matt Hill says the company regularly changes its pace with charitable work.
“Our work for agencies is anything but typical,” says Hill. Ernie’s style is very real. He gets great stuff out of real people, knows how to convey emotion, and has a real offbeat sense of humor. Those things combine to make him right for a lot of different projects, so we get tapped for a broad variety of brands, products and categories. Between those projects, though, we do actively look for ways to give back by making good stuff for good causes. When the right thing comes along at the right time, we jump on it.”
North Shore Animal League America, based in Port Washington, NY, is the largest no-kill animal rescue and adoption organization in the world, a leader in the no-kill movement, an innovator in animal welfare and a strong voice in elevating the status and promoting the acceptance of mixed-breed animals.
Fried Okra Entertainment, based in Ft. Lauderdale and New York, is a full-service production company that creates branded web content, traditional television commercials, non-fiction series, and feature films. http://friedokra.tv
