Facebook just posted the new ad below, from Wieden + Kennedy, on its own site—it will also air Saturday evening during the Final Four on CBS. The social network has had trouble connecting with consumers through its ads before—the "Chairs" spot was roundly and notoriously mocked. This new spot, for the Facebook Home software, which essentially turns Android phones into Facebook phones, has its own issues. It shows an airplane traveler using Home to flip through photographs, each of which comes to life in front of him—sunbathing friends appear in the overhead compartment; his nephew shows up in the aisle with a face full of cake; the drag queen Shangela Laquifa Wadley pops out of the flight attendant's service cart. There's a lot going on. (Oddly, the traveler also ignores a request to turn off his phone; apparently he can't miss a single status update.) Directed by MJZ's Fredrik Bond, the spot is big and cartoony—and surreal, too, which seems to have completely flummoxed the commenters on the Facebook page where it's posted. (The level of negative reaction there is quite remarkable.) It's sometimes hard to know why Facebook, whose image problems usually stem from it seeming too big and too invasive, doesn't try to capture small, human moments rather than cosmic or circus-like ones. Maybe next time. Credits below.
CREDITS
Client: Facebook
Project: Facebook Home
Spot: "Airplane"
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Stuart Harkness / Chris Groom / Dan Hon
Copywriter: Dan Kroeger
Art Director: Johan Arlig
Producer: Endy Hedman
Account Team: John Rowe / Leah Bone / Anya Esmaili
Executive Creative Directors: Mark Fitzloff / Susan Hoffman / Joe Staples
Head of Production: Ben Grylewicz
PRODUCTION
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Fredrik Bond
Executive Producer: Kate Leahy
Line Producer: Line Postmyr
Director of Photography: Roman Vas’yanov
EDITORIAL
Editorial Company: Joint
Editor: Tommy Harden
Post Producer: Yamaris Leon
Post Executive Producer: Patty Brebner
VFX
VFX Company: The Mill
Shoot Supervisor/Project Leads: Chris Knight (2D), Dave Lawson (3D)
Producer: Christina Thompson
Executive Producer: Sue Troyan
3D Artists
Lead: David Lawson
Matte Painting: Tom Price
Modelling: Milton Ramirez / Blake Sullivan / Timothy Hanson
Texturers: Edwin Fong
Tracking: Martin Rivera
Rigging and Animation: Jacob Bergman
Animation: Blake Guest
2D Artists: Nick Tayler, Narbeh Mardirossian, Peter Cvijanovic, Trent Shumway
Titles/Graphics: W+ K Motion / Albert Yih
MUSIC + SOUND DESIGN
Music+Sound Company: Walker
Composer: Jumbo
Sound Designer: Barking Owl / Michael Anastasi
Producer: Sara Matarazzo
MIX
Mix Company: Eleven
Mixer: Jeff Payne
Producer: Caroline O’Sullivan