Jack Link's Sasquatch Takes a Walk on the Wild Side
It's time to cross "watch a Sasquatch wreck a urinal" off your bucket list. And why not enjoy the sight of one wielding a chainsaw in a barber shop while you're at it?
We're speaking of Jack Link's bellicose spokesbeast, who returns today in a pair of frenzied spots from Fallon. The work shows average folks morphing from mild to wild—with Squatch fused to their backs in all his savage, brand-boosting glory.
Wicked pissah! Stay classy.
"Our mantra with this campaign was 'absurdity with a straight face,' so we wanted to capture the realness of that moment in camera instead of relying on CGI," Fallon creative director Justin Miller tells Muse. "We want people to go, 'Whoa, they actually did that?'"
They actually did! And it looks outrageously ridiculous. Congrats!
"The practical rigging of our lead actors to their wild side was the crux of the story and the humor of the spots," Miller says. "We had to find a way to accurately rig a grown man to a Sasquatch's back as if they were conjoined. That was a challenge, but doing it practically added the perfect level of offbeat hilarity."
"The other vital aspect of the shoot was timing out the transition from mild to wild," he continues. "We had a lot of story to tell in 15 seconds. Nailing the beats of the jerky bite to shoulder growth to full Sasquatch took a lot of practice."
Squatch debuted 17 years ago, and this new work marks another step in the creature's evolution.
In earlier commercials, "people would eat Jack Link's and that would inspire them to go wild, always at the expense of Sasquatch," Miller recalls. "Not anymore! Now, Sasquatch has become a literal embodiment of your wild side, living dormant inside you only to burst out when you're ready to unleash your inner beast. So, is Sasquatch wilder? Hell yeah he is!"
CREDITS
Fallon
Leslie Shaffer, Co-Chief Creative Officer
Justin Miller, Creative Director
Jonathan Moehnke, Art Director
Matt Hunziker, Copywriter
Aldo Hertz, Executive Producer
Brendan Lawrence, Director of Business Affairs
Adam Chorney, Group Strategy Director
Matt Garcia, Executive Sponsor
Meredith Zander, Group Account Director
Karli Kolbert, Account Supervisor
Jack Link's
Troy Link, Chief Executive Officer
Scott Huff, President, North America
Stephanie Moats Leibke, Vice President, Marketing
Tracy Fleischhacker Quigley, Senior Brand Director
John Ostman, Senior Director, Digital Strategy
Live Action - Pulse Films
Director - Arthur Studholme
President - Davud Karbassioun
Executive Producer - Nick Fuller
Head of Production - Clark Farrell
Producer - Sally Hanson
Director of Photography - Jallo Fabe
Edit House - Mackcut
Editor - Erik Laroi
VFX - Volt Studios, Minneapolis
VFX Artists - Steve Medin, Pete Olson
Producer - Jennie Ekstrand
Color Company - Nice Shoes
Colorist - Oscar Oboza
Sound Design & Mix Company - Sister Boss
Sound Designer - Carl White
