You probably saw the first part of this Super Bowl spot, live. It was deemed the only part not controversial enough to run, according to Brunner. The spot ended with a all to action directing viewers to see the rest at the 84 Lumber site. Without further ado, here's the rest of the story. It is more fleshed out now. The mother says goodbye to her father. The extended walking scenes add drama. The daughter continues picking up scraps of paper or fabric. They wake up the next day and continue walking and walking. Begging strangers for water. And keep on walking until-- they run into a wall. A giant wall. Trump's wall! Apparently word had not gotten back to the country about this.
The daughter pulls out her hand-made American flag and hands it to her mother. And just as you think it's impossible and they'll never be able to get through, it seems 84 Lumber went ahead and put a door on the wall.
The spot ends with "The will to succeed is always welcome here."
I could see why this spot would be polarizing. Because you'll either see it as a spot that embodies the spirit of inclusiveness and diversity, or you'll see it as a company whose message "go on and break the law." It's a bold move by 84 Lumber to take such a stand. The question is, what will those who don't live on both sides of the coast or in Sanctuary cities think of it?
Update:
Our complete Super Bowl story. See a mother & daughter’s symbolic journey toward becoming legal American citizens. https://t.co/AiI3MLrVd5
— 84 Lumber Company (@84LumberNews) February 6, 2017
84 Lumber News' Twitter is already having a spirited debate about the spot. I'm just kidding. They're yelling at each other about immigration. My guess is they'll own that conversation for a while.
Client: 84 Lumber Company
Management:
Maggie Hardy Magerko, owner and president
Agency:
Brunner, Pittsburgh brunnerworks.com
Credits:
Chief Creative Officer: Rob Schapiro
CD: Dave Vissat
ACDs: Derek Julin, Kevin Corfield
Chief Client Officer: Jeff Maggs
Account Dir.: Lauren Tedesco
Sr. Account Mgr.: Dana Lucas
Assoc. Broadcast Dir.: Kathy Baldauf
Agency Production: FIXER Partners, New York
Exec Agency Producers: John Noble, Brad Powell
Production Co.: Sanctuary, Los Angeles
Director: Cole Webley
D.P.: Justin Brown
CD: Matt Wilson
Line Producer: Christopher Cho
Exec. Producer: Preston Lee
Heads of Production: Adam Litt (Sanctuary), Leopoldo Luisetti (La Casa Films)
Production Designer: Christopher Lagunes
Editorial: Final Cut, New York
Editor: Jeff Buchanan
Exec Producer: Sarah Roebuck
Producer: Penny Ensley
Head of Production: Jen Sienkwicz
Assistant Editor: Geoff Hastings
Cutting Assistant: Andre Castiglioni
Visual Effects: Method Studios, New York
Executive Producer: Stuart Robinson
CG Supervisor: Boaz Livny
VFX Supervisor: Eliza Pelham Randall
Flame Artists: Stephen Morris, Jared Pollack
Senior VFX Producer: Bennett Lieber
Color Grading: Company 3, New York
Colorist: Tom Poole
Music: Future Perfect, Santa Monica, Calif.
Composer: Victor Magro
Producer: Max Gosling
Audio Post: Heard City, New York
Sound Mixer: Phil Loeb
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Six minutes is plenty of time to make a nice short story movie, and clearly the director succeeded in making a nice film here. It's a great piece of storytelling. A nice commercial is a completely different story.
The website (which crashed duriing the bowl) has a section called "start your own journey" headline link which leads to a career section. They're using the ad as a recriuitment tool.
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PermalinkThe story is a hankie moment. Took me a minute to realize it is as manipulative as those ads showing mistreated cats and dogs. I won't debate the "Trump Wall" or the role of undocumented workers in construction/landscaping businesses. The wall thing is politics. Day labor system that abuses Illegal workers -- I have no facts so I have no say.
My opinion: 84 Lumber is making a recognition play. Home Depot and Lowe's have most of the market while 84 Lumber is closing some stores. Most Do-It-Yourself customers are not bulk material buyers such as home builders which where 84 Lumber's customer. "Joe's Custom Shacks" isn't enough to keep 84 Lumber going, it needs DIY traffic. Lowe's can sell me an entire kitchen makeover to wife's spec (me as labor except for electric work 'cause of building code law), 84 Lumber cannot.
Can't say the pitch is a fail. Can't say the pitch will do 84 Lumber any good. Most folks will forget this by spring cleaning.
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PermalinkSo the ad is meant to get their name out, as they are looking to expand and hire more people. The reaction to this ad is extremely polarized, while the official 84 Lumber twitter account says "We don't condone illegal immigration. The journey highlights the type of person we're looking for at 84 Lumber." Meanwhile Boycott84Lumber hashtag trended.
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