Traktor Talk Doing The Double For The Super Bowl

To have a spot you directed form part of a Super Bowl ad break is a great honour.  To have two is nothing short of greedy. Nevertheless, the kooky gang forming Rattling Stick’s Traktor have done just that and put together two of the most ambitious ads of this year’s big game.

To kick things off, a simple task – humanise the internet. In their GoDaddy spot, the Traktors set about giving the entirety of human knowledge (and cats) a physical presence (and cats). For Tide, the premise was ‘simple’ – veteran commentator Terry Bradshaw would appear with an ever-growing stain on his shirt during in-match punditry, only for his stain to be washed away by Tide (and Jeffery Tambor) in a later commercial break. All that was needed was for the audience to notice the stain, tweet about it for the spot to make any sense. Thankfully, the response was hugely positive.

We caught up with the Traktor to chat about the construction of both commercials and the pressure of being part of Super Bowl Sunday!

Two Super Bowl spots in one night – does that make the game more enjoyable or nerve-racking to watch?

Both. It’s actually during the day in Los Angeles, but this is the only time of the year when daytime drinking is encouraged. We’ll drink to remember, and forget to drink. Nothing more we can do than stand back and eat Buffalo Wings!

How did you get involved with the projects? What was the Traktor flavour that won over the agencies?

We gave it our best shot. Flavour-independent, and without taking anything for granted.

In the GoDaddy film, you effectively humanise the internet. How do you go about casting ‘The Internet’?

We had Adam the Hero up our sleeve and put him in our treatment first up. We’ve kept him in the dark and harnessed him over the years (a bit like the 'well' scene in Silence of the Lambs, except he could never get the lotion in the basket) and now he’s ready for Primetime. And then some!

The spot seems to have a thousand references thrown into it. How did you go about choosing what best summed up the ‘net? Any favourites that you managed to sneak in?

We tried to strike a balance between the obvious and the more peculiar & personal. It is interesting to see how different people’s experiences are. There were nine year olds who got absolutely everything as well as millennials who had never heard of “The Dress”. Our job was to make sure that the main set-pieces were intriguing and fun to watch, while the detail could simmer in the background and wait for repeat viewings or those who love trivia & trinkets in equal measure.

Were there any issues on the shoot? How many takes do you need to successfully film a cat on a robot vacuum cleaner?

Those cats always ride Roombas. It’s in their rider (as it were). It was more a struggle getting them off when we had to return the rented vacuums.

The spot is viewable online in a longer form. When creating something like this, is it tough to balance the amount of what can be absorbed in one watch (like during the game) as opposed to multiple views online? Do you worry about things being missed?

Yes that is a challenge. The more beats, the more fun. We chose to think of the 30 as an intriguing introduction to a curious chap who you kind of already know from your daily drip-feed of dopamine, but never knew where he lived or how he rolled!  He is clearly labelled “INTERNET” by the time the spot is done and once you know him from the Big Stage, there is freedom to let him roam in longer, and different, executions. Keep watching him. Literally…

How does it feel to have the social media/live elements of the Tide campaign out of your control?

It feels exciting and liberating. The fine folks at Saatchi & Saatchi have all that stuff buttoned down (or is it buttoned up?), and once the cat is out of the bag it is free to roam and purr!

It’s always risky to fill a film with ‘non-actor’ celebs, but this one pulls it off. What was your directing technique and did you have any issues?

We don’t know who anyone is, so it’s the same for us. Give them a hug and another take. Rinse & repeat (no pun intended!).

The Jeffrey Tambor cameo is a lovely surprise. Do you have to coach that guy on being sardonic or just point the camera and let him do his thing?

There’s a saying on the Tundra whence we came: “You don’t teach your Dad to Ice Fish”. We didn’t even bring our rod out. He was already reeling them in whether the camera was running or not. We were in stitches (at 2am). A masterclass in restrained class.

How did it feel to see the stain trending beforehand? Were you pleased with the reaction to the spot?

Our stains have always trended, but this time it was particularly exciting.

You guys have been with Rattling Stick for just over a year now – is there a stand-out piece of work during that time?  What makes you such a good fit?

It feels like the output forms a nice transatlantic bouquet of begonias, large and small. We started working on the very first day of our relationship on Virgin Trains (UK) and Dos Equis (US) and started the second year with two Superbowl spots. Even if Rattling Stick were nasty bunch of cretins we’d be in a good place. Luckily they are precisely the kind of Big Hearted Buffoons (BHB) that makes going to work (and back again) a complete joy. Via the pub….

What’s up next for you?

A couple of UK jobs in February and March, and hoping to sink our teeth into some classy charm for the US as we go go. Thanks for your primetime!