My Favourite Steve Rodgers Commercials
This is another in the globally popular ACES series of featuring commercial filmmakers and directors that I admire for their skills in bringing creative concepts, and storylines to enthralling life.
Steve Rodgers
Australian art school graduate, motion graphics designer, writer, actor and filmmaker, Steve Rodgers is widely regarded as one of the advertising industry’s best commercial directors in the world.
His long list of awards includes D&AD Yellow Pencils, 6 Cannes Gold Lions, a Gold Addy, The One Show Gold, a Clio Grand Prix, Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Best in Show, and Best in Show at The New York Festivals.
1. AT&T, The Shot
Advertising Agency: BBDO, New York, USA
AT&T’s Warner Media Entertainment ‘Shot’ commercial, with its unexpected scenario twist, directed by filmmaker Steve Rogers, with VFX imagery by Visual Effects Company KEVIN, very effectively dramatises AT&T’s consumer proposition of giving you more for ‘your thing’.
The melding of two cinema genres in one commercial, is memorably watchable and great fun.
2. CANAL Plus, Mission Really Impossible
Advertising Agency: BETC, Paris, France
The laudable film directional skills of filmmaker Steve Rogers, makes this ‘Mission Impossible’ parody highly amusing and entertaining.
CANAL+, the French Premium Pay TV Channel, has the first broadcast rights on major films in France, but warns viewers not to waste that advantage by waiting too long.
3. Old Spice Captain, Red Sweater
Advertising Agency: Wieden+ Kennedy, Portland, Oregon, USA
‘Red Sweater’, Old Spice’s first ever commercial in French with English subtitles, is a retro-styled,‘over-the-top’ love-story dramatisation, directed by filmmaker Steve Rogers.
Filmed in scenic locations in the South of France, with comedic performances by a great cast, the scenario parody, typical of the Old Spice brand, is unconventionally and bizarrely funny.
4. Tourism Australia, The Son of Crocodile Dundee
Advertising Agency : Droga5, New York, USA
‘The Son of Crocodile Dundee’ commercial was part of an integrated Tourism Australia campaign, launched during the 2018 American Super Bowl Championships, that draws an audience averaging 110 million plus TV viewers of all ages every year.
Directed by filmmaker Steve Rogers, and starring actors Chris Hemsworth, Danny McBride, and a cameo appearance from Dundee star Paul Hogan, the commercial was cleverly conceptualised and produced, to look like a ‘trailer’ for a new Crocodile Dundee feature film titled ‘The Son of a Legend Returns Home’.
The media interest the campaign generated exceeded all expectations, with a remarkable 30% increase in Australian related tourism sales.
5. Old Spice, Rocket Car
Advertising Agency: Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Oregon, USA
‘Rocket Car’ is part of Old Spice’s ‘Legendary Protection for Legendary Men’ campaign series of commercials, featuring ‘macho’ parodies of Old Spice men that are absurdly funny.
Directed by filmmaker Steve Rogers, the Cannes Gold Lion commercial about an attempt to break the land-speed record in a ‘Rocket Car’ that doesn’t quite make it, is very entertaining.
6. Vodafone, Piggy Sue
Advertising Agency: FCB, Auckland, New Zealand
Directed by filmmaker Steve Rogers, ‘Piggy Sue’ not only stole the hearts of New Zealand viewers but also the hearts of country lovers, animal lovers and vegetarians globally.
On the ‘Campaign Brief’ website, Vodafone spokesperson Fleur McFarlane, said that the commercial was primarily about the national culture of caring for all friends, whether human or animal, and the community spirit that connects all rural New Zealanders.
7. Audi Quattro, Parking Lot
Advertising Agency: Venables Bell & Partners, San Francisco, USA
The dramatised and humorously exaggerated scenario, directed by filmmaker Steve Rogers, is a fun send-up of male competitiveness between two Audi Quattro owners, that many viewers will relate to with broad smiles.
The Festive Season can be a chaotic time of year that severely tests the patience of many Dads. These two protagonists have particularly short fuses that seem to be on the verge of sparking off absolute mayhem in a shopping mall.
8. NIke, Snow Day
Advertising Agency: Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Oregon, USA
Nike’s cold-gear ‘Get Out Here’ North American brand campaign, stars pro-football players Rob Gronkowski, Ndamukong Suh, and 19 other professional athletes.
Directed by filmmaker Steve Rogers, ‘Snow Day’ is about encouraging outdoor activities with reminders of how much fun is to be had with child-like snow fights, and exhilarating winter sports.
The bracingly filmic winter-epic, features a resonant soundtrack of the“ThePayback” by singer and musician, James Brown, the ‘Godfather of Soul’.