Done is Fun
For this commercial we wanted to do something bigger than before--like a musical anthem. We wrote the song and found a local Boston rapper (actually a high-schooler) who had an amazingly optimistic voice. The rest came together with scrappy, fun and fast production. Shout out to Alex Barrier for being the glue on two locations, dozens of actors, and a bazillion home products in only a few days. Yep. Done is Fun, indeed.
A few months after release, this ad was sang on Jimmy Fallon's show by Dr. Evil himself. It was not paid for or placed, so we're going to chalk it up to one big mission accomplished.
Tagging Along
This was our 2nd celebrity endorsement ad. We didn’t want to make the same mistakes as we did in our first celebrity spot and be too cautious with our talent ‘looking good.’ Ultimately, the duo on screen explained quite a bit of information in a story that didn’t feel too contrived. When in doubt, we try to douse our ads with self-awareness so that audiences don’t feel completely violated with cringe-worthy material. Sometimes we get it right. Sometimes we miss. We thought this one was split right down the middle.
My New Secret Weapon
We were asked to make a renovation ad for men. The result was a James-Bond inspired daydream, where a man’s man finds all the things he need for his renovation. The graphics-side of the project was a lot of work, as we had to design each environment from scratch. We started with geographical locations (alps, salt-flats, ocean) and then built renovation products into each.
Be sure to check out the behind the scenes video, too.
Dance of the Dwelling
Ok, so we’re big Planet Earth fans. This time around, we wanted to take the excitement of filming animals in their natural habitat, and translate it to humans that have just lost all self-control. This was one of the easiest ads we’ve ever filmed, simply because we knew its identity from the moment we landed on the idea. Those are the best.
I Can't Explain It
We like to call this one Danc-imonial because it was a new spin on testimonial commercials. While it was a very simple shoot, we were proud of this one because we packed in the information of a testimonial, the memorability of our original musicals, and tone of our brand.
Drop the Mic
We wanted to build on the success of our musicals without repeating the same song and dance. Instead of singing about the functional benefits of Wayfair (e.g. “You got just what I need”) we dug a little deeper to find the emotional benefit: the empowering feeling of having everything at your fingertips. We grabbed a saying that was trending at the time, and tied it to our benefit. The result was an incredibly effective ad. We apologize for the annoying part, but I swear, the moment they're not successful will be the moment we stop making them.
Homeward Deals
30 seconds is often far too short to tell a story, but far too long to talk about a specific sale. We’ve found a happy medium where we tie together a short skit and hard sale message. We call it the fifteen-fifteen. This is a great example of how that works best, and the performance metrics agreed in this case.
The Musical Remix
We filmed this ad in one take. It took us over 25 attempts. Ultimately, we were so proud of the production, but it wasn’t our strongest ad. In this 1-day shoot, we learned that, no matter how many visual tricks you pull as a director and DP, the audience is never looking to pat you on the back. They care about what’s in it for them. Fortunately, the music is catchy and tone is fun, so this ad was just fine, but we knew it could have been better.
Do Anything
Here, the lesson learned was that visually pretty ads aren’t always the most effective ads. In this DR commercial, we encourage shoppers to take risks, be bold, and decorate their own way. At the time, this was an exciting project because of the visual execution, but in hindsight, I wish we had worked longer on the strategy and worried less about how pretty it was. That was the last time we listened to our egos. I guess ya live and learn.
Get Down No Money Down
“Get Down” + “No Money Down” = very easy jingle. We knew this wouldn’t work if we took it too seriously, so we created funny characters that had no shame. In an attempt to keep it quirky, we stuck the camera on a tripod for every shot. Sometimes not trying too hard to be fancy gives us the best results. It’s a phenomenon we continue to have trouble explaining.
Game Changer
This was a successful ad, partly because customers love free shipping, but also because we think audiences listen to opinions--for better or worse. In this case, “When big stuff ships free, it’s just better” is something most people agree with. The same ad could have been sung with only facts “Wayfair ships big stuff for free,” but it would pack a weaker punch. This one taught us a lot, and even 3 years later we continue going back to the success of this commercial.
The Musical
After making an office video for our company, we realized we could (kind of) write musicals. We took a stab at writing one as a 30-second commercial, and this is where we landed. We spent a lot of time studying other ads, and took notes of certain things to avoid—specifically what made them over-the-top cheesy. What we expected to create was an annoying and catchy commercial. What we didn’t expect was for the song to take off as much as it did. In 2018, more people recognize this song than any other ad we’ve made.
Dancing Furniture
In 2013, we decided to take a big visual swing. While working in the office one Saturday, we made a short stop-motion video with products “dancing” into place. It looked very cool, so we decided to fill an ad with stop-motion furniture dancing around homes, falling into place. While the ad lacked story, it was visually fun to watch and performed well. With the release of this campaign, we got our first glimpse at a brand identity: Fun furniture shopping. This would come to be a very important puzzle piece for following commercials.
Everyone's Home
Ian and I were not given the budget to film another production until we could find success by re-editing old footage. We swung, we missed, and repeated that cycle a few times. And then Ian (Kilburn) uncovered a skill we didn’t know existed; he drew visuals for an entire ad, then animated them himself. Our off-the-shelf computer nearly crashed with every render. The result? A fairly basic ad, but it was visually better than anything we had produced in the past. While we were given the green light for a new production, we learned to never underestimate the power of the re-edit.
Selección
We had very little professional experience, but we learned to trust our ambition. In 2012, we asked Wayfair for the opportunity to make their first commercial. They said no (of course) and hired an agency. They did, however, allow us to make a commercial to “test” against the agency’s. At this point, we didn’t even know how to pull focus on a camera, but we took the challenge. We made more mistakes than I can count. But long story short, our ad won. Phew.
