Love our work: Jess Wheeler on Leo Burnett’s convention-breaking spot

All areas of marketing and advertising have their contact point.

Insurance commercials depict worst-case scenarios, vitamin and wellness commercials will have a boring picture of life followed by a colorful image, and sports commercials will have fans cheering and an inspiring musical accompaniment like in “Rocky.”

There’s nothing wrong with these formulas. When they’re executed well, they’re excellent. But when an agency takes the chance to subvert expectations, that’s something special.

Leo Burnett successfully subverts your expectations in his campaign work for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and Amazon Prime.

Jess Wheeler of SICKDOGWOLFMAN praised the work as an incredible feat of risk and creativity.

LBB’s Casey Martin spoke to Jess about what makes this bizarre sports advert so special and how we should champion clients who want to break with convention.

LBB> First of all, why do you like this particular work?

Jess> So many conventions are broken here. Due to the current obsession with “best practices” and repetitive media schedules that prioritize quantity over quality, consumers are subjected to endless short, aggressive, intrusive advertisements. Things that, if we’re honest, are the reason skip buttons and ad blockers are so popular. I love how curious and intriguing the spot is. It’s a slow burn. You’re immediately drawn into this bizarre scenario, excited to see how it unfolds. It promises to hook and entertain you, then lead you to the payoff. This isn’t a new concept, but it has become a novel one in this day and age.

Then there are category conventions. Sports adverts all tend to have a similar vibe. High-octane montages and screaming announcers. Ironically, just like what plays on Usman’s TV at the end of the advert. This may be the weirdest cricket advert ever. I’m a huge Fallout fan and I watched the series when it came out, so the art direction in its eerie 50s style was a treat. The little touches are great. Every time you see them, you discover something new. That’s another plus: I rewatched it four or five times, looking for another little cricket Easter egg. I didn’t even notice the stumps on the bins at first. How often do you say that about an advert? Even rewatching it while writing, I noticed new details.

I will always support clients and agencies that want to break prescribed rules, templates and conventions. It has always led to good work. Lemon. Cadbury Gorilla. Guinness horses. Copying the same rules and formats as everyone else can only lead to mediocrity. To create something great you have to swing into the car park and smash a window or two.

LBB> What do you think makes a great job?

Jess> We’re in a very privileged position. We can make things and put them out into the world for people to see. On their TVs, their phones, their radios, on huge billboards.

So we should always intend to use that privilege to create something that is worth people’s time and attention. So for me, intention is important. We should work with the intention to entertain, to make people feel something, to make them smile, to make them want to share it, to leave them feeling positive about the brands we work with.

We should try to contribute to the cultural landscape rather than pollute it. That’s why I love the work of agencies like Mischief, Mother, Uncommon and Bear Meets Eagle. They are all an inspiration to us at SICKDOG.

As an industry, we should not intend to interrupt and annoy people just to see a logo, which unfortunately is all too often the case.

LBB> Do you think it is important to look beyond your own agency when looking for inspiration?

Jess> I think that’s the only place we should look! I always found the biography of the writer David Thorne very funny.

“David Thorne is an Australian humorist, satirist and New York Times bestselling author. His work has been featured on Have I got News For You, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

He has worked as a graphic designer, copywriter, brand consultant and creative director and describes working in the design industry as the least creative experience of his life.

Inspiration must be sought outside of agencies and advertising. In our business, inspiration is often suppressed.

Stephanie McCarty, a US-based CMO, recently said that her first step when working with a new agency is not to “see the work,” but to see the ideas her other clients have rejected, because that’s where the real potential lies.

This is why you can’t look for inspiration only within yourself. You have to draw from infinite sources. I always encourage creatives to do more than just look at ads or create. Read books (not just advertising books), watch movies, play video games, go to galleries, watch people, eavesdrop on conversations, travel, laugh, cry. The best ideas come from human truths, insights and behaviors, and the only way to discover them is to go out and do human things. Inspiration doesn’t live on slide 93 of a deck.