When The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. wanted to tout the advantages of its new Mud Runner Run-Flat tire for all-terrain vehicles, a courageous crew at Akron-based Hitchcock Fleming & Associates Inc. went more than the extra mile to produce a convincing promotional video and brochure for the product.
In fact, the team went all the way to the Everglades, where Hitchcock creative director Bob Clancy, account manager Amy Freed Humbert and art director Tony Carter found themselves up to their necks in alligators.
Literally.
“Amidst hundreds of gators, we demonstrated how the Mud Runner Run-Flat gets you through the muck, even with a few holes created by razor sharp jaws,” Clancy exclaims.
The point of the promo, says Clancy, is that jagged obstacles in the off-the-beaten path of a speeding all-terrain vehicle can bring a thrilling ride to a disappointing — and even dangerous — halt.
The good news, says Goodyear’s specialty product manager Ed McMahon, is that the Run-Flat technology enables ATV drivers to keep on trekking, despite what may run under the wheels.
“You can have a gaping hole two inches in diameter, and continue to run on it for up to 50 miles at 25 miles an hour,” McMahon says.
“And you can go even farther if you go slower,” says Clancy.
But it’s doubtful that an ATV operator would want to slow down when stranded in the middle of nowhere — especially if nowhere is a festering quagmire that happens to be home to slithering, 800-pound swamp things with razor-sharp teeth.
There’s comfort in the fact, says Clancy, that the brawny Mud Runner has a computer-enhanced tread design that keeps it from clogging, and the slotted lugs have a “biting edge” to prevent the wheel from becoming bogged down.
To corroborate the claim in the most persuasive manner possible, Clancy gathered a group of professionals from Akron and beyond and traveled all the way to Gatorland, the “Alligator Capital of the World,” in Orlando, Fla.
Included in the entourage were Akron photographers Jim Martin, Scott Earhart and Ray Langston of Studio Martone Inc., and commercial production photographer and director George Remington of Cleveland-based Remington Productions Inc.
Along with the Hitchcock team, the crew pulled on their khaki pants and pith helmets and partnered with other Florida and California-based production professionals to capture the action.
McMahon says that since ATVs are intended for fun and excitement, he wanted to avoid traditional advertising slants in which a vehicle glides along a paved road, spiraling autumn leaves in its path. What Hitchcock came up with, he says, was perfect for the product.
“It was a natural because of the popularity of shows in which the Australian adventurer is always out hunting crocodiles and reptiles,” says Clancy.
Through a California casting firm, Humbert hired young Australian actor Eric Finney to play just such a part for Goodyear’s video. Then she made arrangements for the use of an ATV manufactured by Minnesota-based Polaris Industries and operated by Polaris stunt driver Ritch Ragle.
Pooling their talents in a mud swamp swimming with prowling razorbacks, coiled rattlesnakes and stinging insects, the Hitchcock team, the Akron photography and film crew, the stunt driver and the actor succeeded in producing a promo that has pure bite.
The objective, of course, was to show that Goodyear’s tire is completely at home in the mud, and credibly illustrate its remarkable capabilities to savvy sports enthusiasts, hunters, farmers and other ATV users.
Humbert says the sheer essence of the product itself was enough to make that impression — there was no need for special effects.
Even Clancy, who’d written the script for the actor and narrator, was amazed.
“I’m an ad man — I’ve heard all the claims and I thought I’d seen it all,” says Clancy. “But the stunt driver drove so far out into the swamp that I thought the ATV was going to sink into the water and disappear. He was up to his waist in water, mud and muck, and this tire just churned through everything — it never once got stuck.”
Ant it wasn’t just the Mud Runner’s marsh muscle that was impressive, says Humbert. She was surprised when the tire resisted the power-locked jaws of a hungry alligator. Lured by horsemeat placed in the tread grooves, the 20-foot amphibian tried to bite into the tire.
Humbert relates that Gatorland officials are accustomed to working with production crews, and the trained alligator handlers have accommodated about as many requests as an alligator has teeth.
“It’s the same location where the James Bond sequence was filmed, where Pierce Brosnan walks across the backs of alligators,” says Clancy. “Any film that has gators in it was probably filmed at Gatorland.”
Humbert says that when she initially viewed capabilities videos provided by Gatorland’s public relations department, she was mesmerized by the daring and expertise of head trainer Tim Williams. Referred to as the attraction’s “Dean of Gator Wrestling,” Williams is a 25-year veteran of swamp creature exploits.
“Once we got there, he instilled such confidence in us and made us feel so comfortable that within an hour, we were standing literally up to our necks in alligators and not feeling the danger that really is there,” she says.
Clancy confirms that after three days in the swamps, hundreds of pounds of horsemeat and some close calls with prehistoric pea-brains, the Hitchcock crew brought back some dramatic advertising, which they’ve since dubbed, “Swamp Thang.”
The group also came home with a few stories to tell their friends and Kodachrome memories for the office bulletin board — such as the photograph of Humbert straddling one of the ferocious beasts.
“As long as you have a big bucket of horsemeat near you and you’re throwing it in their mouth, they seem to obey pretty well,” Clancy laughs.
Humbert says that about 3,500 dubs of the video were made available for ATV and tire dealers, and the promo debuted at Goodyear’s annual dealer conference in January at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. Airing continuously in a large screening area at the convention, the video drew the attention of 4,200 Goodyear, Kelly-Springfield and Dunlop dealers who attended.
The response to the four-minute action spot and the four-page color brochure was as expected, says McMahon: Viewers agreed that Goodyear’s Mud Runner Run-Flat is “the meanest, nastiest thing to crawl out of the swamp.”
“We’ve won awards for these things in the past, but I think this is the best one we’ve done so far,” says Clancy. “But you can only be creative to the point where your client allows you to be creative. Ed and his team at Goodyear did a terrific job in that sense.”
How to reach: Hitchcock Fleming & Associates Inc., (330) 376-2111
