"Why can't I hit it? Why can't I hit it!" moans a ghoulish undead monster as he tries to nail a blood-curdling roar for inclusion in the Google Nest Hello Doorbell's Halloween Ringtones collection.
Toiling in a recording studio, the poor (lost) soul does take after frenzied, ferocious take, fretting about his motivation like a method actor ("I'm going to, like, terrorize a village") and generally playing the diva:
Swift created the cute campaign, which also features a ghost (wearing a sheet with eyeholes), a witch (she's a real scream) and a vampire (who gets the bloody best laugh line of all):
The actors in the spots didn't record the actual spooky doorbell sounds for Google Nest. Instead, they appear in full costume and makeup to give the impression that we're watching behind-the-scenes footage of the sessions that led to the ringtones' creation.
"The mockumentary approach felt pretty natural for this," Swift creative director Dana Stalker tells Muse. "We had these fun monster sounds for the Nest Hello doorbell to play with and loved the idea of imaging where those sounds came from—real monsters, obviously."
They got lucky with casting, too. "With Halloween fast approaching, we only had time for one round of auditions—no callbacks," Stalker says. "The monster had us in stitches watching his audition video, and we loved his unexpected take. He really set the tone for how we'd build the rest of the cast around him."
At the shoot, "we were constantly struggling to hold back our laughter so we wouldn't interfere with audio," says Stalker. "The vampire was in character the entire time—even at lunch."
Lunch? Ouch!
The clips are running as paid posts across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and also appear on Google's various channels.
CREDITS
Monster: Chad Westbrook
Ghost: Danielle Shvartsman
Witch: Maya Nalli
Vampire: Dan Wicksmam
Client: Google
Campaign: "Nest Hello Doorbell: Monster Auditions"
Agency: Swift
Chief Creative Officer: Rick Albano
Executive Creative Director: Don Shelford
Creative Director: Dana Stalker
Associate Creative Director: Chelsea Berger
Senior Copywriter: Mark Topel
Senior Art Director: Mike Zulpa
Agency Producer: Alana Spears
Director of Production: Frank Brooks
Group Account Director: Britta Larson
Account Supervisor: Alexina Shaber
Account Executive: Colleen Ridder
Senior Project Manager: Ben Beatty
Strategy Director: Ben Peters
Senior Strategist: Amanda Bao
Associate Director Data Science: Nathan Lattanzi
Clients:
ECD, Google Devices & Services: Xanthe Wells
Global Creative Director: Christian Haas
Creative Director: Koen Malfait
Lead Designer: Jean Shim
Designer: Coryn Bajema
VP, Google Nest Marketing: Nick Bartle
Global Consumer Marketing Lead: Cam Luby
Consumer Marketing Lead: Priscilla Alvarez
Product Marketing Manager: Nai Syriani
Production Company: Swift
Director: Mike Andrews
DP: Joe Meade
Line Producer: Alana Spears
Editor: Corky Devault
Editor: Lauren O'Malley
Online Editor: Steve Greiner
Colorist: Brian Marx Gibson
Sound: Brooke Saelens
Motion Graphics: Matt Anthony
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