Drive Thru

AdWeeks Ad of the Day: Honda’s Anti-Holiday Ads With Patrick Warburton

heather — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:26:38 +0000

Check it out, we made AdWeek Ad of the Day! The new “Happy Honda Days” holiday spots started airing on network TV November 14th! Thanks to agency RPA / Santa Monica for selecting our director Timothy Kendall and Drive Thru to produce these spots with them. We couldn’t be happier with the finished product!

Click here to view on AdWeeks page.

Patrick Warburton’s droll spots are part of a new breed of holiday advertising that deflates as much as celebrates the season By Tim Nudd

Amid all the holiday madness, any calming influence is more than welcome. In a world of crazy Christmas commercials, it’s Honda and Patrick Warburton who are leading the way this season in dialing things back a notch.

Warburton—who’s been in ads before, notably as the top-of-the-line PC in this old Apple spot—is the perfect low-stress spokesman, droll and mumblingly humorous. And this great “Happy Honda Days” ad series from ad agency RPA (his second for Honda following the “Good Reasons” campaign earlier this year) is right up his alley—calling on him to be quietly dismissive of all the holiday hoopla while still making a holiday pitch. He can get away with this, partly because he acknowledges the hypocrisy and partly because he’s just flat-out likable. The spots also benefit from some sharp comic writing and several inspired plots. In one ad, he opens by suggesting that “Elves are shoddy craftsmen,” then points out that Hondas are made by “real human beings.” In another, he ridicules holiday ads from luxury automakers that show cars wrapped in bows. “Are you a millionaire? No? Well, then you probably don’t give cars to people as presents,” he says, as he rips the bow off a Civic. (Again, though, this is disingenuous—as another spot urges you to give the gift of a Honda, just to watch the person’s joyful reaction.)

The work is part of a new style of holiday messaging—ads that poke fun at the excesses of the gift-giving season. Target is doing this, too, though in an entirely different tone, with its crazy Christmas lady. But the Honda work is similar in wanting to have it both ways—to embrace the holidays but also commiserate with shoppers who find it stressful. It’s a tricky feat to do well—telling people to do a little holiday shopping despite the holiday season, not because of it. But it seems Honda found just the right man for the job.

Happy Honda Days TV “I’m Back”

Happy Honda Days TV “Elves”

Happy Honda Days TV “Car Gift”

Happy Honda Days TV “Fake Joy”

Happy Honda Days TV “Best of Times”

Happy Honda Days TV “Holiday Angle”

Happy Honda Days TV “Giant Offer”

Happy Honda Days TV “Holiday Ad”

Happy Honda Days TV “Sense of Urgency”

CREDITS:
Agency: RPA
EVP, ECD: Joe Baratelli
SVP, GCD: Jason Sperling
Senior AD: Hobart Birmingham
Senior CW: Perrin Anderson
AD: Brian Farkas
CW: Tylynne McCauley
AD: Cheston Kwan
Junior CW: Josh Hill
SVP, Executive Producer: Gary Paticoff

Production Company: Drive Thru
Director: Tim Kendall
DP: Neil Shapiro
Executive Producer: Mark Setterholm
Line Producer: Deven LeTendre
Production Designer: Mark Behn

Editorial Company: The Reel Thing, Inc.
Editor: Sally Banta (“Holiday Ad,” “Fake Joy,” “Giant Offers,” “Sense of Urgency”)
Editor: Lance Pereira (“Elves,” “Best of Times,” “I’m Back,” “Holiday Angle,” “Car Gift”)
Executive Producer: Doug Klekner
Assistant Editor: Scott Deerborne

Music Company: Mophonics
Executive Producer: Michael Frick
Head of Prod: Shelley Altman
Creative Director: Stephan Altman

DRIVE THRU COMPLETES POST-PRODUCTION ON NEW MISSONI WEB VIDEOS

drivethru — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:48:58 +0000

Drive Thru is thrilled to be a part of the post-production of three web videos including the new interactive web video to coincide with the new Misssoni line. Edited by Mick Uzendoski and graded by prominent Company 3 colorist Dave Hussey, the new Missoni videos deviate from the normal cinematic experience. The team has created a “shoppable” video which will allow users to click on highlighted items they like and save them in an online cart, all without ever leaving the video or searching for them on their own.

With the magnitude of hard work and renown behind this project, we’re excited for the buzz the Missoni line is receiving. And we couldn’t be more proud of our great team who helped pull it all together:

Creative Editor – Mick Uzendoski

Online & Final Finish – Derek Johnson

Motion Graphics – Ben Leisen

Final Color – Company 3 via Drive Thru’s virtual suite (Colorist – Dave Hussey)

Check out all three Missoni web videos here and online now at Target.com!

RPA/ Santa Monica selects Drive Thru director Timothy Kendall for Honda Civic 2012 “Super Civic Quest” launch film

heather — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:46:52 +0000

Drive Thru director, Timothy Kendall, was selected by RPA /Santa Monica to help launch the newly redesigned Honda Civic for 2012.

The assignment given to Timothy and Drive Thru by RPA was to produce and edit a two-minute film introducing and launching “The Super Civic Quest” game for online play. “The Super Civic Quest” is the most ambitious digital quest ever created, with 30 unique clues and seven unique pieces of custom content launches on the Honda Civic Facebook page. Players are uniquely rewarded for their clue-solving with Facebook^® Credits and Amazon MP3 music downloads.

