Comcast Xfinity Delivers Silliness and Screams for Halloween

Comcast Xfinity is treating viewers to some super scary stuff for Halloween. How scary? The folks in a pair of ads from Goodby Silverstein & Partners have … no home internet and bad mobile connections!

One dude also happens to slog through life with a bear trap biting his leg. And a suburban mom muddles along with a hornet’s nest stuck on her head. They don’t seem to mind.

But no home internet and unreliable mobile hot spots? Aarrrrgggghhh!

“WiFi dead spots, slow internet service, glitching screens—those moments are like little horror stories in our lives,” explains Jose E. Velez-Silva, Comcast VP, multicultural brand marketing. “Tying the scares and screams of Halloween to the frustration people experience with a poor connection at home was something we couldn’t resist.”

You know what’s not scary at all? Monthly ISP bills. Aarrrrgggghhh!

Cheap shots aside, O Positive’s Spencer Riviera directs with snappy silliness and a healthy sense of the absurd to tout Xfinity’s home and mobile internet bundle. The style is somewhat reminiscent of Rocket Mortgage’s 2021 Super Bowl commercial in which Tracy Morgan poked a buzzy hive. Riviera’s racked up major comedic points in recent months, with Comcast following this bit of fluff with Walter the Chevy cat and Hippo insurance’s epic horsey apocalypse.

Along with the two spots, Comcast has some extra Halloween tricks up its sleeve. The company made a special playlist—for spooky parties and such—that consists of blood-curdling shrieks, yelps and howls, plus occasional anguished complaints, purportedly offered by folks saddled with dropped connections, slow buffering and endless lag times.

“We’ve all felt the frustration of having a less-than-stellar internet experience and wanting to scream about it,” says GS&P creative director Jon Wolanske. “That brought to mind those Halloween funhouse-sounds CDs you could buy at this time of year. We were inspired to make our own with the real screams of non-Xfinity customers, folks who know the pain of living with only their phones as the source of all internetting.”

“So, we grabbed our sound recorder and headed to Xfinity’s competitor mobile-only stores around San Francisco to catch customers and people passing by,” he recalls. “We asked them to put their feelings of exasperation over their mobile-led lives into sound. Some of the screams were so loud that they drowned out the traffic and stopped people in their tracks.”

Crank up the 18-minute supercut below. It’s like ASMR for ghouls.

CREDITS

Client
Chief Marketing Officer: Sophia Ahmad
SVP, Brand Marketing: Todd Arata
VP, Multicultural Brand Marketing: José E. Vélez-Silva
Sr. Manager, Multicultural IMC: Deborah Costela
Manager, Multicultural IMC: Adrienne Simpson
 
Creative
Chief Creative Officer / Partner: Margaret Johnson
Executive Creative Director: Jim Elliott
Creative Director: Jon Wolanske
Creative Director: Jon Wyville
Copywriter: Matt Bottkol
Art Director: Grant Piper
Senior Art Director: Felipe Antonioli
Copywriter: Quynh Tran
Art Director: Toan Mai
Design Director: Ryan Self
Designer: Pedro Zuccolini
 
Production
Director of Production: Jim Haight
Executive Producer: Stephanie DeNatale
Senior Producer: Cindy Epps
Senior Producer: Lorraine Schreyer
Sound Design: David Michel-Ruddy
Motion Artist: Chad Ford
 
Account Management
Executive Group Account Director: Chad Bettor
Account Director: Sam Carolan
Account Manager: Anders Eddy
Assistant Account Manager: Sophie Richards
 
Brand and Communication Strategy
Deputy Brand Strategy Director: Kelly Evans-Pfeiffer
Junior Brand Strategist: Lyniece Hill
Deputy Director of Research Strategy: Jane Warren
Communications Strategy Director: Maren Severtson
Communications Strategist: Shneur Silverstein
 
Business Affairs
Director of Business Affairs: Judy Ybarra
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Annie Holmgren
Production Business Manager: Yelena Kompaneyets
 
Production Company
Company: O Positive Films
Director: Spencer Riviera
Director of Photography: Kristian Kachikis
Producer: Jason Reda
Executive Producers: Ralph Laucella and Marc Grill
 
Editorial Company
Company: Hutchco
Editor: Jim Hutchins
Assistant Editor: Jim Hutchins
Executive Producer: Jane Hutchins
 
Telecine—“Bear Trap”
Company: Co3
Colorist: Dave Hussey
Color Producer: Mario Castro
 
Telecine—“Hornets Nest”
Company: Royal Muster
Colorist: Dave Ludlam
Color Producer: Thatcher Peterson
 
VFX and Finishing
Company: House of Parliament
Executive Producer: Lexi Stern
Senior VFX Producer: Michael Novo
Shoot Supervisors: Keith Sullivan and Philip Ineno
Creative Director: Keith Sullivan
 
Sound Design and Music
Music: Musicbed (licensed track)
Sound Design: Lime Studios
Sound Designer: Joel Waters
Creative Director: Joel Waters
Head of Production: Susie Boyajan
 
Mix
Company: Lime Studios
Mixer: Joel Waters
Assistant Mixer: Collin Thomas
Producer: Cassie Underwood
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan