Xbox: advert-top-1 by 215 McCann

Date: Sep 2018

215 McCann created ‘4 Changes Everything’ for the latest campaign from the Forza Horizon franchise – the name gives a nod to the four seasons that unite all drivers inside the game’s new location in Great Britain.

To highlight the game’s realistic beauty and the freedom of an open-world racer, the spot is set in a recording studio, at a voiceover recording session of what initially seems like an iconic British nature documentary.

Legendary voice actor Maurice LaMarche, dressed smartly in a sweater vest and suit jacket, narrates the film as a straight documentary. As he speaks, he’s thrown off by a car screeching through a field of wildflowers. Nonetheless, he persists, until again, he sees a hovercraft racing a car and wonders why.

Actor Joel Kelley Dauten plays his deadpan studio director counterpart, who urges him to keep going and occasionally has to explain the action as LaMarche takes the viewer through the four seasons of high-revving gameplay. He builds the tension of the ‘hunt’ the drivers are in, then must comically mew like a kitten, before building to a crescendo.

Credits

Campaign title: 4 Changes Everything

Game: Forza Horizon 4

Creative title: Seasons of Change

Client: Microsoft Xbox / Forza

Senior Director, Xbox Global Marketing Communications: Taylor Smith

Director, Xbox Global Marketing Communications: Ryan Cameron

Senior Marketing Communications Manager: Jonathan Segall

Agency: 215 McCann

Chief Creative Officer: Scott Duchon

Creative Director: Nichole Geddes

Senior Copywriter: John Choe

Senior Art Director: Shawn Raissi

Director of Integrated Production: Alex Spahr

Producer: Christine Hurty

Director of Business Affairs: Mary Beth Barney

Production Generalist: Carson Bell

Business Director: Peter Goldstein

Account Director: Bryant Marcia

Senior Account Executive: Sam Brody

Assistant Account Executive: Robert Kalish

Director of Strategy: Brian Wakabayashi

Strategy Director: Cassidy Wilber

Strategist: Christian Stewart

Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks

Director: Clay Weiner

Managing Director: Shawn Lacy

EP: Holly Vega

Producer: Lisa Stockdale

DP: Tim Hudson

Editorial: Rock Paper Scissors

Editor: Austyn Daines

AE: Sebastian Zotoff

EP: Raná Martin

Head of Production: Shada Shariatzadeh

Producer: Amanda Ornelas

Producer: Dina Ciccotello

Visual Effects: A52

VFX Supervisor: Stefan Gaillot

2D VFX Artist(s): Michael Vaglienty, Matt Sousa, Dan Ellis

Online Editor: Kevin Stokes, Gabe Sanchez

Designer: Olga Midlenko

Animator(s): Peter Murphy, Kris Szumowski

Producer: Michael Steinmann

Production Coordinator: Andrew Rosenberger

Executive Producer: Kim Christensen

Senior Executive Producer: Patrick Nugent

Managing Directors: Jennifer Sofio Hall

Color: A52

Colorist: Paul Yacono

Color Assistant: Corey Martinez

Color Producer: Jenny Bright and Sarah Laborde

Executive Producer: Thatcher Peterson

Music Production: Human Worldwide

“Changes”

Music by Human

Producer: Kamela Anderson