When TBWA\Chiat\Day wanted to push the envelope for the new Pepsi MAX campaign, they turned to QuietMan and CD/Lead Flame Artist Johnnie Semerad to help make the ambitious concept a reality. “The Pepsi Max campaign is basically a riff on ‘Field of Dreams,’” notes Johnnie. “Instead of having a baseball field in the middle of a cornfield, they have a clubhouse, and it features many major league baseball players past and present – both legends and current stars.”

The big twist on this slice of old-fashioned Americana is that the campaign features a notable first for the advertising world; consumers can download the iPhone check-in app IntoNow and hit it while the commercial plays on TV. Audio-fingerprinting technology then recognizes the ad and a coupon gets downloaded to the consumer’s phone for a free 20-ounce bottle of Pepsi Max.  The spots, titled Clubhouse In The Corn and Rally, are already on YouTube, and will air during Major League Baseball games and through the end of the year.

“In the first, Yankees pitcher CC Sebathia arrives at the clubhouse where the other players are barbecuing and having a good time and hanging out drinking Pepsi,” he explains. “In the second spot, the players run out of Pepsi, so one of them walks up to the machine and starts banging on it in the rally zone, and they all start banging their empty Pepsi bottles together until the delivery guy shows up. At that point, fireworks go off, and everyone celebrates by drinking Pepsi.”

Directed by veteran – and longtime QuietMan collaborator - Joe Pytka, the spots feature cutting-edge VFX. “Joe and I know each other really well,” says Johnnie, who’s teamed up with Pytka on “hundreds” of commercials. “He always shoots everything I ask him for, and Joe’s really good at getting performances out of celebrities, even when it’s on a tight schedule like this shoot.” Lensed over just two days, the spots were filmed in Tampa, Florida. “Spring training had just broken, so most of the guys were already in that area,” reports Johnnie. “He had to get a lot of footage in two days, and he had to shoot around all the different schedules of the players and get their performances – and don’t forget, they’re very professional and hard-working, but they’re not actors. But Joe got everything.”

Although the clubhouse was shot in a studio with several practical rows of corn, QuietMan had to then take that footage and digitally enhance the corn, “so that it looked like we shot it all in a real cornfield,” Johnnie explains. “The end goal was always to make the spots look like there were no effects at all, so in every scene we had to go in and extend the corn, put stars in the sky and add the moon and so on. Basically, we built all the environments, and subtly incorporated the effects into the shots.”

One effect involved an old-fashioned Jumbatron displaying modern digital graphics. Another effect involved Ricky Henderson wearing several different uniforms. “And Ozzie Smith used to do a back flip when he played, so we had a guy come in and do a ton of back flips,” adds Johnnie. “Then we had to transition that into the Ozzie Smith of today.”

All the VFX were created either on Flame or the SoftImage XSI 3D program, which was used to create the CG corn effects. “I shot a lot of plates, and in the opening shots it looks like the corn just goes on forever, and most of that was digital,” notes Johnnie.

QuietMan completed the whole post job in just two weeks. “It was a pretty crazy intense schedule – I didn’t get much sleep,” he adds.

“Joe and I have done so many spots together that we’re always trying to make it a little different, a little better than the previous job,” sums up Johnnie. “And I feel we really pulled it off with this campaign. Pepsi is one of those top accounts, and then to be working with all these famous baseball players on set – it was one of the biggest things we’ve ever done, and it turned out great thanks to Joe and everyone else.”

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