Toyota Camry - B.B. King Guitar / BOLD - (2014) :30 (USA)

B.B. King. Really? I don't think I've seen him since made a deal with the Devil in 02 shilling Burger King, because B.B. King = Burger King, get it? Then in '03 he showed us how to deal with diabetes because too much Burger King... Ok, never mind.

But I digress. In this bold ad, we see a perfectly lovely young woman with a sense of adventure who scores B.B. King's old guitar - Lucille - at an auction. Probably riffing off the real life event when The 80th Lucille was stolen in 2009 and ended up in a pawn shop, we see how the girl goes on drive to find B.B. King and return his guitar. She finds him backstage - (why isn't this man sipping sarsaparilla on a porch watching his 50 grandchildren dance in the yard or something? He's 89 years old and gave us so much great music let the poor man kick back already! ) - and B.B. has a moment with his old guitar. Clearly it's a magical guitar because it's still playing like it was just tuned despite being unused for years. B.B. Then decides to sign the guitar and hand it back to the wide-eyed young woman, who would never in a million years sell that guitar for lots of money. Nope siree.

While the casting is quite nice, the pacing strikes me as odd. It's a mellow tune picked for this drive, and that seems ill-fitted for a quest where you're out to return a guitar to the king of the blues. Using the story of lost Lucille is probably lost on people as well, despite the fact that B.B is a living legend. Heck, the best way I ever saw the blues in a commercial was when heineken reached the parts other beers could not reach and made the blues. Oh how I wish B.B. King had done that ad instead. That one actually almost fits the line “One Bold Choice Leads to Another” too. Nerd-nitpick: Lucille is a black guitar.

See also Camry, Bride breakout

CCO: Jason Schragger
ECD: Margaret Keene
CD: Erich Funke
ACD/Copywriter: Julia Regan Markiewicz
ACD/Art Director: Jera Mehrdad, Vik Bhalla, Javier Torok
Art Director: Max Wang
ACD/Art Director: Vik Bhalla
Art Director: Max Wang
Copywriter: Eric Stevens (Breakout/ Guitar), Brian
Frisk (Breakout/ Guitar), Nick Spahr, Chris Ford (Bucket List)
Director of Content Production: Sara Seibert
Senior Broadcast Producer: Jennifer Vogtmann
Senior Integrated Producer: Holly Otto
Director of Print & Integrated Art Services: Lorraine Alper Kramer
Group Account Director: Erica Baker
Management Supervisor: Carla Tanchum
Chief Strategy Officer: Mark Turner
Strategic Planning Director: Evan Ferrari
Senior Strategic Planner: Erika Bridges
Strategic Planner: Lindsey Summers
Executive Communications Director: John Lisko
Business Affairs Manager: Biba Millstein
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Smuggler
HEAD OF PRODUCTION: Andrew Colon
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: Lisa Rich
DIRECTOR: The Guard Brothers
EDITING COMPANY: Rock Paper Scissors
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Dave Sellars/Angela Dorian/Linda Carlson
PRODUCER: Leah Carnahan
EDITOR Guitar: Adam Pertofsky
EDITOR Breakout and Bucker List: Stewart Reeves
FINISH: A52
MUSIC: TBD
SOUND DESIGN: Noises Digital