Jack Link's Sasquatch Takes a Walk on the Wild Side

It’s time to cross “watch a Sasquatch wreck a urinal” off your bucket list. And why not enjoy the sight of one wielding a chainsaw in a barber shop while you’re at it?

We’re speaking of Jack Link’s bellicose spokesbeast, who returns today in a pair of frenzied spots from Fallon. The work shows average folks morphing from mild to wild—with Squatch fused to their backs in all his savage, brand-boosting glory.

Wicked pissah! Stay classy.

“Our mantra with this campaign was ‘absurdity with a straight face,’ so we wanted to capture the realness of that moment in camera instead of relying on CGI,” Fallon creative director Justin Miller tells Muse. “We want people to go, ‘Whoa, they actually did that?'”

They actually did! And it looks outrageously ridiculous. Congrats!

“The practical rigging of our lead actors to their wild side was the crux of the story and the humor of the spots,” Miller says. “We had to find a way to accurately rig a grown man to a Sasquatch’s back as if they were conjoined. That was a challenge, but doing it practically added the perfect level of offbeat hilarity.”

“The other vital aspect of the shoot was timing out the transition from mild to wild,” he continues. “We had a lot of story to tell in 15 seconds. Nailing the beats of the jerky bite to shoulder growth to full Sasquatch took a lot of practice.”

Squatch debuted 17 years ago, and this new work marks another step in the creature’s evolution. 

In earlier commercials, “people would eat Jack Link’s and that would inspire them to go wild, always at the expense of Sasquatch,” Miller recalls. “Not anymore! Now, Sasquatch has become a literal embodiment of your wild side, living dormant inside you only to burst out when you’re ready to unleash your inner beast. So, is Sasquatch wilder? Hell yeah he is!”

CREDITS

Fallon
Leslie Shaffer, Co-Chief Creative Officer
Justin Miller, Creative Director
Jonathan Moehnke, Art Director
Matt Hunziker, Copywriter 
Aldo Hertz, Executive Producer 
Brendan Lawrence, Director of Business Affairs 
Adam Chorney, Group Strategy Director
Matt Garcia, Executive Sponsor 
Meredith Zander, Group Account Director 
Karli Kolbert, Account Supervisor 

Jack Link’s
Troy Link, Chief Executive Officer 
Scott Huff, President, North America
Stephanie Moats Leibke, Vice President, Marketing 
Tracy Fleischhacker Quigley, Senior Brand Director
John Ostman, Senior Director, Digital Strategy

Live Action – Pulse Films
Director – Arthur Studholme 
President – Davud Karbassioun 
Executive Producer – Nick Fuller
Head of Production – Clark Farrell 
Producer – Sally Hanson 
Director of Photography – Jallo Fabe

Edit House – Mackcut
Editor – Erik Laroi

VFX – Volt Studios, Minneapolis
VFX Artists – Steve Medin, Pete Olson
Producer – Jennie Ekstrand

Color Company – Nice Shoes
Colorist – Oscar Oboza

Sound Design & Mix Company – Sister Boss
Sound Designer – Carl White