Let's kick it and rip it. Woo!"
Say hello to Captain Risky, the freakishly foolhardy daredevil who stars in 303Lowe's superbly silly campaign for Australian insurance company Budget Direct.
And, oh my, the careless Cap does take his lumps. Whether he's jumping a gorge Evel Knievel-style in a rocket-powered jalope, testing a jetpack, practicing his kung-fu kicks or platform diving into a tiny splash pool, you can be sure things won't end well. Budget Direct then explains that it doesn't insure Captain Risky in order to keep its prices low.
"We think it's very clearly comedic, stupendous, ridiculous, parody fun," client marketing chief Jonathan Kerr tells Mumbrella."We're quite comfortable that people understand him as kind of a metaphor and not someone to be imitated."
Of course, while the campaign is Australian, the buffoonish brand ambassador is American. "When the daredevil character came up as the lead element, immediately it felt it was quintessentially American as a character, a genre," Kerr says.
That detail is spot on, as are so many elements of the Captain's bruising debut, available in 90-, 60- and 30-second iterations. Dig those '70s-throwback titles and that disco-thump theme song, with its slinky "He's Risky!" chorus mixed way down low.
This work takes risks. Viewers reap the rewards. Woo!
CREDITS
Client: Budget Direct
Campaign: Captain Risky
Agency: 303Lowe, Australia
Executive Creative Director: Richard Morgan
Copywriter: Sean Larkin
Art Director: Adam Whitehead
Head of Business Management: Tony Dunseath
Business Director: Sophie O'Sullivan
Head of Strategy: Jon McKie
Agency Producers: Amanda Cain, Sean Ascroft
Director of Marketing & Digital: Jonathan Kerr
General Manager New Customer Acquisition: Paul Duggan
Campaign Manager: Jenni Osborne
Director: Hamish Rothwell
Production Company: GoodOil
Producer: Sam Long
D.O.P: Crighton Bone