The humorous and quirky creative gamble behind Marshall Fenn’s three-spot Casino Rama campaign struck gold with its pool helmed by Maxx Films.

* * *

Before the slot machines, roulette wheels, blackjack and crap tables wended their way towards the site of Casino Rama near Orillia, Ont., Marshall Fenn creative director Steve Rust, copywriter Drew Frohmann and art director Doug Maugham pooled their talents to come up with an award-winning campaign promoting a place that didn’t yet exist.

Since the tight budget didn’t allow for a Las Vegas location shoot, they decided to approach the creative from a different and not-so-obvious angle, taking the casino experience down a notch from the cliche of high-rollers, sequined swank and flashing lights to a more human level.

What they did was take a bunch of goofy characters who had never been to a casino before and put them in a variety of situations where they fulfilled their desires to play the high-stake games in some unusual and strange ways, giving tv viewers who haven’t been exposed to a casino the opportunity to laugh at the antics and at themselves.

The three spots in the campaign consist of a guy standing over a ceiling fan and dropping little balls into it as he gets loosened up for roulette; a man in his basement limbering up for the one-armed bandits by pulling on the breaker switch and turning the power in his home on and off; and an older, laconic couple staring blankly at a calendar covered in big black xs as they count down to the casino’s grand opening.

According to Maxx Films director Larry August, the most successful commercials aren’t too obvious and don’t give away all of the information within the first five seconds. The best, he says, suck you in and make you think.

‘What draws people in is when you give them some credit for intelligence so they have to pay attention to understand,’ says August. ‘If it’s obscure and inscrutable they turn off. You have to give them something interesting and engaging to watch, but at the same time tell them a story and give them information, and they will get involved.’

Since these spots were being shot with wide lenses the locale of choice was a funky little 25-foot-wide house in downtown Toronto with wacky and weird rooms. And while the cramped space made it almost impossible to work, it gave the director just the look he was aiming for. The single location also made it possible to shoot half a dozen spots over two days.

August, who specializes in comedy and dialogue, says the two genres are a challenge to both create and sell to clients as they are by nature more cutting-edge and therefore risky.

Since Casino Rama was a new product and the client was looking to make a big splash, cut through the clutter and be memorable, there was the opportunity to do breakthrough, edgy work.

In this case the client was readily accessible, working hand-in-hand with the on-site creative director and writer, which allowed the director room to move within the creative with very few restrictions and put the quirky characters in some unusual situations.

‘If you want to produce award-winning ads you have to take some risks and swing at some home runs. Sometimes you will fail, but you have to have a bit of a gambler attitude,’ says August.

ALSO IN THIS REPORT

Winning isn’t everything. But it’s a really good thing.

Playback goes behind the boards on recent trophy-winning spots:

– BBDO puts the Doc Martens to truck touting, shows the doors to the pickup pitch, and subverts safe soup spots 29

– Y&R colors outside the emotional lines 30

– Burnett’s bait-and-switch gambit 31

– PNMD bellies up to the international bar with milk boards 33

– Saatchi’s shadowplay and wordplay win for simplicity 35

– Gee Jeffery’s short-form meta-media features 37

The year is 2035, and executional enablers dig up a dangerous advertising artifact: Instinct. A cautionary tale by Randy Diplock 34