Kohler - Never too next / Cocktail party (2016) :60 (USA)

One of the most tired high tech ideas is the do "the future of" or "The future is here", it's right up there with our old adland joke "for all your roast beef needs", as we've seen robot future ideas since long before 1984. Setting that aside, the direction and interpretation of this idea is quite fun.

An intergalactic cocktail party, where high-functioning robots are mingling with humans. They do human-like things, like forget the name of the husband, dance poorly, get bored, and laugh at the wrong time when people tell stories. DDB Chicago looked to PULL composer Mitch Davis for music that the futuristic guests might be listening to: “What made this project interesting was that it had to move back and forth between score and environmental music,” says Davis. “For example, a partygoer is dancing and the music had to morph into something reflecting her dance moves, but still keep on working as score from there. The dance music had to come in and drop out in equally organically fashion.”

Our poor robot outsiders then find their way to the bathroom, where they quickly bond with the futuristic Kohler toilet, even taking selfies with it. Fun new twist on stand-by idea, and nicely done CGI.

Client: Kohler Co.
Project: “Never Too Next” (60s/30s/15s)

Agency: DDB Chicago
CCO: John Maxham
ECD: Jean Batthany
GCD: Nathan Monteith
CD Art: Kurt Riemersma
CD Copy: Matt Ben Zeev
Chief Production Officer: Diane Jackson
Executive Producer: Debora den Iseger
Executive Art Producer: Suzanne Koller
Senior Business Director: Jenn Nolden
Account executive: Kate Karens
Account Manager: Kirby Summers
Production Manager: Scott Terry

Production Company: MJZ
President: David Zander
Senior Executive Producer: Eriks Krumins
Director: Dante Ariola
Line Producer: Natalie Hill
DP: Phillipe Le Sourd
Production Designer: Christopher Glass

Music House: PULL, New York
Composer: Mitch Davis
Executive Producer: Scott Brittingham

Editorial: No6TV
Editor: Amanda Perry
Assistant editor: Danny Fogarty
Senior Producer: Kendra Desai

VFX: Jamm Visual
VFX Supervisor/Lead CG Lighter: Andy Boyd
VFX Supervisor/Lead Compositor: Jake Montgomery
Lead CG FX Artist: Zachary DiMaria
Flame Artist: Pat Munoz
Flame Artist: David Hernandez
Nuke Artist: Kenneth Brown
CG Artist: Nha Ca Chau
CG Artist: Huisoo Lee
CG Modeling: Aaron Hamman
CG Modeling: Joel Durham
Executive Producer: Asher Edwards
Producer: Ashley Greyson

Color: Company 3
Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld
Executive Producer: Rhubie Jovanov

Audio Post: The Studio, Chicago
Sound engineer: Nicholas Papaleo
Sound assistant: Bobby Lord
Audio Post Producer: Stacey Simcik