We're deep into the third month of the 2014 Winter Olympics—that's how long they've been going on, right?—and the games' gazillion sponsors are still rolling out TV spots in hopes that at least some viewers are still glued to their screens.
One of the prevalent themes this year has been kids getting inspired by Olympic athletes, often with heartwarming results. (The other major trend: AMERICA.) To promote its Galaxy line, Samsung, "the official smartphone partner of the U.S. Olympic Team," jumps on the kid bandwagon with its own Sochi spot, "And … Go!"
The ad, from 72andSunny, follows a number of different storylines, most of which focus on how the Galaxy helps children play out their own Olympic dreams at home. For instance, some would-be bobsledders pretend they're racing down a mountain thanks to a sledding game on their Galaxy. But rather than just stick to a single idea, "And … Go!" also makes an attempt to appeal to those tricky millennials by throwing in a few scenes of tech-savvy office workers chattering about figure skating and Twitter followers. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't quite work.
"And … Go!" feels like two different spots, one of which is your typical, family-friendly fare (while not exactly brilliant, they at least work together as a coherent unit), while the other is a misguided attempt at being edgy (what seems to be an attempt at modern, witty dialogue comes off as a poor imitation of a Girls episode).
Inserted among those nice clips of cute kids, the adults' banter is just annoying. It's a shame the grownups had to ruin things.
CREDITS
Client: Samsung
Spot: "Winter Olympics Fever"
Chief Marketing Officer: Todd Pendleton
Senior Manager: Trevor Lambert
Production Consultant: Peter Friedman
Product Manager: Catherine Schneider
Strategy Marketing Manager: Joseph Fraler
Agency: 72andSunny
Chief Executive Officer, Partner: John Boiler
Executive Creative Directors, Partners: Jason Norcross, Bryan Rowles
Creative Director: Jason Ambrose
Writer: Jean Morrow
Designer: Geno Burmester
Managing Director: James Townsend
Group Brand Director: Judson Whigham
Senior Brand Manager: Mandy Hein
Brand Coordinators: Rochelle Farnum, Caetlyn Caldwell
Head of Film Production: Sam Baerwald
Executive Producer: Nicole Haase
Film Producer: Esther Perls
Film Coordinator: Jamie Glass
Director of Business Affairs: Christine Claussen
Business Affairs Managers: La Tanya Ware, Audra Brown
Business Affairs Coordinator: Lexie Papilion
Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Chris Smith
Partners: Patrick Milling Smith, Brian Carmody
Chief Operating Officer: Lisa Rich
Bidding Producer: Shannon Jones
Head of Production: Andrew Colon
Producer: Youree Henley
Director of Photography: Bryan Newman
Production Manager: Rodney Anderson
Editorial: Arcade Edit
Executive Producer, Managing Partner: Damian Stevens
Executive Producer: Nicole Visram
Post Producer: Kirsten Thon-Webb
Editors: Paul Martinez, Will Hasell
Assistants: Carmen Hu, Ben Foushee
Postproduction: Mission
Managing Director: Michael Pardee
Creative Director: Rob Trent
Chief Engineer: William Laverty
Lead Flame Artist: Joey Brattesani
Flame Artists: Michael Vaglienty, Chris Moore, Katrina Salicrup, Rob Winfield, Trent Shumway, Colleen Smith
Head of Computer Graphics: Piotr Karwas
Roto: Chris Cortese
Animation, Lighting: Rick Grandy
Graphics: Doug Chang
Bidding Producer: Marlo Baird-Kinsey
Visual Effects Producer: Ryan Meredith
Visual Effects Coordinator: Kristina Thoegersen
Telecene: The Mill
Executive Producer: LaRue Anderson
Colorist: Gregory Reese
Online Effects: The Mission VFX
Artist: Joey Brattesani
Managing Director: Michael Pardee
Audio Mix: Lime Studios
Executive Producer: Jessica Locke
Mixer: Loren Silber
Assistant Mixer: Patrick Navarre
Music: Elias
Executive Creative Director: Brent Nicole
Creative Director: Dave Gold
Composer: Mike Semple
Executive Producer: Ann Haugen
Producer: Katie Overcash
