VENICE, CA -- “Dear Business” -- the new :60 ad for SAP, created and executed by full-service creative boutique Kommune|NoSlate -- serves as a thank you note to the business community writ large for their resilience and management of the unprecedented challenges Covid-19. The ad is currently airing internationally in the US as well as in the U.K. and German markets. Not bad for a project originally intended for an online audience that grew in media buy thanks to the client’s enthusiasm for it.
“We wanted to find a way to talk about the all the services that SAP is known for, such as supply chain management, logistics, data, etc. but do it in a way that felt personal and authentic to how the pandemic affected people,” Jeff Reed, Kommune|NoSlate, Creative Director, says. “The spot was conceived as a simple, heart-felt thank you, and it clearly resonated with everyone at SAP.”
Global Audience:
The reason the spot’s effectiveness is found in the simplicity of the idea coupled with the elegance in its execution, which rang true with SAP execs in the US and Europe. Largely driven by a female voiceover, the spot opens with somber music behind a montage of empty city streets and airports, representing our collective lowest point earlier this year.
Read like an open-letter to the business community, the plaintive voice-over addresses business collectively: “Dear Business, it’s been quite a year hasn’t it? But in amongst the store closures, foreclosures and shutdowns, you didn’t so much respond to the call, but rose to it.” From there, the tone shifts to a more hopeful one, the music swells and the visuals highlight the ways business helped feed the poor, fight fires and stand up for social justice. That tonal shift is also heard in the voiceover who intones that business, “took life’s lemons and built a whole new supply chain and made it available for curbside pick up. This wasn’t a pivot, this was a pirouette.”
Kommune|NoSlate Copywriter Sean McNamara, notes, “It's not about business to business, it's about human to human. At the end of the day, we laugh at the same jokes, we choke up at the same kind of human interest stories. The challenge for me was to try and find a way to humanize the things that SAP does to help business.”
Creative/Production Know-How On Display:
For Danny Zobrist, Creative Director, Kommune|NoSlate, the spot stands as a testament to the company’s creativity and production know-how, not only delivering a level of concept and strategy worthy of a global brand like SAP, but also execute it efficiently; while adapting to on-the-fly changes from corporate stakeholders both in the U.S. and Europe.
Zobrist particularly noted the myriad of stock footage rights issues that arose when the ad went from an online ad to broadcast national to broadcast global in just a few weeks.”
“Most traditional agencies couldn’t do what we did in the time frame we had,” Zobrist says. “A spot of this size and scope would normally take months to come together, but we did it in weeks. From the strategy, to the copy, the footage, the graphics, the music -- every component worked together in real-time to make this important project come to life.”
About Kommune|No Slate:
Kommune|No Slate is a one-stop, turnkey ideation & content production studio. Through emotive storytelling and technology, we produce inspiring narratives and brand experiences. With a combined 35 years of industry experience in film, commercials, music videos they have embraced a creative background in live-action, editorial, design and motion graphics to create memorable content for the biggest brands in the business. Some clients include SAP, IBM, UnderArmour, UCLA, Lexus, Nike, Samsung, Honda, Disney, Nintendo, Target and Wix. For more information go to: www.kommune-noslate.com.
Creative Credits:
Client: SAP
Project: “Dear Business” (:60)
Agency/Production/Post: NoSlate Productions, Inc., Venice, CA
Creative Directors: Jeff Reed, Danny Zobrist
Copywriter: Sean McNamara
Producer: Jon Barlow
Composer: Tom Meredith
Editor: Danny Peng
Designers: Rui Ma, Alex Hanson, Hoon Chong
Post: Therapy Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Audio Post: Dillon Cahill
Color/Finish: Phil Apostol
Executive Producer: John Ramsay
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