Everyone knows cable companies can be total bullies, but pointing it out can still make for some pretty funny ads.
SlingTV, the small-bundle Internet TV offering from Dish, is out with its first national ad campaign—from agency Camp + King and Prettybird directors Tim & Eric—casting "Old TV" as a bunch of mean-spirited kids extorting adults with playground tactics like wet willies.
There's even a bratty service rep character that—given the slew of horror stories about, say, Comcast—doesn't really have to stretch the truth to evoke a striking sense of tragicomedy. She has a smug, hovering Bill Lumbergh wannabe of a supervisor—also pretty credible, and in a sense, a kind of nice, sympathetic nod to a certain class of worker bee. Maybe she's not really awful; she's just playing along to keep her job.
The 60-second centerpiece is the most effective, though the 30-second spinoffs include some eyebrow-raising moments, like when a cable bully tries to "milk" money out of a defiant prospect (the deviants among you can probably guess how).
There's also a question of whether the casting flirts with a sort of body shaming, reinforcing stereotypes by front-loading larger body types for the bullies. But it makes sure to feature skinny jerks, too.
Regardless, while SlingTV doesn't require contracts, it does require a broadband connection, in case you were worried you wouldn't get to deal with a telecom company at all.
CREDITS
Client: SlingTV
Agency: Camp + King
Chief Creative Office, Partner: Roger Camp
Chief Executive Officer, Partner: Jamie King
Creative Director, Art Director: Rikesh Lal
Creative Directors, Copywriters: Jesse Dillow, Paul Sincoff
Art Director: Chris Nash
Director of Content Production: David Verhoef
Producer: D.P. Odishoo
Brand Director: Dana Rabb
Brand Manager: Nicole Nowak
Director of Strategy: Shannon Williams
Brand Strategist: Jose Higuera
Production: Prettybird
Director: Tim & Eric
Executive Producer: Ali Brown
Postproduction, Editing: No6
Editor: Kyle Brown
Executive Producer: Crissy DeSimone
Producer: Kendra Desai
Postproduction, Finishing: Misfit
Online Artist: Steven McEuen
Executive Producer: Jim Vaughan
Assistant: Stu Barnes
Music Composition: South
Mix: One Union Recording
Engineers: Joaby Deal, Andy Greenberg