Steve Buscemi and Henry Winkler Voice Pigeons for DirecTV
Look out below! Pigeons are dropping brand propositions from the sky.
A few weeks back, animated versions of such birds talked up insurance for Progressive. Now, TBWA\Chiat\Day L.A. casts Steve Buscemi and Henry Winkler as New Yakky CGI spokes-squabs for DirecTV.
They're miffed because rooftop satellite-dishes have begun to vanish as consumers opt for DTV's internet-based option.
The approach stems from research that shows 75 percent of people think they need a dish to watch DTV.
As for the casting picks, "Steve and Henry are icons who have earned their place in entertainment culture over many decades. Their distinct voices have burrowed deep into the American psyche—and we expect plenty of viewers to lean in and think, 'Hey, I know those guys!'" TBWA\C\D creative director Ryan Buckley tells Muse.
"That said, we casted first and foremost on the merits," he adds. "Steve and Henry, both native New Yorkers, perfectly captured the 'charming curmudgeon' vibe we were after."
Hey, youse boids! Keep away from my car!
Director Jeff Low's penchant for delivering strong sales messages through quirky comedy comes to the fore.
"We wanted to contrast the absurdity of two talking pigeons with a serious, sober, gritty cinematic gravitas—Mean Streets with birds. Jeff and his cinematographer captured the realistic, specific vibe we were after," Buckley says.
He also credits the VFX team at Untold Studios for "creating pigeon characters that feel at once expressive but completely believable. They studied bird anatomy and movement down to the tiniest detail and filtered that behavior through these scenarios."
"The closer you look, the more you notice how rich and nuanced these birds' performances are," Buckley says. "They're informed by actual recordings of Steve and Henry delivering their lines in the sound booth."
The work breaks across TV and digital platforms beginning today. Some of the media buys and creative content emphasize baseball, as DTV carries most MLB games.
