Zoo tv director Sebastian Copeland recently took a trek down to Miami where he was able to escape the Toronto winter – even if it was only for a few days. He wasn’t there to soak up rays or swim in the ocean, however. He was there to shoot two spots for the Export a-sponsored Extreme Sports Series.

Having joined Toronto’s Zoo last July, Copeland says these are the first two spots from his new commercial house to go on his reel.

The first ad, ‘Get Your Motor Running,’ depicts a man who has gone wild on a tractor mower, taking it over jumps and running rampant in a very extreme fashion, with the spot’s closing moments set to the tune of Free Ride (originally by The Edgar Winter Group).

The second, called ‘Knees Up,’ is set in a hotel room. At first, all the viewer knows is that the room’s bed is squeaking rhythmically. Then we get a shot of onlookers eyeing the bed, awed by what they see. The final shot: a young man jumping about on the bed practicing his skiing moves.

The Extreme Sports Series spots were created by Harrod & Mirlin art director James Young and freelance copywriter Jonathan Weiss. Weiss says the strategy was to appeal to viewers who may live somewhat vicariously through extreme athletes.

‘Our target [market] doesn’t necessarily participate in extreme sports themselves, but they aspire to be those kinds of guys,’ says Weiss, as visions of baggy-pants skateboarders and wild-eyed downhill bikers dance in one’s head. ‘The idea was if we show people getting excited and participating in stuff that they are really into, even though not doing the exact extreme sport, they still fantasize about doing wacky stuff like that in their daily lives.’

Director Copeland, who worked out of the u.s. and Europe before landing at Zoo, says he was delighted by how open Weiss and Young were to his suggestions.

‘One of the really positive things I’ve found about working with Canadian creatives is that they really do allow for a strong input from the director,’ says u.k.-born Copeland. ‘From an American experience, that tends to be less the case. Americans tend to be fairly strict in their approach to story and give less leeway to improve or just adapt the script for the screen. These guys, true to form for Canadians, were very inviting of new ideas and improvements.’

Weiss, for his part, says he was very open to Copeland’s suggestions.

‘[Copeland] really brought a lot into it, like the jumping of the lawn mower [in the ‘Get Your Motor Running’ spot],’ says Weiss. It was Copeland’s idea to shoot it from below as the tractor launches overhead. ‘Stuff like that is really great. He has a good visual sense and he brought to the spot that saturation of color. He brought a lot to the party for sure.’

Because the client is a cigarette manufacturer, some very specific rules had to be followed while filming the ads. For starters, no one featured in the spots was under the age of 25, lest someone be mistaken for a teenager endorsing an event sponsored by cigarettes.

‘There were sensitivities for sure,’ says Weiss. ‘Because it is a sponsorship, you definitely have to show we are not advertising cigarettes, but rather the sponsorship. Like Benson and Hedges’ Symphony of Fire.’

In ‘Knees Up,’ he says, ‘the biggest concern was the hotel room. Smoking really suits the situation. You couldn’t have ashtrays with cigarettes in them and the room couldn’t look stained from constant smoking.’

Copeland says avoiding the legal land mines on ‘Knees Up’ required some fancy creative footwork.

‘There is a fine line where legally you can’t employ anybody who is under 25 when dealing with cigarettes, and at the same time, the target market is younger than that,’ he laughs. ‘There is a sensitivity in how you can address a demographic which is responding to the type of advertising this is while making sure we are not legally liable.’

Copeland’s decision to take on the Extreme Sports spots didn’t come lightly. He says he has heard of other directors who have had a moral objection to taking on an ad affiliated with cigarette smoking for fear of backlash from anti-smoking groups. Copeland says he has not had any negative feedback on the ad and he does not expect to.

‘It’s a little early to tell, but I’ve done alcohol ads before, too, and I’ve never experienced anything negative to do with them,’ he says. ‘I have heard of people turning down work because they were anti-cigarettes, but that is a personal choice. If we start picking this apart, why stop there? The reality is we are in a consumer society that has been fed a lot of garbage and [certain fast-food chains] aren’t too much higher on the totem pole than cigarettes are. Alcohol is the same thing.’

Copeland says he enjoyed the chance to get out of town to shoot, not only for the beautiful Florida weather, but because it gave him an opportunity to get to know his peers a little better than he would shooting in town where ‘everybody goes home at the end of the day.’