If a tree falls in the forest, and it's StubHub's talking ticket tree, I hope I'm not there to hear it, because the unholy wailing sound it makes will shatter your nerves but good! I've had a love/hate relationship with Duncan/Channon's animatronic oak since it debuted last spring. But the holiday-themed "Screaming Tree" spot is just lame noise. When doofus sidekick Ben brings home a sack containing a Christmas tree, the decibels soar as the Ticket Oak mourns its piney cousin. Ben joins in, screeching that the new arrival was already dead when he bought it. There was a certain goofy/menacing edge to the StubHub tree in its previous appearances, but here there's no tension, brand message or even a fully developed concept. Besides, the bar for scream-driven marketing was set by Walmart's infamous clown spot, and "Screaming Tree," though 25 feet tall, doesn't begin to scale those heights of sublimely annoying lunacy. Overall, this is a sour note in the nonstop din of seasonal campaigns. I wish Ben had a chainsaw in his sack. Turn that tree into yule logs! Credits after the jump.
CREDITS
Client: StubHub
Head of Brand and Creative: Michael Lattig
Offline Marketing Manager: Jen Millet
Agency: Duncan/Channon
Executive Creative Director, Copywriter: Parker Channon
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Ken Hall
Executive Producer: Christine Gomez
Account Director: Eric Dunn
Account Supervisor: Jenn Gbur
Production
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Mike Maguire
Managing Director: Shawn Lacy
Executive Producer: Colleen O’Donnell
Producer: Laure Stevens
Director of Photography: Ulrik Boel Bentzen
Editorial
Editing Company: Final Cut
Editor: Matt Murphy
Assistant: Scott Butzer
Executive Producer: Saima Awan
Producer: Suzy Ramirez
Post Effects
Production Effects Company: MPC
Managing Director: Andrew Bell
Producer: Nicole Fina
Lead 2-D Artist, Smoke: Mark Holden
Senior Colorist, U.S. Creative Director: Mark Gethin
Telecine Producer: Amanda Ornelas
Sound
Sound Mix: Lime Studios
Engineer: Loren Silber
Props
Animatronic Tree: Anatomorphex
Owner, Fabricator: Robert Devine