There's a real-live Ace Ventura in Moscow, and Skype wants you to know he uses its technology to help find lost cats and dogs.
Meet Valeriy Subrigov, a former police officer and now a pet detective of 25 years who stars in Pereira & O'Dell's new documentary-style ad for the video chat and messaging service.
A terrier excellently named Donut has gone missing. Subrigov communicates with the owner, a woman named Masha, via Skype, while he searches for Donut. Naturally, Subrigov succeeds, and the brand gets to play a key role in the rescue. But an odder bit in Subrigov's professional toolkit—namely, a soup made from Masha's socks—ultimately proves the turning point in the hunt.
In other words, the ad is a little silly, but also pretty endearing. Skype deserves credit for working a dog into a storyline with only a moderate degree of audience pandering. And it's certainly lighter fare than the company's last ad about Skype's professional applications … though that wasn't hard, given that one was about an entire country slowly disappearing into the Pacific Ocean.
Still, you do have to wonder how large the pet detective market really is.
CREDITS
Agency: Pereira & O'Dell
Executive Creative Director: Jamie Robinson
Creative Director: Jonathan Woytek
Associate Creative Director: Michael Gurman
Associate Creative Director: Brett Beaty
Senior Art Director: Ben Sweitzer
Senior Copywriter: Gabriel Miller
Copywriter: Simon Friedlander
Head of Production: Jeff Ferro
Senior Broadcast Producer: Bill Spangler
Post Producer: Ro Weitekamp
Senior Integrated Producer: Jason Mar
Co-Director of Client Services: Ivy Truong
Senior Account Executive: William de Ryk
Strategy Director: Molly Cabe
Strategy Director - Media and Distribution: Jasmine Summerset
Production Company: Station Film
Director: Peking (Gregory Mitnick and Nat Livingston Johnson)
Executive Producer: Caroline Gibney, Michael Di Girolamo
Line Producer: Sarah McMurray
Editorial and Post: Umlaut Films
Editor: Jessica Congdon
Assistant Editor: Michael Pavoni
Color: Ivan Miller
Online: Ivan Miller
Executive Producer: Gina Locurcio
Producer: Kelly Gibbs
Music: Future Perfect Music
Composer: Victor Magro
Executive Producer: Maxwell Gosling
Sound Mix: One Union Recording Studios
Senior Engineer: Eben Carr
Senior Engineer: Matthew Wood
Audio Producer: Lauren Mask
