Regions Bank - "Wheels of Progress" - (2012) :30 (USA)

A new campaign for Regions Bank, directed by STORY’s David Orr, takes a metaphorical approach in articulating the bank’s role in driving the wheels of progress. Conceived by Birmingham, Alabama agency Luckie & Company, two spots employ truck tires, industrial gears, hay bales and an assortment of other rolling and spinning objects to make the point that Regions partners with businesses, large and small, to keep them “moving forward.”
Each spot features a series of close-ups of circular objects representing different types of businesses, with one spot skewed toward smaller businesses (an architect’s compass, a wheel barrow tire) and the other targeting large enterprises (a forklift wheel, an assembly line roller). The first wheels are frozen, as the voice-over admits that “the wheels of progress haven’t been very active lately,” but the next few begin to turn. The last wheels move full throttle as the narration describes Regions’ business expertise. The final shot pulls back from a tire into a wide shot of people riding the green bicycles that are Regions’ trademark.
“As the economy slowly gathers steam, we wanted to take advantage of the positive momentum and create work that celebrates businesses role in it,” observes Luckie & Company Chief Creative Officer/Managing Director Brad White. “Wheels of Progress not only leverages the positive momentum in the economy, but also perfectly marries the idea of wheels of progress to the wheels of the Regions green bike.”
Orr notes that he and Luckie’s creative team thought of hundreds of circular metaphors and then pared the list to the 40 scenarios he ultimately shot. “It was a great collaboration,” he says. “Everyone had ideas, and by the end, we were seeing circles everywhere. The trick was to find unexpected scenarios that felt fresh, yet continued the feeling of kinetic forward motion.”
Orr spent a lot of time scouting locations and devising interesting ways to shoot spinning objects. It was important that each scene appear distinctive and different from all the others, he notes, yet it wasn’t practical to shoot 40 separate locations. “We found ways to condense the shooting schedule by selecting locations that we could repurpose,” he recalls. “We found a farmer who had all sorts of vehicles, all of which worked, so we dressed different parts of his farm to represent a workshop, a construction site and a warehouse.”
For smaller objects, including a turnstile and a roof turbine, Orr designed and built small sets that could be assembled at a location site. “The client was very supportive and encouraged us to shoot as much as possible,” he says. “No one wanted to be at the airport wishing we’d gotten one more shot.”
"David had a vision for this right from the start,” adds White. “We could have shot ten spots if we had used all of his ideas.”
STORY is represented on the East Coast by Laura Zinn (212) 741-0909; in the Midwest by Dawn Ratcliffe (312) 491-9194, in the Southeast by Miller + Associates, (954) 563-6004; in the Southwest by Gossip!, (214) 288-2813 and on the West Coast by Susan Bennett (310) 827-8441.

Agency: Luckie & Company, Birmingham, Alabama. Brad White, chief creative officer/managing director; Andy Odum, associate creative director/senior copywriter; Rich Guglielmo, associate creative director/senior art director; Mike LaGattuta, producer.
Production: STORY. David Orr, director; Mark Androw and Cliff Grant, executive producers; Rick Rosemayer, producer; Gary Katz, director of photography; Joseph Bristol, art director.
Edit: Beast, New York. Jim Ulbrich, editor; Elizabeth Krajewski, executive producer.
Post: Company 3, Atlanta. Billy Gabor, colorist; Soraia Callison, executive producer.