If a tree falls in the forest, and it's StubHub's talking ticket tree, I hope I'm not there to hear it, because the unholy wailing sound it makes will shatter your nerves but good! I've had a love/hate relationship with Duncan/Channon's animatronic oak since it debuted last spring. But the holiday-themed "Screaming Tree" spot is just lame noise. When doofus sidekick Ben brings home a sack containing a Christmas tree, the decibels soar as the Ticket Oak mourns its piney cousin. Ben joins in, screeching that the new arrival was already dead when he bought it. There was a certain goofy/menacing edge to the StubHub tree in its previous appearances, but here there's no tension, brand message or even a fully developed concept. Besides, the bar for scream-driven marketing was set by Walmart's infamous clown spot, and "Screaming Tree," though 25 feet tall, doesn't begin to scale those heights of sublimely annoying lunacy. Overall, this is a sour note in the nonstop din of seasonal campaigns. I wish Ben had a chainsaw in his sack. Turn that tree into yule logs! Credits after the jump.
CREDITS
Client: StubHub
Head of brand and creative – Michael Lattig
Offline marketing manager – Jen Millet
Agency: Duncan/Channon
Executive creative director, copywriter – Parker Channon
Associate creative director, art director – Ken Hall
Executive producer – Christine Gomez
Account director – Eric Dunn
Account supervisor – Jenn Gbur
Production
Production company – Biscuit Filmworks
Director – Mike Maguire
Managing director – Shawn Lacy
Executive producer – Colleen O’Donnell
Producer – Laure Stevens
Director of photography – Ulrik Boel Bentzen
Editorial
Editorial company – Final Cut
Editor – Matt Murphy
Assistant – Scott Butzer
Executive producer – Saima Awan
Producer – Suzy Ramirez
Post EFX
Production EFX company – MPC
Managing director – Andrew Bell
Producer – Nicole Fina
Lead 2D artist, Smoke – Mark Holden
Senior colorist/US creative director – Mark Gethin
Telecine producer – Amanda Ornelas
Sound mix
Sound mix – Lime Studios
Engineer – Loren Silber
Props
Animatronic tree – Anatomorphex
Owner/fabricator – Robert Devine
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