The Colonie gets happy with Advocate campaign

“Tech,” for Advocate Health Aurora

The Colonie editor Tom Pastorelle recently partnered with MERGE on a broadcast and web campaign for Advocate Aurora Health, one of the largest not-for-profit integrated health systems in the country.

The Chicago-based company’s editorial, motion design, animation and finishing services were tapped for a trio of spots by the marketing and advertising agency, which executed a large media buy for the campaign that included local airing during this year’s Super Bowl.

All of the commercials are set to the melody of ‘C’mon, Get Happy,’ the nostalgic theme song from the ‘70’s TV Show, The Partridge Family. The lyrics are switched to ‘C’mon, Get Healthy,’ with variations on the verses and tempo underscoring each spot’s message and establishes its tone.

Anthem, an emotional 60-second spot, touches on seminal moments in a couple’s life. It tells the story of a boy and girl who spend their lives together after first meeting at a football game and. Cut to a slow-paced version of the track, the story ends where it began, on the football field. The spot closes with the tagline, “Together let’s make healthy happen.”

 
ANTHEM | ADVOCATE HEALTH AURORA

 

“Anthem was a lot of fun to edit,” says Pastorelle, who cut the spots on Adobe Premiere. “We played with a few different options for opens and endings before deciding to bookend the commercial with the couple back where they first met. We also explored different ways to use voiceover, ultimately discovering that the storytelling was more engaging with just the music and vocals.”

“Cutting a 60-second spot that spans 30 years required making some tough choices,” he adds. “One of the challenging aspects of the process was parting with some of director Paul Dektor’s beautiful scenes.”

The lively feel of the 30-second spots — Cardio and Tech — are a departure from Anthem’s touching story.

Pastorelle wove together a variety of cheery, light-hearted scenes featuring diverse groups of people engaging in healthy everyday activities while singing along with upbeat versions of ‘C’mon, Get Healthy.’

He worked with Assistant Editor Lindsey Fisher, reviewing the footage multiple times to find the scenes with performances that best matched the music and fit the sequencing.

Cardio features groups of people exercising together, from running to practicing ‘goat’ yoga in a park – while live goats join in on the action.

 
CARDIO | ADVOCATE HEALTH AURORA

 

Tech weaves together scenes of folks enjoying a various activities while using Advocate’s digital health services network to schedule appointments and e-visits, as well as access tools from where ever their day takes them.

 
TECH | ADVOCATE HEALTH AURORA

 

Pastorelle’s working relationship with the MERGE Executive Creative Director Michael Matykiewicz goes back over a decade. The ECD introduced him to Kevin Houlihan, MERGE’s CCO, which led to the Pastorelle cutting a number of projects for the agency, including some of Advocate’s earlier campaigns.

Jennifer Moody, The Colonie’s creative director, used Adobe After Effects to animate the screens of the multiple mobile devices that appear in the spots and design the motion graphics for all of the end titles.

Tom Dernulc finished the commercials on Autodesk Flame with the assistance of Ben Pokorny.

The footage required a wide range of fixes, from transforming a high school football field into a large-scale college stadium to removing the hand of a goat handler.

 
ABOUT THE COLONIE
The Colonie is an award-winning Chicago-based creative editorial, motion design, visual FX and finishing postproduction house with a seamless full-service approach to creating broadcast and digital content that engages, entertains, informs and moves audiences. | McDonald’s, BCBS, Facebook, Anheuser-Busch, Nintendo, Levi’s, PepsiCo, Walmart and Bayer are just a few of the brands that call upon the company to deliver compelling visual stories across multiple platforms. For more information, contact executive producer, Mary Caddy at 312-225-1234, or Sonia Reps, sales@Soniareps.com, 312-519-0911.

Music Production & Recording: Yessian NY/Detroit
   CCO: Brian Yessian
   Head of Production: Michael Yessian
   EP: Gerard Smerek
   Composers: Mike Dragovic, Jarrett Farkas

 
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