Direct Tv Dishes

WIZJA-TV, Poland's first digital, direct-to-home, satellite television service, is spawning a generation of control freaks - remote control, that is, with addicted viewers going to great lengths to make sure they get to select their favorite programs, from comedy to drama, sports to children's fare, documentary to animation.

This struggle for control of the television set is the underlying premise behind a humorous campaign directed by Billy Kent through BFCS Ltd., London, and Crash Films, Santa Monica, for J. Walter Thompson, London.

In one of the spots, "Fans," a group of rabid sports fans is in a bar watching a televised game - presumably soccer - much to the dismay of a woman seated on a bar-stool. In fact, she's so annoyed, she turns to the man beside her, a rather large man whose eyes are glued to the TV, and whales him upside the head. He looks toward her, wondering who cold-cocked him. She motions with her head to an unsuspecting, innocent chap behind her - and all hell breaks loose. What starts as a skirmish quickly turns into a barroom brawl, enabling the woman to switch the channel to a romantic soap opera while the sports louts knock one another senseless. We see the woman shedding tears over the melodrama on the telly, and the spot ends with a tag of multiple TV screens, representing the many programing choices offered by WIZJA-TV.

Similarly, in "Stop It," an attractive, amorous woman is pawing a heavyset, dorky-looking man in an apartment. But to his way of thinking, she's merely keeping him from the true object of his affection: a TV set tuned to WIZJA. He leaves the room for a moment to make a phone call and then returns to the couch, where the woman continues trying to put him in the mood. Then the doorbell rings and the woman opens the door to find several scantily clad, hunky, exotic male dancers, who begin flexing their muscles for her. With her romantic attentions diverted, our couch potato gets to focus on his WIZJA.

Other spots in the series also showcase just how far people will go to get their WIZJA: In one instance, boys paint dots on their faces to feign contagious diseases, thus scaring away a group of girls who were monopolizing the TV.

The creative artisans at J. Walter Thompson included creative director Ian Peck, art director/copywriter Bartek Rams and producer Eira Ellis.

Kent's support team included producer Helen Hayden at BFCS and exec, producers Gary Ward and Bill Fortney from Crash. The campaign was shot on location in Los Angeles by DP Ramsey Nickell. (One spot, "Identikit," was filmed at Universal Studios, Universal City, Calif.)

Editor was Lance Pereira of Graying & Balding, Santa Monica. (Pereira has since moved over to Jigsaw, Santa Monica.) Visual effects/online editor was Peter Mayor of The Finish Line, Santa Monica. Composer was Brian Banks of Audio Banks, Santa Monica.

The client was @Entertainment Inc., the parent company of Polska Telewizja Kablowa, which launched the WIZJA-TV service last year.

COPYRIGHT 1999 BPI Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group

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