How a Year of Disasters Inspried Verizon's Return to the Super Bowl.
- AdWeek, 2/5/18

Febraury 5th, 2018 - While rivals like T-Mobile and Sprint have been perennial Super Bowl players, Verizon has stayed away from the big game since 2011. But the carrier just made a grand return to advertising’s biggest stage—with a poignant 60-second spot from McCann New York that put the market leader’s familiar claim in a very different context.

The spot, called “Answering the Call" - along with an additional 7 films - is a heartfelt salute to first responders—after a year in which they were needed more than ever, given the rash of natural disasters across the U.S.

The ad shows scenes of house fires, floods and medical emergencies. The audio features the people who were helped surprising the first responders by calling them and thanking them, often years after the fact. Onscreen copy says, “They answer the call. Our job is to make sure they can get it.”

McCann tapped Emmy-award winning director Amir Bar-Lev and researchers to comb through news articles and footage spanning first-responder rescues over the past 30 years. The agency chose the photographs first, then reached out to both the first responders and the people they helped—to get their permission to be included in the project. Then they orchestrated the thank-you calls that connected them.

The spot was awarded a Gold ANDY at the 2018 ANDY Awards.

Check out the full campaign and read the full article over at AdWeek. For more of Amir's work, please visit Chelsea.com.