December 27, 2017

Honda’s Delicious End to Happy Honda Days

Smell that? That’s not just the smell of Honda’s tasty new Gingerbread spokesman, it’s also the scent of an altering national mood.

“Gingerbread Man” :30 TV Commercial

Our Behavioral Economist, Howie Leibach, detected something in the air this holiday season. People are so exhausted by political issues and global concerns, they are in no mood for anyone trying to sell them something. You probably noticed how many advertisers responded with heart-warming holiday messages, whose connection to a brand promise was at times tenuous. We however had a job to do: We were tasked with creating urgency, in the face of an agitated National mood, for the final days of Honda’s biggest national sales event.

So our content creators dreamt up this holiday fantasy where a Gingerbread Man, trying to avoid being eaten, heads to the Honda dealer for an escape ride. And luckily there’s just a few days left!

Awesome! Urgent yet fun and fanciful. The only problem was it required a full-film shoot plus character development plus CG animation and we only had a month to make it.

That’s when our mighty producers and account peeps squeezed enough time out of our schedule to pull off the Holiday miracle. Then our other-worldly talented friends at Bent, especially animation director and karaoke killa, Josh Cox, helped us create the perfectly baked, high anxiety, Woody Allen inspired Gingerbread Man. Of course before we turned our delicious little friend into a TV star and internet sensation complete with life-size POP and digital assets, we had to find just the right guy. You can see how tough that was in the “lost casting sessions” videos created by our own Harry Houdini Chapman.

“Gingerbread Man Auditions” Social Media Video 1

“Gingerbread Man Auditions” Social Media Video 2

The Gingerbread Man also made an appearance at our annual Baker Street “Santa Stealing” Party.

This was Baker Street at its best: data, insight, creativity, execution, tremendous hustle, and I bet you’ve seen it out there in the market ’cause our media squad rules, for the win.

Baker Street Advertising Credits:
President: Jack Boland
Chief Creative Officer: Brian Bacino
Chief Strategy Officer: Don Donovan
Copywriter: Michael Williams
Art Director: Sarah Inglis
Producer: Brody McHugh
Social Media Video Editor/Copywriter: Harrison Chapman
Social Media Animator: Xavier Li
Creative Manager/Social Media Copywriter: Lesly Pyle
Senior Strategist: Howie Leibach
Group Account Director: Dan Nilsen
Account Supervisor: Christine Rodriguez
Senior Account Executive: Megan Boland
Senior Account Executive: Lisa Coonts
Media Director: Glenn Yajko
Media Broadcasting Supervisor: Sheila Taylor
Media Supervisor: Jena Benzel
Senior Broadcast Buyers: Shelly Kalianis/Cel Vital Bella

Production Credits:
Director: Brian Bacino, Baker Street Advertising
Executive Producer: Jed Mortenson, Waypoint Films
Director of Photography: Kevin Emmons
Line Producer: Kevin Hayes
Colorist: Roger Krakow, Rough House Editorial
Audio Mixer: Andy Greenberg, One Union Recording

Animation Production Credits:
Animation Director: Joshua Cox, Bent Image Lab Partner/Executive Producer: Ray DiCarlo, Bent Image Lab
Producers: Brianna Vitale, Bent Image Lab
Editor: Brent Heise, Bent Image Lab

Brian Bacino, Creative Chief B2, Holiday Advertising, Honda

June 26, 2013

From the Desk of the Creative Chief: Uncle Sam and Thomas Jefferson Go Surfing

By: Brian Bacino

With Honda’s July 4th sales event coming, we enlisted our Holiday Hipster icons to spread the news. You may remember Tommy J and Sam from last year’s July 4th Honda spot, where they were hanging in a coffee shop, surf’n the web, and just chillin.

Well, this year, our idea was to send Uncle Sam and Thomas Jefferson surfing for real, showing off how epic Honda’s are for the great outdoors, and hype the deals at the July 4 Honda Sales Event. To make this spot work, we wanted to make the cars look like a million dollars even though the comedy is fairly cheap. Check out how ridiculously hot the CR-V looks with a surfboard on its rack. And marvel how a surfboard can fit in the back of a fuel-efficient sporty Fit and stylish Civic.

Check out the :60 extended version here.

To get the perfect look for the cars and TV spot, we headed out to the Oregon coast, a couple hours outside of Portland, where our actors, JJ Johnston and Dallas Bryant, reside.

We also enlisted the talents of DP extraordinaire Kevin Emmons. Kevin’s eye and a rare 2 days of incredible weather (thanks David) made for a luscious look. And as promised, the comedy was plenty cheap.

See the :10 shortened cut here.

Now the twist on this story created a story of its own. The punch line of this spot is that as TJ steps from the car bragging about his spectacular 44 mpg, he reveals a bathing suit that is well as Uncle Sam so delicately put it, “Tight.”

To find just the right suit that everybody felt walked the line between funny and “awkward” (as my 12 year old put it) we had to scour the streets of San Francisco from the Castro to the Haight. Here’s the short list, so to speak.

Option #1: The Hugo Boss

Option #2: The Star Spangled Spanx

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Brian Bacino, Creative Chief B2, Holiday Advertising, Honda

December 28, 2012

From the Desk of the Creative Chief: 2012 It’s Almost Over

By: Brian Bacino

To mark the end of a pretty amazing year, the Baker Street Players got together to create this blockbuster sales event campaign for the Northern California and Northwest Honda Dealers.

Bringing this kind of production value and sheer enthusiasm on a budget of a two week sales event requires the “Our Gang” approach: “Let’s put on a show!”

Final Spot: “Happy Honda Days: Almost Over”

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Brian Bacino, Creative Chief B2, Holiday Advertising, Honda