press release
BestBuy 'Rebrand'
Eyeball and Expansion Team Help Best Buy Connect with Customers
Collaboration on Campaign Uncovers New Possibilities.
NEW YORK - Vibrant, energy-infused, laced with head-nodding music, the spots Eyeball and Expansion Team have been making for Best Buy are built to grab the viewer's attention and not let go.
Approached in late 2004 by Best-Buy's in-house ad agency and its creative director Jeff Jahn, Eyeball was charged with strengthening Best-Buy's reputation as an innovator in the highly competitive electronics-retailing landscape. "The assignment was to create one promotional TV spot for our January Home Theater Event," said Jahn. "This turned into a campaign of 21 spots."
Limore Shur, Eyeball's creative director and director of "Tunnel Vision," the first commercial in the campaign, remembers the early parameters of the project: "When we initially started working on the Best Buy campaign, we had designed around a criteria that limited our palette to blue and yellow," said Shur. "And, we could use only the tag shape of the logo to create the physical environment." This directive turned into a springboard for creativity, and after the success of the initial ad, Eyeball has pushed the boundaries of the campaign.
Using the logo and prescribed colors to construct and animate an array of graphic elements - from snowflakes and blossoming flowers to the laptop kaleidoscope of "Back to School" and "Reward Zone" - the design-based production company has managed to explore infinite possibilities, while at the same time bringing the client's vision to life and moving the retailers product off its shelves.
"We challenged ourselves to evolve the campaign over the course of the year into a more sophisticated and compelling brand," said Shur. "We slowly added elements such as light, subtle colorations, 3D-camera moves and choreographed live-action to create more depth within the spots. The greatest challenge for the overall campaign was the introduction of the element of choreography"
Integrating live-action, and one of the highlights of the campaign, was "Geek Squad," a whimsical manifestation in which Best-Buy's on-site electronics specialists come equipped with secret-agent qualities. These are no ordinary heroes, however, as they do their work in step with syncopated rhythms. This element is taken to new heights with "MP3," in which an animated robot, rendered in 3D, flexes moves typically reserved for a break-dancing battle. Further fancy footwork is showcased in "Holiday," as blue-shirted Best Buy employees manufacture products, synchronized to a seasonal melody heavy on guitar.
Complementing the live-action and animation of the Best Buy campaign is the music of Expansion Team. The company's diverse roster of composers including, among others, Scott Hardkiss, Bill Doss, Disco D and DJ Lux, slowly and steadily revealed the soundscape of the campaign. Meshing a variety of genres - from rock riffs to hip-hop scratches - with EyeballNYC's design, Expansion Team kept the ads fresh and accessible to all types of consumers.
"We have helped create a consistent vibe and energy using a very wide range of music styles and recording artists," said Alex Moulton, creative director at Expansion Team. "When Best Buy first came to us, they were already the #1 electronics retailer in the country, and they were looking to move their image forward," said Moulton.
Task completed, as far as Best-Buy's Jahn is concerned.
"The creativity, consistency and quality of all the spots has helped redefine how we look at promotional TV and what can be done with it," said Jahn. "I feel the work developed by Eyeball has helped take the brand to a new level."
