Quantcast
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 22454

AT&T's New 'It Can Wait' Ad Tells the Quietly Tragic Story of a Would-Be Football Star

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

"Fletcher's Drive" is the latest entry in AT&T's "It Can Wait" campaign, which warns against texting, web-surfing, emailing and other forms of potentially dangerous smartphone use while driving. ESPN CreativeWorks, the cable network's in-house agency, crafted the six-minute film, which focuses on former high-school football star Fletcher Cleaves. Six years ago, as Cleaves was preparing to attend Lambuth University on a gridiron scholarship, his life was tragically altered when he was paralyzed from the chest down as the result of an automobile crash.

"All I saw was the glow from the phone on the other driver's face," he says in the video.

It's a chilling detail in a production that follows Cleaves via home-movie footage and re-enactments through a physical rehabilitation process far more agonizing—both physically and emotionally—than the hits he absorbed on the playing field. At one point, his father lifts him out of a wheelchair and carries him into a van, a profound contrast to pre-crash footage of the young man catching and carrying the football as a member of Memphis' Cordova High School Wolfpack.



"Fletcher's Drive" takes a more straightforward road to its destination than the campaign's last lauded short film from BBDO, which showed a brutal crash in reverse. That said, this new PSA is no less riveting and succeeds at conveying its heartfelt message.

The story ends on a hopeful note—Cleaves recently graduated from college and now lives on his own. Even so, director Miles Jay's subdued approach, with muted colors and a melancholy soundtrack, reminds viewers how much can be lost and how devastatingly lives can change, forever, in the instant it takes for a driver to check his or her phone.

CREDITS
Client: AT&T

Agency: ESPN CreativeWorks
Writer/Producer: Ata Movassaghi
Creative Director: Jay Marrotte
Account Director: Christina Carey-Dunleavy
Vice President: Carrie Brzezinski

Production Company: Smuggler
Executive Producers: Patrick Milling Smith, Brian Carmody, Allison Kunzman
Producer: Erin Wile
Director: Miles Jay
DP: Jason McCormick

Editorial: WORK
Editor: Ben Jordan
Executive Producer: Erica Thompson
Senior Producer: Sari Resnick
Assistant Editor: Adam Witten

Music: Rob Simonsen, Composer
Produced by: Rob Simonsen and Taylor Lipari-Hassett

VFX: ArtJail
Executive Creative Director: Steve Mottershead
Head of Production: John Skeffington
Compositor: Joey Deady
Compositor: Ben Vaccaro

Sound Design & Mix: Barking Owl
Sound Designer:  Michael Anastasi
Creative Director: Kelly Bayett
Associate Producer: KC Dossett
Mixer: Patrick Navarre

Color Grade: Company 3
Senior Colorist: Tom Poole
Producer: Clare Movshon

Online/Finishing: Blacksmith
Flame Artist: Iwan Zwarts
Executive Producer: Charlotte Arnold




Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.


Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.


Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 22454

Trending Articles