BBH, MJZ And Living Films Issue The Super Bowl A 'Call To Arms'

It’s no secret that a fair bit of dosh is involved in the creation and airing of Super Bowl commercials, but one spot that stood out with its lush visuals and blockbuster sensibility was AXE’s epic ‘Call To Arms’. Aiming to ‘bring young people across the world together to make love, not war’, the spot and accompanying campaign materials feature a series of drastic-looking situations nullified by the protagonists’ sweet sentiments.

Switching the brand’s focus from lust to love, the campaign not only proffers the theory that guys are less aggressive when cupid takes hold, but also continues the conversation about ‘peace’ off-screen, partnering up with Peace One Day, an international non-profit organisation that drives awareness for an annual day of non-violence and ceasefire unanimously adopted by all United Nations member states.

We were impressed with the campaign’s ethos and the spot’s movie-like visuals, so caught up with BBH London’s Deputy Executive Director David Kolbusz, production company MJZ’s director Rupert Saunders, and Fred Turchetti, Partner and EP at Living Films, the production service company on the shoot.



‘Peace’ is Axe’s new scent and the subject of your new campaign. Was the ‘war’ contradiction the first thing you thought of when deciding the creative direction or something you arrived at later?

David Kolbusz – War was certainly the first tack we took, but we did due diligence and explored other territories too. We realised early on that the concept of "peace" means different things to different people in different places. Painting in broad strokes with the concept of war seemed like the best jumping off point.

The spot contains an impressive amount of locations and sets in its short running time? Was it critical to show global stories? Were you keen to get the spot looking as ‘epic’ as possible?

David Kolbusz – We wanted the thing to look as global and epic as humanly possible. Rupert Sanders does epic with his eyes shut so after getting him on board we breathed a huge sigh of relief. As for the global thing - we needed to reflect as many corners of the world as possible.

Rupert Saunders – I’ve worked with BBH on Axe before, so we have a shorthand. There was a lot to do, but I think we shot it in four days – which wasn’t much considering we had a lot of locations.

The spot is epic in all kinds of ways, not least its scale. Was it a daunting undertaking?

Rupert Saunders – I wouldn’t say daunting, but complicated. We knew we were pretty much shooting a trailer for an international thriller. We cut and finished a two and a half minute film, which really shows what we were going for. It is always exciting to work on this scale and figure out how on earth you will do everything for the money and the fact is you have to be clever with resources. We used crane rigs as the missile launchers, built a fibreglass tank driven by a quad bike, bastardised boy scout uniforms for the armies – it was a very fun project!



What were the locations that were used? Were they hospitable for the work?

Fred Turchetti – We were contacted by MJZ London as most of the famous Vietnam War movies were shot in Thailand. We love this spot because it highlights the diversity of locations available in Thailand. An interesting anecdote about the East European “tank” location is that being due for demolition, we actually had to pay to delay the location being destroyed. This spot also highlights the diversity of cast available in Thailand, in the end and contrary to BBH’s and MJZ’s expectations, all the cast barring the “tank- girl” were found locally.

Rupert Saunders – The locations were all very cinematic and Thailand had a great mixture of locations – we were very surprised to find the eastern European street which was being bulldozed while we were shooting, but with some dressing and smoking out of sunlight and palm trees it felt very eastern European.

Were there any big issues with the shoot? Coordinating helicopters and tanks can’t be easy.

Fred Turchetti – Because we were never going to be allowed to take a real tank into the city, a surprising fact is that the tank is 100% manufactured by our art department. Likewise our art department “militarized” civilian helicopters. We were due to shoot with an original Vietnam Huey chopper which was cancelled at the last minute because of huge insurance issues. Some angel must have been protecting us because we read that the very helicopter we were due to use crashed a few days later.

Did your feature film work inform the cinematic quality of this piece?

Fred Turchetti – Producing this spot was more like making a feature film than any other we have ever done. The 20 days of preparation and the sheer number of departments involved, often saw around 200 people working in the production offices.

Rupert Saunders – It was a little feature film and each scene was like shooting a dramatic scene. BBH put out a longer form version which gives more of a feeling of what we were ultimately going for – each scene could have been in a film. For the briefcase we had cars arriving through checkpoints with armed guards and reveal of the palace – but in the sixty you just see man with a case.



The spot contains some potentially contentious images that are revealed to be protestations of love. Was it important to have them looking pretty dicey to begin with to build the drama? Were you worried that the spot may be misconstrued?

David Kolbusz – There was a need to build tension and create drama, the film needed to feel like the world was going to war. There's always a fear that when you're dealing with subject matter of this nature people will misconstrue it, but the positive resolutions combined with the fact that we have partnered with Peace One Day, I think gets us off the hook.

How did you balance the tone of the scenes – one minute having to convey serious threat yet moments later devotion and love? Were you worried that the spot might be too heavy if the reveal didn’t work?

Rupert Saunders – I think we always knew the reveal would work, but we didn’t want it to be too dramatically different to the front. We wanted to create a feeling of reality at both ends, so in a way the reveals had to be plausible and treated with the same serious and realistic tone. I think it could have been very jokey, but we pushed hard to keep it emotional rather than ‘funny ha ha’.

The Axe demographic must have a fair share of male teens as its focus – individuals that are also ‘Call Of Duty’ and ‘Battlefield’ users. Was it tough to try and consider how to make ‘Peace’ cool?

David Kolbusz – Not really. Subverting the iconography of war for the purposes of making peace fashionable was something we came to pretty quickly. Selling the campaign in globally and rolling it out over 50 plus markets was the tough bit.



Are there further stories to tell with the campaign? Will we see where the soldier parks his tank or how long the fireworks go on for?

David Kolbusz – There's tons of activation, other films, posters, digital, and social work that will be rolled out over the next 12 months. One or two characters might make another appearance at some stage.

The campaign includes a partnership with the non-profit Peace One Day. Was that something that you were striving for from early on or a good match you discovered later in the process?

David Kolbusz – We spoke with Jeremy Gilley very early on in the process to make sure we weren't crazy or delusional. Initially we were trying to rally behind one charitable effort, but he made it abundantly clear to us that awareness was the best effort. Then we partnered with them a little later on, once we'd completed our production assets.

How do you feel about the finished spot being shown to pretty much ALL of America during the Super Bowl? That must be a thrill.

David Kolbusz – From an awareness perspective, it's great. That's the point of the campaign. The real thrill I'm going to feel is in a year's time when see the results of the campaign. Hopefully we'll have made a difference.

Fred Turchetti – So often, a lot of very hard work goes into ads that never really get seen. Its wonderful that even before Super Bowl this ad has already created waves within the world advertising community.

Rupert Saunders – It’s certainly better than knowing no one is watching!