The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

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Client: Cheq
Date: Jan 2019
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Ad-verification company Cheq has appointed legendary NBA shot blocker Dikembe Mutombo as its ‘chief blocking officer,’ a new advisory position at the company, and the man lives up to his title in a campaign for the company.

The online campaign centers on a video featuring the sports star, and it opens with Mutombo addressing the camera with his signature swagger and gravelly voice.

“Hello my friends. I’m Dikembe Mutombo, and Cheq appointed me to be their chief blocking officer because I know how to block,” he says. Several quick takes follow depicting him in dress-up scenarios in which he can “block” something.

The first shows him against a beach backdrop wearing floaties, sunglasses and an umbrella hat. “Sun block,” he says as the scene switches to a couple who are about to kiss during dinner at a restaurant. “Cock block,” Mutombo barks, slamming a statue of a rooster in between them.

That scene is followed Mutombo announcing other things that can be blocked or paired with the word “block,” including “building block,” “road block,” “wood block,” “chopping block,” “blockchain,” “blockbuster,” and “block party.”

The spot ends with Mutombo, wearing a fedora and sitting before a typewriter, as he struggles to find the word that goes with “writer’s.” A voiceover interrupts as the Cheq logo appears, with the tag, “Brand safety. Ad fraud. At Cheq, we don’t just measure the damage. We block it.”

Credits

Client: CHEQ

Agency: In-house

Executive Creative Director: Daniel Avital

Copywriters: Asa Keren, Jonathan Title

Art Directors:

Production Company: Optimum Productions

Executive Producer: Joseph Zuniga

Director: Danny Gonzalez