The Art of Laughter
“The History of Comedy” is an all new original series from CNN and Herzog. CNN approached us to create the 360 marketing campaign behind the series. This involved ideation through execution, from on-air, out of home and digital.
Approaching a subject as broad as Comedy was an intimidating and thrilling task. We knew we had to create something special that paid tribute to the comedians and their material. Our first task was to find our way in. We came up with several different approaches but kept coming back to one. Through careful consideration and collaboration the concept; The Art of Laughter was born.
We aimed to showcase comedy as it is; a fine art. The Art of Laughter set out to bring the worlds of comedy and fine art to co-exisit under one roof. It was a very ambitious creative to tackle but CNN was all in. Together we created a living and breathing comedy museum.
Building the Exhibition
New Years Teaser Launch
The campaign launched with two :15 teasers that aired during the new years eve celebration on CNN. The first teaser featured the unveiling of the newest addition to the exhibit.
Tease – The Farley
The second teaser showcased one of the interactive instillations. The iconic inflatable pilot from the movie Airplane is featured from the Parody and Satire wing.
Tease – Airplane!
CNN Original Series
We we’re additionally tasked to create a custom CNN Original Series Open. This will play out at the top of each episode. We shot at the iconic Improv Comedy Club in West Hollywood. It was shot POV from a comedian walking the halls before they get ready to go on stage.
Inauguration Launch
Our hero launch spot aired during inauguration night on January 20th of 2017. The spot showed a wider breadth of content from the exhibition. Featuring photographs, original artworks, sculptures and instillations.
Artwork
Let’s take a closer examination of the artwork featured in the exhibit. The Sam Kinison is an excellent example that merged the art and comedy words together. Who can forget Sam Kinison’s iconic scream? Drawing inspiration from Edward Much’s painting “The Scream” seemed like the perfect fit.
The Kinison
Robin Williams
George Lopez
College
Aziz Ansari
Print Campaign
The Comedy Exhibit also carried into our out of home marketing campaign. We took several of the featured pieces from the exhibit into the real world. One of our favorites covered the 14 story Andaz hotel on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles. “The Farley” featured a larger then life statue of Chris Farley. His pose drew inspiration from his famous chippendales sketch on SNL. The classical presentation and marbling payed homage to the iconic “David” by Michelangelo.
The Farley – Print
Gallery Wall
In addition to the larger one off print ads we created several posters and billboards that featured many different iconic faces from the gallery. We found this as an excellent method to showcasing comedy in it’s entirety, rather then focusing on one avenue.
Wild Postings
Additionally we created wild postings artwork. We paired faces featured in the series next to a signature prop that helped define their careers.
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