“You Don’t Say” - Owens Corning’s Atticat Insulation


Role: Creative Director, Writer



Owens Corning asked us to create a spot that would help pro remodelers understand how they can make additional sales by proposing Atticat™ Insulation to their homeowner clients in need of an easy-to-install home insulation system.

Pro remodelers get a too close-for-comfort peek into their clients’ lives. We turned up the dial on this insight to show crestfallen customers soldiering through unusually uncomfortable conditions, waiting for someone to bear witness to their plight and come to the rescue with Atticat™ from Owens Corning.


 

Creative Direction

As a creative director at Hero Collective, I co-wrote and co-creative directed this spot along with Hero's executive creative director, John Frazier.  Account Director Sam Cyphers and Producer Tony Mingee helped make the initial concept a reality.

Our strategic work for Owens Corning identified how resonant humor could be for a brand that already had success with a whimsical tone of voice, having employed the services of an animated character like the Pink Panther to be the spokesperson for their characteristic pink product for over 40 years. We saw "You Don't Say" as a golden opportunity to lean further into that sensibility and add a flash of entertainment that would help a B2B product like Atticat insulation break through the noise.






Art Direction

We open on our "Cold Man" as he suffers through absurd and arctic conditions of work-from-home life. We wanted to focus on that delicate moment when a pro first encounters a customer fully immersed in their own singular reality, suffering the utterly uncomfortable outcome of an under-insulated abode, oblivious to the fact that an easy and quick solution is within reach. "Hot Man" was the perfect follow up Cold, supplying a simple message our pros while seeing our star customer hilariously sweat it out.

To create the rhythms, structure, and over-the-top fun of the final spot, we drew on references from the blistering cross-talk of Cary Grant films to the harebrained heights of art direction from Terry Gilliam's universe as we crafted memorable moments that resonate with the core audience and future OC customers alike.


Production

Styleframes more quickly communicated my vision to the DP and art department, giving direction for key visual elements such as mise-en-scene, color story, and props. We wrote our main pro remodeler's speech to unfold over the course of visits to several different households, and we relied both on the symmetry of each room as well as the color temperature of different seasons to give you a sense that this speech was suitable in all seasons.

We carefully casted actors that would both be likeable, relatable, and had an inherent comic presence about them. During the shoot, I coached actors through each beat of the scene, helping to draw out the absurdity while making sure we hit all of our marks.

Team


Produced at Hero Collective.

Agency: Hero Collective
Client: Owens Corning
Project: “You Don’t Say”
Launch: 2021
ECD: John Frazier
CD: Michael Rubin
Writer: John Frazier, Michael Rubin
Account Lead: Sam Cyphers
Production: Minty Motion Studio

Scope: Creative Direction, Scriptwriting, Direction








Always happy to chat! Write me at:

mikejrubin@gmail.com.