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Winner Story
Allstate Pest Control: Get Rid of Unwanted Guestsby Scarlett Media
We didn’t expect to see these two worlds collide: mobsters and pest control. Scarlett Media was tasked to produce a promo video for Mediterranean family-run Allstate Pest Control. Inspired by Casino, The Godfather, Reservoir Dogs and other gangster films, the commercial won the 2023 Best in Show in Branded Entertainment: Promotional & Branding. Don’t miss how the team at Scarlett Media crafted a comedic story about getting rid of unwanted guests.
We sat down with the team at Scarlett Media to get a behind the scenes look into the production of the commercial.
What inspired the creative direction for the video?
Allstate Pest Control came to us and asked for us to create a video that would go viral on YouTube. He just wanted it to be funny and had a set budget. The brief was as simple as that! We thought about what they did as a company: kill pests. How could we make something funny out of this concept? The company is also run by a Mediterranean family that could easily pass as mobsters. So a gangster parody was born!
How does this piece represent your creative ethos?
The advert represents our creative ethos of always finding ways to create work that is cinematic. As lovers of movies and the great films of Casino, The Godfather, Reservoir Dogs, Scarface and Goodfellas, it was a wonderful opportunity to write a comical narrative and then capture the commercial using lighting, certain camera angles and voice overs to pay homage to these great films.
What made this partnership special?
There was a lot of trust given to us by Allstate Pest Control and their willingness to be on screen made the filming and the final video all the more special for our client.
Describe your biggest obstacle or challenge for this project.
The biggest obstacles we had in our production was limited budget, so capturing it all in one day was a challenge but we knew we had a very talented crew that could pull it off. The next challenge was the weather; it rained all day! Lastly, the venue owner was not too happy about having the spider in her house, nor did our cinematographer enjoy filming it. The only person who loved it was the spider wrangler who loved handling the very pregnant lady-spider!
Which aspects of the work are you most proud of?
We are most proud of our pre-production process and our team. We know a complicated shoot like this one could only be achieved with thorough planning and efficient, talented and passionate workers.
How does Scarlett Media define creative success?
Scarlett Media defines creative success through ensuring all clients, cast and crew work harmoniously on film sets and have artistic freedom to put forward ideas and that the final result goes above and beyond our clients’ and even our own, vision and expectations. Success is measured even further, when our clients’ receive excellent return on investment. The Allstate ad gained 1 million views in under one month (an incredible achievement in Adelaide, South Australia’s population of 1.3 million) tickling off our clients’ goal of going viral and as a result they needed to employ six new staff members to keep up with customer demand.
What does winning a w3 Award mean to you?
It was an absolute thrill for all involved to be awarded the W3 Best in Show. Being recognised internationally from experts in their field and amongst some of the worlds’ best commercials, is a huge honour. We are truly grateful.
Credits
Matthew Shannon – Original Concept, Director, Editor and Voice Over (his original voice over was only supposed to be a draft with the intention that a professional voice over artist would read for it but the client loved it too much that he went with Matt’s voice)
Peta Shannon – Producer, Writer, Assistant Director, Art Department
David Gregan – Cinematographer
Oliver Davies – Focus Puller
Nic Datson – Gaffer
Brendan Levi – Assistant Camera
Tom Perrott – Assistant Lighting
Tallora DiGirolami – Make Up/Wardrobe
Spider Rangler – Kris from Bugs n Slugs
Allstate Pest Control Staff
Cast – Lawrence and Georgia Cirocco
Are you breaking storytelling boundaries like Scarlett Media? The Final Entry Deadline has been set for June 21st, 2024. Enter your work before time runs out.