Ketching up with Russia

Acclaimed director Emir Kusturica just kicked out an ambitious Gypsy (Tsygansky) ketchup commercial for Russia's Baltimor brand.

Tricky thing is, it's a ketchup with a troublesome brand.

Gypsy ketchup isn't a new product line for Baltimor, but it isn't among the company's top sellers. The name "doesn't have a very good ring to it," Milada Gudkova, the general director of Baltimor, said by telephone on Monday. The problem is that people "have varying attitudes" towards Gypsies, she explained. The idea of recruiting Kusturica -- whose films such as "Black Cat, White Cat" and "Underground" feature Gypsy life -- came from the Moscow advertising agency Rodnaya Rech, and the filmmaker responded positively to the idea, she said. "We're just glad that he found the time."

https://context.themoscowtimes.com/story/141064/ -- Full story here in the Moscow Times.

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Television commercials don't usually get promoted by trailers promising the latest work from a "cult director." But an ad campaign for a Russian brand of ketchup has done just that, building up anticipation for a new commercial directed by Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica.

Last week, a series of short commercials reminiscent of movie trailers announced "a new film by a cult director." On Monday, viewers had their first chance to see Kusturica's ad for Baltimor's Tsygansky, or Gypsy, brand of ketchup. The director filmed the commercial in a village near Belgrade that he had custom-built several years ago and that served as a movie set for his 2004 film "Life Is a Miracle."

The commercial, which has no dialogue, is set in a picturesque marketplace. It features a man in mirrored sunglasses who is trying to buy a horse. When he doesn't offer enough, the horse opens its mouth to smile, revealing a gleaming gold tooth. At the same time a voiceover says, "He would just be good, if he weren't unique."

Gypsy ketchup isn't a new product line for Baltimor, but it isn't among the company's top sellers. The name "doesn't have a very good ring to it," Milada Gudkova, the general director of Baltimor, said by telephone on Monday. The problem is that people "have varying attitudes" towards Gypsies, she explained. The idea of recruiting Kusturica -- whose films such as "Black Cat, White Cat" and "Underground" feature Gypsy life -- came from the Moscow advertising agency Rodnaya Rech, and the filmmaker responded positively to the idea, she said. "We're just glad that he found the time."

The company is pleased with the result, Gudkova said, praising its "nonstandardness" and "sense of humor." The opening scenes filmed by Kusturica do not show the product itself. They are followed by shots of vegetables and a bottle of Gypsy ketchup, while a voiceover reiterates the slogan, now applied to the ketchup: "It would be glad just to be good, but it was born to be unique."

The commercial is "image advertising" for Baltimor, which makes between 50 and 54 percent of ketchup sold in Russia, according to Gudkova. While the ad doesn't identify the director, the company has publicized his participation. The ad will be shown for five weeks on all but one of Russia's national networks in 15- and 30-second versions. The full version lasts one minute, but the company can't afford to run that on television, Gudkova said. She added, however, that it may be shown in movie theaters.

Kusturica will not visit Russia to promote the commercial, and his contract specified that his fee would remain confidential. The director is no stranger to advertising. He has previously filmed ads for Renault cars, the French banking group Banque Populaire and La Parisienne cigarettes, which are made by British American Tobacco Switzerland.