The Briefing Room

http://blueroomnyc.com/intranet/the-spot

Does your pet have what it takes to be on television? Do you know where to find the trendiest products for your BFF? Join forces with other pets and the people who love them at AnimalPlanet.com/TheSpot where you can upload pictures, get news, play games and submit your pet for shows and on-air gigs.

To direct the attention of pets and their owners to Animal Planet’s new website, Blue Room, the New York-based creative services agency, has created a series of on-air promos, including :30 and :15 overview promos and a :10 spot for a website section called The Casting Couch – where pictures of a pet can be submitted for a chance to get on television. The promos begin airing on July 11th.

“Taking a cue from the portraits on the website, we made the pet the central figure of the frame and shot a series of pet/people duos in front of bright, heavily textured backgrounds. We chose to use the RED camera in order to get the really rich, saturated look we were after and we went with a shallow depth of field and a high shutter speed to further emphasize the animals and to capture all of the crisp details of their fur and whiskers,� explained Lauren Muir, Blue Room Senior Producer/Writer.

“These spots have a deceivingly low-fi aesthetic, and we went a long way to capture the warm vintage quality of Animal Planet’s wonderful portrait photography. Finding the correct music to suit any spot can be a daunting and arduous process, and in this case it was no different. We eventually composed an original song, a fun and quirky indie tune with lyrics that anthropomorphized the pet’s desires, and found that it gave the whole spot an unexpected giddiness that really put it over the top,� added Blue Room’s Creative Director Brian Aumueller.

“We are thrilled with the results of the campaign with traffic to ‘The Spot’ doubling since the promos launched and submissions increasing through the roof—ten times what we were getting prior to launch,� said Victoria Lowell Animal Planet’s Senior Vice President, Marketing & Operations.

Representing Blue Room NYC were CEO/Executive Producer Chris Gargani; Director/Creative Director Brian Aumueller; Senior Producer/Writer Lauren Muir; Editorial Director David Gargani; Animators/Designers Steve Harper, Paul Waszak and Jorge Peschiera. An original score was composed by Brian Aumueller with lyrics by Lauren Muir with Michael Dillon on guitar.

Blue Room utilized Adobe After Effects and AVID in the execution of this project.

Representing Animal Planet were Vice President of Marketing Alexis Brunner; Marketing Director, On Air Michael Eisenbaum; Senior Director, Marketing Noha Abdalla; and Senior Vice President, Marketing and Operations Victoria Lowell

About Blue Room:

Blue Room, founded in 2002, is an award-winning creative services agency that delivers innovative, attention-grabbing design, motion graphics and production solutions for high profile clients including ABC, Animal Planet, ESPN, Fuse, History, IFC, NFL, Planet Green, RCN and Reebok, among many others.

The strong partnership Blue Room has formed with its diverse client base is largely due to the comprehensive services the company provides. From concept development to final delivery, all of the resources one could need can be found in-house including: animation, visual effects, live action production, script writing, editorial, and an in-depth understanding of branding strategies.

Blue Room is headquartered at 7 West 18th Street, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10003. For additional information, or to see a reel, contact Chris Gargani at chris@blueroomnyc.com or by phone at (212) 243-5141. Visit the Blue Room website at www.blueroomnyc.com

CREDITS

Production Company: Blue Room NYC

City/State: New York, NY

CEO/Executive Producer: Chris Gargani

Senior Producer/Writer Lauren Muir

Editorial Director: David Gargani

Animators/Designers: Steve Harper, Paul Waszak and Jorge Peschiera

Composer: Brian Aumueller

Lyricist: Lauren Muir

Guitarist: Michael Dillon

Hardware/Software:

Adobe After Effects, AVID

Client: Animal Planet

City/State: New York, NY

VP of Marketing: Alexis Brunner

Marketing Director, On Air: Michael Eisenbaum

Senior Director, Marketing: Noha Abdalla

Senior Vice President, Marketing & Operations: Victoria Lowell