Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and 2019 Super Bowl MVP, is known for his risk-taking play on the gridiron, but he wasn’t taking any chances with Covid-19. That included a scheduled live-action commercial shoot for Kansas City-based CommunityAmerica Credit Union. That’s why Denver-based creative agency Cactus made the pivot to animation, bringing in Nexus Studios, Los Angeles/London and director Robertino Zambrano to help reimagine their creative concept as an elegantly illustrated look at the evolution of Mahomes as a player and Kansas City region writ large.
The spot, entitled “Rising Into Something Greater,” will be airing throughout the NFL season. Watch it on YouTube here.
Inspired by the look of the Academy Award-winning short “Dear Basketball,” directed by Kobe Bryant, the 30-second black and white 2D, pencil sketch animation style, imbued only with red (the Chiefs’ color) and the CommunityAmerica logo, communicates elegance, beauty and power all at once. The copy, voiced by Mahomes, connects the narrative dots between his rise with the Chiefs to the rise of the people and community of Kansas City.
The shift in strategy, however unscheduled it was, actually helped make the work better, says Brian Watson, Cactus’ Executive Creative Director. “We were already at the point where we had our original batch of live-action concepts ready to present the client when Covid-19 shutdown hit,” Watson says. “At that point, no one knew what the next few months would hold, but we knew we needed to develop a contingency plan. We created an entirely new batch of concepts but ultimately ended up going with the same script from our original idea, but with a completely reimagined way to bring it to life visually. As much as we liked the original vision for the spot, we ended up feeling like the animated version of the spot was even stronger.”
Watson adds, “It’s about the power of what can happen when people come together and support one another through life's changes and challenges because that’s exactly what CommunityAmerica exists to do for their members and their community. I can’t imagine a more powerful and important message to be putting out into the world right now.”
Creative Credits:
Client: CommunityAmerica Credit Union
Project: “Rising Into Something Greater” (:30)
First Airdate: Sept. 10, 2020
Agency: Cactus, Denver, Co
Executive Creative Director: Brian Watson
Art Director: Page Halter
Copywriter: Will Patterson
Production/Animation: Nexus Studios, Los Angeles
Director: Robertino Zambrano
Executive Producer: Juliet Tierney
