You Feel Amazon's TV Shows in Your Bones in Latest Droga5 Ads

Binge-watching TV shows on Amazon Prime Video could inspire you to take action in real life. Swelling-soundtrack, slow-motion, cinematic action. You might even start to behave like your favorite series characters. 

In ads breaking today across the U.K. and various European markets, Droga5 London presents cheeky tales of four people who meet ordinary (or nearly ordinary) challenges in extraordinary ways that seem more akin to a TV series than real life. 

Take, for example, the dude in our first spot below, who channels some chutzpah from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel to beguile his peers at a drainage-supply convention: 

“We all know what it’s like when we catch ourselves saying or doing something we picked up from a show we’re watching,” notes Droga5 group creative director Raphael Basckin. 

Indeed. But the office drone who copies the moves of action hero Hanna (the lead character in her eponymous show) in a quest to snag the last conference-room cupcake takes things a bit too far: 

Sweaty, impassioned pep talks—à la soccer doc All or Nothing: Manchester City—are perfectly appropriate for Premier League squads, but seem awkward taking place at a pizzeria’s foosball table: 

The final installment takes an edgy turn, as a fan of medical drama New Amsterdam—which airs on NBC in the U.S., but on Prime in some overseas territories—attempts to save the life a of choking diner: 

That’s some … gag. It’s just outlandish enough to amuse, but feels more intense than the other three commercials. 

“It’s not that it’s darker, necessarily, but rather that its subject is a matter of life and death,” maintains Basckin. “Life and death situations are rare in real life, but they’re the bread and butter of medical dramas like New Amsterdam, so we couldn’t wait to write one. The funniest part of this, in our opinion, is the walk towards the choking victim. We love the actress’ expression as she walks towards what she presumes is her destiny.”

In a feat of organizational prowess, “the Chinese restaurant where we shot managed to keep seating and serving customers the whole way through the day of the shoot,” Basckin recalls. “The kitchen was preparing dummy meals for us, and delicious banquets for their regulars simultaneously.” 
 
He adds that the campaign hopefully reveals a “broader human truth” about TV watching. 

“We all experience a lot more through the things we watch than the events we live through,” he says. “Whether we like it or not, we take our cues on how to behave in certain situations from things we’ve seen on the small screen.”

Retaining the theme “Great Shows Stay With You” that Droga5 introduced last year, these new ads exaggerate Basckin’s thesis in compelling style, illustrating how Prime storytelling lingers long after the credits roll. 

CREDITS

Agency Droga5 London
Chief Creative Officer David Kolbusz
Group Creative Director Raphael Basckin & Shelley Smoler
Art Director Dave Wigglesworth
Copywriter Ed Redgrave
Joint Managing Director Heather Cuss
Account Director Callum Raines
Strategy Director Tim Whirledge
Agency Producer Peter Montgomery
Production Assistant Manon Rees
Client Amazon Prime Video
Production Company Somesuch
Director Steve Rogers
Executive Producer Seth Wilson
Producer Lee Groombridge
Production Manager Luke Thornton
DOP Daniel Landin
Production Designer Drogo Michie
Costume Rosa Dias
Hair & Makeup Louise Hinton
Edit The Quarry
Editors Jonnie Scarlett – Conference, Table Football
Scot Crane – Choke, Cupcake
Producer Tor Adams
Post Production Electric Theatre Collective
2D Artists Marcus Wood, Flavio Kawamoto, Alex Grey, Alberto
Pizzocchero, Tomer Epsthein
Producer Jon Purton
Post Production MPC
Colorists Jean-Clement Soret
Color Producer Ellora Chowdhury
Sound 750mph
Sound Design & Mix Sam Ashwell, Jeff Smith
Producer Mary-Ann D’Cruz
Music Composition
Music Supervision / Clearances Hywel Evans
Composer / Music Company Conference – Philip Kay at Woodwork Music
Choke – Philip Kay at Woodwork Music
Cupcake – Goldstein Music
Table Football – Goldstein Music