Today I’ve got an extended feature piece in Vegas Seven that tries to lift the veil and see into the creative process that produces the ads that sells Vegas to the masses:
Right now, R&R Partners, the company that’s been helping the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority sell the city since 1980, is producing the next round of ads that will remind people why Vegas is a great place to play.
This September, those ads will hit airwaves and magazines around the world. They’ll be quick, flashy and persuasive—and few viewers will ever know how much work went into them.
This was a really interesting story to write, mostly because of the personalities. I also managed to score a web-only sidebar feature on R&R Executive Creative Director Arnie DiGeorge. I thought his voice was so strong, and such a part of the story, that I wanted readers to here him talk about the process behind “Chinchili Day” in his own words, rather than mediated through mine:
“Chinchilli Day” was written by Tony Marin, a writer who no longer works for me, but a good guy and a good friend. Basically a team of Tony, Steve Andrews (assistant creative director), Doug Finelli (creative director), Dustin Oliver (producer) and I had most of the early discussions on how to do the spot. Add to that the director and a ton of folks from the account side and a client that needed to eventually be brought in on the discussion. First off, we talked a lot about whether the chinchilla would be computer generated or not. And right away we thought, “Hey, it’s a fake story. They should look a little fake. A little mechanical.” But it shouldn’t be perfect. That way, the audience will be even more in on the joke.
This was a lot of fun to research, and it’s nice seeing it in print.