WNW Member Jeff Scardino is keeping napkins cool with the latest "How Lovely" campaign for Vanity Fair napkins. As Jeff points out, it's no easy task. "No one uses napkins anymore. Especially younger people who just rip off a paper towel.
Read More
AT DIXIE'S DEADZONE DINERS, A CHANCE TO DISCONNECT TO RECONNECT
AT DIXIE'S DEADZONE DINERS, A CHANCE TO DISCONNECT TO RECONNECT
Many of us love the idea of 50s diners, with their vinyl booths, bottomless coffee, jukeboxes and flapjacks. But then midway through sipping on a malted shake, we pull out our futuristic wireless brain-scrambling devices and start surfing and beaming messages across the globe.
With Dixie's Deadzone Diners, patrons finally had the chance to experience a more authentic 50s diner. After all, the Deadzone Diner slogan is "Great Meal, No Service." WNW Members Jeff Scardino, Tara Lawall, Rob Trostle and Rich Greco helped create several pop-up diners in places with no cell service, so people could disconnect to reconnect with loved ones. We're talking caves, vaults and canyons.
As Jeff notes, "The campaign received over 11 million online views, which is a bit ironic."
This isn't Jeff's first involvement with a thought-provoking installation. Last year, we featured the traveling "Machine 11," which flipped the script on typical anti-smoking scare tactics and instead afforded passersby a series of amazing 11-minute life experiences for the cost of 1 cigarette.
While Dixie's Deadzone Diners campaign has ended for now, it's still possible for you to build your own time traveling device just by putting your other devices away.
Are you a WNW Member with new work, exhibits, products, or news to share? Email us!
DREAMS RECLAIMED: JEFF SCARDINO
Every creative has that one dream project that may take years to come to life. And what a feeling when that moment finally arrives. For WNW Member #4183 Jeff Scardino, that moment is now. "Dreams Reclaimed", a new ad for Aetna, stems from an idea that has been Jeff's baby for years. It began to take shape when Jeff researched his dad's newly diagnosed sleep apnea. He learned that with certain sleeping conditions, "You’re never able to hit REM because you are constantly waking up even though you don’t realize it. This stuck with me. What would it be like not to dream? Does it even matter?" By recreating the first vivid dreams that three individuals have had in years, after finally receiving treatment, Jeff documents their dreams reclaimed, as well as his own.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, and your background as a copywriter.
I’ve worked in NYC for my whole career at such places as R/GA, DDB, and Ogilvy. Currently I’m freelancing. I’ve had the pleasure to work on some interesting brands like Tropicana, NY Lottery, Amnesty International, and IKEA. I also teach at Miami Ad School, and I’m an FWA Mobile judge.
This new Aetna ad is trippy. What was your role, and how did it come together?
So this idea was my baby. I had been trying to get it made for years. I first came up with it when my dad was diagnosed with sleep apnea. At the time, I didn’t know much about the disorder. I just knew his snoring echoed throughout the whole house. For treatment, he received a CPAP machine that he wore only one time before refusing to use it ever again. So I decided to do research in hopes of convincing him that he needed it. In my search, I found a study that showed sleep apnea can cause you to have low dream recall and even cause you not to remember your dreams at all. This is due to the fact that you’re never able to hit REM because you are constantly waking up even though you don’t realize it. This stuck with me. What would it be like not to dream? Does it even matter?
When I dug deeper, I found that dreams have a healing power. Our subconscious uses dreams to solve problems and allows you to visualize memories that are buried.
Dreams are something we take for granted. My dad didn’t think twice about the fact that he couldn’t remember his dreams for years. There are a lot of health risks associated with not getting healthy sleep, but this was more of an emotional angle. One that could truly make people think differently.
So I thought what if I took people who suffered from a sleeping disorder and had them record their first dream after treatment. This being the first vivid dream they’ve had in years. And then took those dreams and recreated them in a film. It would be a powerful piece that would start conversation and make people think, “When was the last time I dreamt?”
I created and oversaw every aspect of this project working hand in hand with my CCO.
