Ben's agency, KesselsKramer, Amsterdam conceived the idea of holding a party for a group of like-named Salt Lake City-dwelling Bens, filming the event and rolling out spots as Ben's Olympic campaign (Ben is an official sponsor of the Dutch Olympic Team). Additionally, a small book with photos of various Bens (photographed by Bianca Pilet) and their stories was distributed to all 750,000 Ben subscribers.

"We thought to involve all these Bens in Salt Lake City, organize a party and do a documentary on them," describes creative director/ copywriter Lorenzo de Rita.

De Rita and KesselsKramer producer Francine van der Lee contacted Salt Lake City Weekly reporter Ben Fulton, who helped gather a group of some 50 Bens together for a party in late November 2001. De Rita, van der Lee and German director Zoran Bihac (of Trigger Happy, Berlin) traveled to Utah and captured what that had wrought on 16mm film. After several Ben's were interviewed, those with the most personality and interesting stories were invited to the Ben party.

"We wrote the invitation for the Ben party and invited all the Bens we wanted to involve, telling them the password is Ben. We did open it up to friends so they would come, 'cause it was a freaky party, but amazing," says De Rita. "It happened for real, they made the party without us or the director telling them what to do. We edited and provoked the situation, but these guys did it all. It couldn't have happened this way if we had not been strict with reality. If we were just making it up it wouldn't have this spontaneity, originality and naïveté."

The first 60-second commercial sets the scene with one Ben coming into the party and introducing himself; several other Bens are introduced. In the spot, Fulton describes how he was contacted by the client and the footage, scored by jaunty down-home guitars, paints a picture of a typical American winter barbecue, or at least as typical as a party where everyone shares a name can be.

Other spots focus in on specific Bens telling their stories while at the party, and as they live their ordinary lives. One Ben is an elk-herding cowboy, another is a female limo driver (named Benette), while yet another is a somewhat effete young man who just wants to dance; all present a welcoming Ben-friendly face for visitors headed to their state or city for the Olympics.

"Zoran Bihac is an excellent guy and director. He is very human and respectful of people. The strange thing with this project was, we had to let it go, instead catching moments that existed, not forcing the hand," says de Rita. "This required sensitivity so it was not too artificial. It was not about camera moves or techniques, it was just letting things happen, capturing them on film."

As for editing, the team wisely evaded the problem of too much footage, not enough time.

"We didn't shoot 24 hours a day so the edit went well. The story came out clearly and simply. Often, to arrive at a simple spot takes a long time. This was almost perfect the first time around," says de Rita, noting that Niels Landmark edited the campaign. "All we had to do was respect the simplicity, tell little stories in a simple way, not exaggerating. We made a very short doc, not long commercials."

De Rita himself has had something of a roller coaster year, leaving his gig at 180, Amsterdam and eventually winding up at Kessels- Kramer. He seems to have emerged from his experience with the Bens and Salt Lake City with some form of renewed spiritual alignment, calling the campaign one of his best advertising experiences.

"The overall feeling is that I am very fond of these Ben people. Now, back here in Amsterdam I have three Bens I've exchanged e-mails with: it's very beautiful," says de Rita. "Nothing passed through the usual channels of advertising, there were no actor/agency/producer relations; it was just a bunch of people being documented. The end result of the commercials was great, but also the human end results."

CREDITS:

Copywriters: Lorenzo de Rita & Johan Kramer
Art Director: Erik Kessels
Agency Producer: Francine van der Lee

Production Company: Trigger Happy, Berlin
Director: Zoran Bihac
Music/Sound: Marcel Walvisch

Editor: Niels Landmark

WEBFILES:

KesselsKramer> http://www.kesselskramer.nl
Ben>http://www.ben.nl