Relying heavily on documentary stock images, the O&M campaign to date features five 30/60-second spots ("Space," "Flight," "Elvis," "Jackie," and "Immigrants") that focus on risk taking in recent American history -- early aviators, the first moon landing, Elvis Presley's sexy hip swivel, Jackie Robinson's breaking of the professional baseball race barrier and the immigrant experience.

O&M creative director Jeroen Bours and associate creative directors Ron Rosen and Steve Biegel drew upon over 40 stock houses in Europe and the US to create the spots as real, honest, black-and-white "mini-documentaries," standing out from competing, slick, overproduced ads. They let the vintage images speak for themselves, using a deft juxtaposition of music, poems or speeches to elicit the intense experience of risk taking.

"For the first time ever, the world's largest insurance company went against the grain, undercutting the industry's safe, conservative image and said nothing happens unless you take a risk," says Biegel. "The emotional impact on viewers was astonishing. We've received an unprecedented number of letters of appreciation."

For "Space," an opening shot of the moon leads into a series of stock shots of failed 1960s moon launches of rockets exploding into flame. Then comes a series of successful rocket launches, the lunar module landing on the moon and an astronaut bouncing across the lunar surface, ending with his saluting of the US flag.

In synch with the cosmic imagery, a woman narrator reads excerpts from T.S. Eliot's famous poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." The poetic voice of timidity and uncertainty has the effect of subtly reinforcing the images of danger, bravery and risk, creating a powerful and universal emotional resonance with the viewer: "Do I dare disturb the universe? In a minute there is time/For decisions and revisions which a moment will reverseÉHave I the strength to force the moment to its crisis?ÉI have seen the moment of my greatness flicker/And I have seen the eternal footman hold my coat, and snicker,/And in short, I was afraid." The spot ends with the line: "The greatest risk is not taking one. AIG -- World leaders in financial and insurance services."

"Flight" features early 20th century stock newsreel footage of the pioneer days of aviation as men comically struggle -- and fail -- to get a series of clumsy flying contraptions off the ground. The images are given a poignant twist as a young girl's voice recites the lines from the children's story "The Little Engine That Could," including the repetition of the famous line, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I canÉ"

For the "Elvis" spot, a mixture of stock footage and live action tells the story of Elvis Presley scandalizing puritanical 1950s America with his rock 'n' roll music and risqué, gyrating hips. A live-action black-and-white shot shows a mayor of a small town telling news reporters, "This town will not put up with the vulgar body movements of Elvis Presley." Stock shots of TV host Ed

Sullivan holding up his hands in apparent disapproval are intercut with a series of boxes showing the lower half of Elvis' body, and finally a majestic shot of a caped, defiant Elvis basking in adulation under a concert spotlight. Paul Meijer of The Office directed the live-action portions of the spot.

For "Jackie," a series of stock images tells the story of black baseball player Jackie Robinson's epoch-making breach of the race barrier in major league baseball in 1947. Rachel Robinson, Jackie's widow, narrates the spot, quoting an inspirational speech delivered by Teddy Roosevelt to troops in 1919: "It is not the critic who counts. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dirt, sweat and blood, and who at best knows the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, fails while daring greatly so he shall never be those timid souls who never know victory or defeat."

"Immigrants" is composed of black-and-white footage of families embarking on immigrant ships and crossing the Atlantic, shots of children's faces looking westward, eventually coming upon the Statue of Liberty. "Rainbow Connection" sung by

Kermit the Frog adds a touching counterpoint to the feelings of risk, aspiration and dreaming for a better future. Mark Benjamin of Benjamin directed the live-action portions of the spot, which aired during Super Bowl XXXV.

Yvette Pineyro of New York's wild (child) edited "Space" while Brendan Sherman edited the other four spots. Cecil Hooker handled the on-line editing and Jim Forester of VooDoo created the spinning AIG logo.

"The agency hired a researcher and I was brought in to build ripomatics using footage from the stock companies," says Sherman of wild (child). "For the latest spot, 'Immigrants,' there were 160 cassettes and over 1,000 clips on the Avid. We tried to be as cinematic as possible, avoiding the obvious, conventional images. We exhausted the stock houses looking for something fresh and new. O&M was very persistent and passionate -- we spent many long hours editing all the material down to 30-second spots."

Biegel says that while stock footage can help save time and money, it is not always the case: "The rights to some stock images are simply too expensive, so it makes sense to re-shoot the image ourselves. Sometimes shooting on location can be just as cost-effective."