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1792 Bourbon - Untypical

Ariel Costa takes you on an "un-typical" jazz-fueled journey in a new take on the classic bourbon ad.
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In the spot, three characters—the "3 Amigos" as Ariel calls them—embark on a surreal odyssey through the night until they stumble upon a magical speakeasy. Ariel's goal was to tap into this theme of discovery and exploration in order to put the characters and audience on a level playing field. Both are discovering 1792 Bourbon in tandem, together. And boy if it isn't one serendipitous discovery.

According to Ariel, "Our idea was to distort reality and create things that were Untypical. Mixed media really helps with that because it's good at grabbing realistic materials, then distorting their realities to create something unique and stylized. Ultimately, the spot is fun, happy, and completely different from what we usually see with whiskey commercials."

To quickly establish universal legibility, Ariel blended a variety of different signs and symbols from around the globe. In his words, "I used a mix of different symbols in the neon signs—Japanes symbols, Korean symbols, Greek symbols, various type faces—just to create a world that can be universal. It doesn’t apply to specific city; it could be any big city in the world. We’re creating our own world to tell this story because we want to represent everyone and also introduce everyone to 1792."

Credits

Director Ariel Costa
Client Sazerac Bourbons
Production Co Hornet
Managing Director Hana Shimizu
Head of Production Karen Lawler
Head of Creative Development Kristin Labriola
Executive Producer Marty Geren
Production Supervisor Dez Stavracos
Producer Justine Webster
Editor Sam Stulin

Pre Production
Storyboard Ariel Costa
Character Designer Ariel Costa
Environment Designer Hugo Leick, Gabriel Silveira, Hannah Kim

CG
CG Generalist Rodrigo Lescano

2D
Lead Animator Ariel Costa
Animator Mark Davis, Amalia Lage, Cristian Morales, Manu Correa Soto
Compositor Ariel Costa

Agency
Chief Creative Officer Dave Damman
SVP Executive Creative Directors Jonatan Maldonado, Aron Cleary
Art Director Ryan Bailey
Executive Producer Danielle Keenan
Associate Director of Strategy Adam Panetta
Brand Director Roger Angel

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"Our idea was to distort reality and create things that were Untypical. Mixed media really helps with that because it's good at grabbing realistic materials, then distorting their realities to create something unique and stylized. Ultimately, the spot is fun, happy, and completely different from what we usually see with whiskey commercials."

Ariel Costa
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