It's been two years since DirecTV and Grey New York launched their "Cable Effects" ad campaign, detailing the strange and terrible fates that can befall cable customers. In that time, the formula has remained essentially the same, with mundane annoyances escalating quickly into life-wrecking chaos.
Will the laughs keep coming this year as the campaign enters its third year, treading back over entertaining but familiar ground by taking characters from disappointment to depression to borderline catastrophe? Decide for yourself with the three new spots below, which highlight job loss, gorilla attacks, riots and facial swelling as just a few potential downsides of going with one of DirecTV's cable competitors.
In the best spot of the lot, "Don't Become a Local Fisherman," we watch as a man's attempt at a stress-free vacation turns him into an island pariah stranded away from home. In another spot, a man's decision to try hang-gliding ends in urban anarchy and violence against the elderly. You can probably guess what happens in the third spot, called "Don't Get Body Slammed by a Lowland Gorilla."
The ads are solid, though Grey and its client have clearly reached a moment of choice frequently faced by the wacky experimenters at Geico and The Martin Agency: Does this campaign have the legs to keep getting laughs for years to come, or should it be retired early enough to ensure it's remembered fondly?
CREDITS
Advertiser: DirecTV
Agency: Grey, New York
Chief Creative Officer: Tor Myhren
Executive Creative Director: Dan Kelleher
VP Creative Director: Doug Fallon
VP Creative Director: Steven Fogel
Agency Executive Producer: Andrew Chinich
Agency Associate Producer: Lindsay Myers
Agency Music Producer: Zachary Pollakoff
Account: Chris Ross, Beth Culley, Anna Pogosova, Aaron Schwartz, Meredith Savatsky
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Tom Kuntz
President: David Zander
Senior Executive Producer: Scott Howard
Producer: Emily Skinner
Production Supervisor: Daniel Gonzalez
Directors of Photography: Greig Fraser (Fisherman), Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki (Soup, Gorilla)
Editorial Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfield, Mackenzie Cutler
Editors: Erik Laroi, Mackenzie Cutler (Fisherman), Gavin Cutler, Mackenzie Cutler (Soup, Gorilla)
Assistant Editor: Brendan Hogan, Mackenzie Cutler (Fisherman), Ryan Steele, Mackenzie Cutler (Soup, Gorilla)
Mixer: Sam Shaffer, Mackenzie Cutler
Sound Designer: Marc Healy, Mackenzie Cutler
VFX: Method Studios, NY
VFX Supervisor: Doug Luka, Method Studios
VFX Producer: Christa Cox, Method Studios
Casting (OCP): Francine Selkirk, Shooting From the Hip
Casting (VO): Nina Pratt and Jerry Saviola, Avenue 3 Casting
