Bond Spoof is Big Hit!
by S. David Acuff
“What do the Baptists have to do with James Bond?” the Leith Imports dealer asked. Good point.
I had called around in search of a Bond-esque type vehicle for this spot. This commercial was an internet short advertising a 2009 Prayer Conference for the Baptist State Convention.
Given the date of the commercial’s premiere (November 12, 2008) it was so close to the world wide release of our favorite spy, James Bond, that I chose that theme to incorporate into the original pitch to Chris Schoffield of the NC BSC. And he went for it.
“I wanted something that would POP. That would really stand out among our usual Annual Session fare,” Schoffield says. “This commercial is awesome! This will make a huge impression.”
After some discussion, and some reassurance that his vehicle would be shown in a good light, the Leith Dealer agreed to rent us an Audi R8.
Filmed on location at a $3M North Raleigh home, this commercial is based on an old joke that goes like this:
Three campers were walking through the woods when they came upon a hungry bear.
“We better run,” says the first guy.
“We better pray,” says the second guy.
“We better run and pray,” says the third.
“We better run and pray,” says the third.
Well, I didn’t say it was a FUNNY joke, I said it was an OLD joke. And so Bond and his female spy countepart get into some trouble, trip a few alarms and that’s when Chris Schoffield slides in with the sage advice to “run and pray.”
At which point the narrative shifts gears into a commercial for Prayer Conference double-oh 9!
“The whole thing plays out like a movie trailer,” says Director David Acuff. “It was a lot of fun to shoot and edit. We all wanted to get our pictures with the car, but we were all afraid to touch it.”
Which was probably a good thing as the price tag was somewhere around $137K. The addage, “You break it, you bought it” loomed large in everyone’s mind.
The commercial premiered at the 2009 NC Baptist Annual Session to wild applause. It took people completely off guard at first and didn’t make complete sense until Chris Schoffield, a very familiar face, showed up in his cameo.
“That’s what we love to do,” Acuff admits, “to take an ordinary subject matter and apply some Hollywood Cinema to it to create a lasting impression.”
007...009...whatever it takes!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
