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“It’s a good week to stick to the streets,” says Dodge, as people celebrate traditional beach activities from their vehicles in a parking lot, as part of a brand integration with Discovery for Shark Week 2018.
Volleyball, sunbathing, jet skiing … parasailing? … all have their place on the pavement in “Asphalt Party,” as the tongue-in-cheek video, from creative agency GSD&M, draws attention to the shark-infested waters that in no way are putting a damper on having fun in the sun.
The spot plays up Dodge vehicles, like featuring a guy about to launch his parasail with his muscle car—“Probably not a good idea, Dave!” another man yells from his lounge chair—as a girl builds a sand castle from rocks and debris, and a man rides his jet ski in a kiddie pool.
Andrea Mendoza, editor at TBD Post, who was brought on to edit, color grade and sound design the spots, said the comedic timing was an important element of the video.
“My goal was to find the best moments and make them work within the confines of our spots,” she said in a statement. “Hearing a joke for the first time is always much funnier than hearing it for the third or fourth time. When pulling selects it’s important to pull anything that makes you laugh straight off the bat; this is the time when you get the best sense of what is funny.
The sound also played a significant role.
“The music was an important consideration in these commercials,” Mendoza said. “Not only to allow the sounds of the cars to be heard clearly and boldly but also to point toward summertime and the comedic rhythm of the narrative. Music wasn’t necessarily a challenge, but we knew it was important to feel like summer and lend itself to comedy without being over the top. It took quite a bit of digging, but I think we found a great track that was fun, summery with a nod to comedy.”
TBD Sound Designer Dusty Albertz added: “I’ve worked on a handful of Dodge campaigns and they’re always fun to design and mix. This was a little different though because while we had the cars doing a number of tricks, the bulk of the design was creating many layers that build up the beach-like environment and activities of people in the parking lot.”
The ad will run on linear and digital channels throughout Shark Week.
READ MORE: The Drum