London agency Mother teamed with Argentine directing combo Peluca to create the Chris Christmas Rodriguez viral campaign and drop-kick familiar holiday icons and morals in the head.

Chris Christmas Rodriguez is a Travolta-esque, moustache-sporting lothario prone to chimney entrances and switchblades. Viewers of the campaign are requested to vote for either a tired old recluse in a red suit or the no-nonsense, deadly Rodriguez.

In one QuickTime clip, Rodriguez rises from the center of a crowd of happy children, slyly stroking a child's doll. He passes it to a young girl who discovers a button on the doll. She presses it and the doll informs the familial crowd which otherwise bethrothed uncle and aunt lingered too long beneath the mistletoe. Another shows Rodriguez crashing a family dinner via the hearth, marching to the table and kicking a grannie in the head, all in the name of getting rid of unwanted guests. In another spot, Rodriguez uses his switchblade to convince an old man to drink the aftershave he was putting under the tree. Another, simpler spot shows a pensive Rodriguez "watering" a tacky Christmas tree.

The creatives behind the holiday treat are Mother's married creative team, Argentines Carlos Bayala and Gabriela Scardaccione. The couple traveled to Buenos Aires for the festive season and teamed up with director Luciano Podcaminsky of Peluca to film Rodriguez give the yuletide season a thick pelt of machismo flavor.

Peluca is a team of directors represented by Brave Films in the UK. All four of the directors are involved with each project from the script phase, typically pairing off for each shoot. Podcaminsky describes some details of the shoot.

"The first commercial, called 'Kick' we had had Chris kicking an old lady in the face. We made a dummy and then in post we added the old lady's face and arms," he recalls. The collaboration with Mother was obviously a positive experience for the Argentine Pelucas.

"It was a fantastic relationship. Mark Waites, one of the owners of Mother came to Argentina for the shoot and we also had excellent times with Robert Saville when I went to London for the preproduction meeting," says Podcaminsky. "It was a complete pleasure."

Shot on film, the goal of the campaign was to reach as many holiday lovers as possible. Post production was handled by Dynamo Post, Buenos Aires, with flame* operator Mariano Santilli, sound came from Inaudito, Buenos Aires, music was handled by C.C.C.I., Buenos Aires, and editor Elian Katz cut the campaign.

Contact:

http://www.chrischristmasrodriguez.com