press release
American Express 'Blue Cash'
Eyeball Produces Blue Cash for American Express
Featuring the American Express Blue Cash Card and its physical and metaphorical traits.
New York, NY, July , 2003 - SOHO based design and production company, Eyeball and music company, Expansion Team recently teamed with advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, New York, to produce two American Express :30 spots: "Money" and "Green" for the brand's Blue Cash credit card. The two commercials are currently airing back-to-back.
Eyeball, working hand-in-hand on a daily basis with the team from Ogilvy, comprised of creative directors' Rene Lehouillier (AD) and Todd Heyman (CW), art director-Una Murphy, copywriter-Jason Reilly and executive producer-Alice Mintzer and Christine Lindemann-associate producer, provided a turnkey production for the agency by handling production, editing, design and animation for the spots while music company with Expansion Team handled all elements of sound design and composition with Ogilvy's, Stephanie Diaz-Matos handling production responsibilities.
Both spots feature the American Express Blue Cash Card and its physical and metaphorical traits of "multiplicity". The Blue Cash cards multiply and grow to reflect the new offer: flexibility to pay overtime, no annual fee, and 5% cash back with every purchase made using the American Express Blue Cash Card.
Una Murphy, Ogilvy's Art Director for the project, commented that, "we were asked to launch a new card from 'Blue' which had to have its own look, but yet look similar to the traditional 'Blue' work. Which is why we knew we had to find a production company that created looks and sounds instead of following trends. Eyeball & Expansion Team were perfect, truly collaborative and easy to work with."
"Our approach to these spots relied primarily on using the card as our hero," noted creative director, Limore Shur. "The card was not to take on any literal characteristics, or change its shape in any way. Working with these guidelines we chose a loose metaphor for money - multiplication. The idea of multiplying the card as it animates gave the spots a whimsical and fun attitude."
"Once this direction was settled-on we ran with it. We created different scenes in which the cards animated around and through the camera. We had already decided on an editorial approach to this spot, so we took these new scenes and began editing. Once we found a rhythm and order that we liked we created seamless transitions between the shots. Besides the actual credit card there were two other key elements to the spot, the
800-number and the Supers. The 800-number needed to be prominently displayed for most of the spot, but we didn't want it to interfere with the action. Our solution for this was to animate it on when we needed to pull focus to it. When it remained on screen, we integrated it by placing it on what looks like the edge of the clear card material. This gave it a purposeful integration into the environment while keeping the 800-number front-and-center enhancing its readability and retention. The Supers were handled in a unique way as well. Rather than cutting away to the supers and disrupting the flow of the spots, we integrated them by placing them inside the hologram of the actual card. We found interesting ways to bring the hologram front and center, allowing us to dynamically animate the Supers on", added Shur.
Stuart Simms, Eyeball's 3D Supervisor and Lead Animator added, "To keep the focus on the cards, we paid special attention to making them look as real as possible. To accomplish this, the blue hologram, which was such a strong physical element to the design of the actual card, needed to avoid coming across as 2-dimensional, which would have lost the realism we were trying to achieve. To avoid this, we created custom shaders that distorted the hologram's reflections. This gave us a unique quality of depth in its flat surface helping to enhance its realism. Additionally, we developed a custom script that allowed us the flexibility to move the card in dramatic ways and have the light effect it correctly."
Expansion Team composed and supervised the music for both spots. Tapping into the raw energy of the Beatles' classic "Money, That's What I Want." Expansion Team's, Scott Hardkiss composed two versions of the song, one with soul singer, Bobby Harden and the other with singer Lisa Shaw, best known for her work with music label, Naked Music. Hardkiss adds, "I came up with an idea for a retro-futuristic sound for the spots by combining my own patented electronic beats, bass, synths and effects with the older, classic sounds of electric guitar and soul vocals. Then, for the second spot, I got to stretch out a little with more elements like scratching, filters, stutters and added back-up singers."
"Under tight deadlines and many last minute changes they never compromised the work and made the whole process a pleasure," added Murphy.
