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FCB Durban demonstrates client's 'balls of steel'

FCB Durban has developed a television commercial that relies on its client's steely nerve to demonstrate its commitment to its "Put Us to the Test" advertising campaign.


Click Here to view the ad

Trellidor Marketing Director Peter Rawson must thought his days of facing dangerous balls as a Zimbabwian and Natalian cricket captain were over when he joined the company in 1996. Little did he know that just a few years on he would be putting both his life and his product on the line, to kick off his company's "Put Us to the Test" advertising campaign.

The campaign was the brainchild of FCB South Africa's Durban agency chairman Clive McMurray and his creative team of art director Steven Smith and senior writer Iain Galvin, and they were more than ably assisted in its execution by production head Julie Davis.

The 10 and 30 second television spots feature Peter as the target of a 100kg concrete wrecking ball, descending rapidly towards him with only one of his company's security gates to protect him from the inevitably violent impact. The ball crashes into the Trellidor which, incredibly, buckles to within centimeters of Peter's face but does not break through. Even more surprising, Peter does not flinch, but actually seems to lean in to the security gate.

Is it real? This is the question that everyone is asking. Particularly in view of the fact that several of the production companies that pitched for the job refused to allow Peter to stand behind the security gate during filming. Too dangerous, they said. Moviworld director Neal Sundström, however, said it was entirely possible to shoot the action within strictly controlled parameters.

So, yes, it is real. Shot in real time. There was no stand-in, no computer-generated impact shots, no tampering with the security gate's normal operation. What you see is what actually happened on the day of the shoot. As Peter says: "For this advert to have any credibility at all, it had to be real. I had to stand behind my product and demonstrate that we are willing to put it to the test, according to our new tag line."

Brand Manager Charlene Botha hired a video photographer to film a 'making of the advert' feature as she was sure that many would be disbelieving about the authenticity of the advert. "Together with FCB Chairman Clive McMurray we agreed that as our products are authentic, any advertising associated with them has to be too. This of course, led to many logistical problems as this particular ad was filmed under extremely dangerous circumstances," she explained, "And the video proves it all actually happened as filmed."

The risks were minimized as far as possible. A professional stunt crew from Stunt SA was hired to co-ordinate the sequence of events as well as rig and release the wrecking ball. Prior to filming they tested the Trellidor until satisfied with the timing of the ball's fall, erring on the side of caution.

Once on location they did further tests and found they were able to bring Peter closer to the gate than anticipated without him being in more danger than necessary. They also found they had less space to work in than expected, so had to winch the wrecking ball up higher than planned. As a result it hurtles towards Peter harder and faster than in the tests.

Insurance policies were taken out, the paramedics were on hand, the fire department and ambulance service were alerted, the support team was cleared from the set and only the stunt crew (and Peter, of course) were on the scene. The one factor that the team couldn't control was Peter's reaction on seeing the wrecking ball smashing into the Trellidor in front of him at break-neck speed. Would he duck? Would he try to dodge it? Would he register shock? Amazingly, he didn't flinch. Perhaps it was all that practice pretending it wasn't painful when fast-bowling Natal team mate Malcolm Marshall hit him with a bouncer in the nets.

"I definitely saw this one coming," laughs Peter, "over and over again! I've been endlessly mocked by mates and colleagues about 'balls of steel', never mind about my hair going grey overnight. But I knew the gate would hold. My technical manager assured me it would, even though it was a normal installation that we'd put in anyone's home, where it would never be tested to this extreme."

The "Put Us to the Test" adverts were launched on SABC 2 and 3 as well as e.tv early in October 2005 and will be flighted just before or during the 7 pm news on these channels from Wednesdays through to Fridays and before selected programmes from Saturdays to Tuesdays.



Editorial contact

C-Cubed Communications
Petra Peacock
(021) 852-7198

17 Nov 2005 09:10

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