Click on the pictures below to play ”The Super Civic Quest” campaign introduction or ”Digital Tornado” film.

”The Super Civic Quest” introduction explains how Honda is using these videos for their elaborate scavenger hunt.

"Digital Tornado" is a two minute film used to introduce the integrated campaign.

Here is what happens (in the words of Jason Sperling, RPA Group CD):

Jason Sperling, RPA Group CD

“The premise of the film finds Cesar the luchador in a predicament. He has just lost his Honda Civic. Cesar is a world champion, a man of the people and a real ladies’ man, very suave. All through the film you see the media attention he gets. Everything you see about him is posted on YouTube, blogged about or IM’d, he’s in the middle of this media tornado. One morning he wakes up and has a big match scheduled and goes outside to get in his Civic and it’s gone! So the basis of the game is that you have to help him find his Civic, which is somewhere out there on the web. It’s a purely digital scavenger hunt that rewards people as they go along. Timothy shot the intro video for this as well as seven original video clips for the game itself.” “Tim is one of those amazingly multi-talented individuals; he does his own editing, his own sound.”

This film was shot in 4 days; 3 days on location in Los Angeles County and 1 day at Siren Studio, Hollywood, CA. Drive Thru, Inc. production based out of Santa Monica, CA.

Production Stills

Cesar and director Tim Kendall

Cesar in the nightclub

Cesar dancing / nightclub

Cesar in dressing room

Cesar and paparazzi

Cop scene

Campaign Credits:

Client: American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

Agency: RPA / Santa Monica

Project Name: “Digital Tornado”

Senior VP, Executive Creative Director: Jason Sperling

VP, Creative Director: Nathan Crow

VP, Creative Director: Adam Lowrey

Associate Creative Director/Art Director: Jamin Duncan

Senior Copywriter: Sara Bates

Senior VP, Executive Producer, Content: Gary Paticoff

Preston Kelly – YMCA – Drive Thru Production & Post on Today Show

heather — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:02:36 +0000

Matt Lauer, morning host on NBC’s Today Show and Matt Miller, President & CEO of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers spent a few minutes this morning recapping the AICP’s “Best Commercials of 2010” show from last night’s presentation at the Museum of Modern Art. We are excited to report that a commercial we shot and edited for ad agency Preston Kelly and their client YMCA was featured in their segment, along with spots for Old Spice, Volkswagen and Allstate. Here is the segment from this morning’s Today Show.

Drive Thru’s Timothy Kendall directs Luchador for RPA and Honda Civic for 2012

heather — Thu, 26 May 2011 22:42:41 +0000

A fresh press release on the Honda Civic 2012, ”To Each Their Own” campaign with our own Timothy Kendall directing the intro video for Cesar the luchador. We are very excited to have produced this video with Timothy – congrats to him! Check it out! SourceEcreative.

MN Twins Community Fund Campaign

madesyn — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:17:14 +0000

Twins Community Fund 2011 Campaign

The Minneapolis Egotist is debuting the Twins Community Fund Campaign just in time for the 2011 Twins Home Opener. Thanks to our friends at Martin Williams, we were able to work on this special project. These fantastic, inspiring spots were creatively shot and edited by our very own, Mick Uzendoski. Check them out and let us know if you enjoy them as much as we do!

Another FLASHBACK FRIDAY @ DT

heather — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 17:29:00 +0000

The Flashbacks keep coming! Today’s feature is unique because this spot had an extremely… make that … amazingly FAST turn around! Yep, from the time we were sitting in casting to the time were were sitting on our couch watching the spot air was less than (yep LESS than) 48 hours! I do have to say, man we are good!
Take a look at the spot we created three years ago for the Minneapolis 2008 Host Committee: “Rant”

Director/ DP: Paul Henschel

Editor: Mick Uzendoski

Drive Thru’s FLASHBACK FRIDAY!

heather — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:02:47 +0000

Every Friday, for almost a year now, we have selected a spot from our archives and featured it on our Facebook page. We’ve appropriately named this feature, ”FLASHBACK FRIDAY!”

To change it up a little bit, we are posting today’s Flashback Friday spot on our blog!

Click on the image below to see the spot we produced four years ago.

Client: Porsche

Title: “In the End”

Director: Andy Awes

Editor: Andy Awes

Best Buy Partners with West Coast Customs!

drivethru — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 23:14:31 +0000

Like the show West Coast Customs? Yep, so do we! Check this out, you can now go to Best Buy and have West Coast Customs customize your car! Pretty sweet huh! Drive Thru is extremely excited to have worked on this spot showing the partnership between the two. Click on the picture below to watch the new spot…

Online: Derek Johnson
Color: Company 3
End Tag: Ben Leisen

: Online: Derek Johnson Color: Company 3 End Tag: Ben Leisen

Mick Uzendoski creates a rocking spot with the GoPro Cam!

drivethru — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:56:07 +0000

Mick Uzendoski is rocking the GoPro camera! Directed and edited by Mick, motion graphics created by Ben Leisen, this snowboarding spot shows that it doesn’t get better than riding the mountains of Whitefish, Montana! Check out the spot below…

GoPro | Director/Editor – Mick Uzendoski

Mick Uzendoski, Director/ Editor