How do you go about writing someone else's dreams?
We started with hundreds of people who suffered from a sleeping disorder that caused them not to remember their dreams. The pool was whittled down based on a series of interviews. The final ones were selected based on their first dream. We wanted to tell three distinct stories that evoked three different emotions.
Each person was only able to record a nugget of their respective dream. So we had to learn as much as we could about them and their lives in order to piece together why they dreamt what they dreamt. This was fun. We had complete freedom in recreating these dream worlds. But we wanted to ground each decision in reason.
Do you dream a lot? What's your weirdest dream?
I do dream a lot. And ever since I started this project I have been writing down my dreams. I’d say the weirdest one I’ve had lately involved me trying to keep my family alive in a zombie apocalypse. And the zombies were all people I’ve met throughout my life. Probably a deeper meaning for me trying to move forward. Or I just watch The Walking Dead too much.
Which project throughout all of your career highlights are you proudest of?
I think every project you’re able to produce brings pride of some kind. Probably because it’s so hard to make good work. There are so many hurdles that get in the way. But I would have to say finally making this film is one of my prouder moments. Every creative has that one idea they carry with them from agency to agency, brand to brand, trying to get it made. And this was mine. Also being able to make something so conceptual for a brand like Aetna is a huge win.
What advice would you pass on to your high school self?
Don’t eat so much Taco Bell. It will permanently damage your digestive system.
Are you a WNW Member with new work, exhibits, products, or news to share? Email us!
WORK: WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH 11 EXTRA MINUTES?
WORK: WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH 11 EXTRA MINUTES?
Inspired by a study that showed that every cigarette you smoke could take 11 minutes off your life, WNW Member #4183 Jeff Scardino came up with something unusual and thought-provoking. Instead of the usual scare tactics, Jeff and his team took a different route. They flipped the study around and made people think about what they would gain: every cigarette you don't smoke could add 11 minutes to your life. To demonstrate this, they built a machine that gives you an amazing 11-minute experience for just the price of a cigarette. Starting in NYC, Machine 11 is now going on tour.
We interviewed Jeff to learn more of the behind-the-scenes behind this important campaign.
Tell us a bit about your process of coming up with this concept. How many other ideas did you work through and how did you decide on this one?
Aetna was looking for inventive ways to highlight their company’s belief that they are helping to build a healthier world. As I researched different health issues I came across a study that showed every cigarette you smoke takes 11 minutes off your life. The study sparked the first idea I put down on paper, Machine 11, which was the idea that ended up being created.
Even though it was my first idea, I ended up still going through rounds and rounds of ideas. Some I have saved for future briefs. Others I have saved to try and create myself in order to get rich.
What was your biggest challenge?
I found out just weeks before our NYC launch date that there were some legal perimeters that didn’t allow us to give away experiences over a certain amount of money. And at that time, most of the experiences were big and/or involved celebrities. So gears had to shift quickly, and most of the praise goes to our amazing producer. I still can’t believe we pulled it off.
Did anything unexpected happen?
It naturally rained the day of the shoot. And not just a little bit. It rained the hardest I’ve seen all year. So again we had to shift gears and adjust how and where our 11-minute experiences took place. Thankfully it’s New York, and there was still a lot of foot traffic.
Any memorable moments?
One of the experiences people received was to spend 11 minutes being loved on by puppies. The puppies were brought from volunteers who were training and socializing them in order to become service dogs. We didn’t realize that meant the dogs had to be six months old instead of weeks old. So they were bigger than expected and because of the rain, we had to keep them cooped up in a tent.
So when one kid walked in with his mom who interacted with Machine 11, he got tackled and licked to the point that he freaked out. I think we may have ruined dogs for this poor kid for the rest of his life.
Any upcoming projects you want to share?
So Machine 11 is just the first of hopefully many initiatives that we’ll create for Aetna. The next one up is an idea I’ve had for a year now. There are big hopes for it so I’ll just give you a teaser — It will be a dream come true.
Making of Machine 11