Ameristar & Cannonball Hit the Jackpot with Twist Director Matt Pittroff
In close collaboration with ad agency Cannonball, national comedy Director Matt Pittroff of Twist has showcased his incredible talent for laughs with unicorns, voodoo, and mystery-solving in an extensive 12-spot commercial campaign for Ameristar Casinos entitled “Slots Alive.” The newest spots -- “Voodoo Brew,” “Swan Lake,” and “Night of Mystery” -- began airing at the start of 2012. Not only did this enormous campaign call on Pittroff’s exceptional skills for casting, comedic timing, and high-quality production design, it also relied on his ability to create a series of original scenarios based on the casino’s slot game names.
To view the Fall 2011 and Winter 2012 Ameristar campaigns, go here: http://bit.ly/ItJLBq. Pittroff and Twist were just awarded the Spring 2012 campaign, which will include six brand-new spots. Again, they will be shooting six additional spots in just three days on location in Los Angeles.
“Working on this campaign with Cannonball has become a guilty pleasure of sorts,” says Twist’s Pittroff. “We have developed a nice chemistry, which keeps us all sharp during the process. The agency is given these ridunkulous names for new slot games like ‘Voodoo Brew,’ and we get :11.5 seconds to act it out. It's really that simple -- well, except for the cats, tigers, horses, raccoons, swans, shrunken heads, flying fairies, exploding fortunes -- the list goes on. It's always fun and always a challenge. Joe and Aric (Cannonball creative team) are seasoned, but not jaded and always receptive to my ideas, unless they suck. Larry (agency producer), the fearless producer, graduated from the school of ‘nothing-is-ever-a-problem.’ His calming presence allows us to focus on the work, not the drama and hiccups along the way. We all have a mutual respect for one another’s thoughts and processes. It shows in the work. Spots need to have a singular vision or they just get muddy. So far, I think we have managed to avoid that pitfall very well.”
“The rapport with Matt was free and easy from the first phone call,” says the Cannonball team. “There was never any dancing around egos or fragile creative feelings. It was like hanging out with your oldest buddies who all know each other's stories — if it's legitimately funny, you'll get the laughs. If not, no mercy. That kind of environment tends to produce some great nonsense — which is exactly what we're always going for.“
Other recent projects for Twist Director Matt Pittroff include a sidesplitting spot for Affinity Plus Credit Union (recently named one of the top five spots of 2011 in “Shoot Magazine” and its highly respected “Best Work You May Never See” column) and a comical three-spot campaign for NASCAR’s 2011 Nationwide series. Last fall, Twist Director Marc André Debruyne shot his first American commercial project for Maine Medical Center and completed his 100th music video for Canadian music artist Tyler Medeiros. He also just directed international spots for Red Door and Nestle; while Director Rich Michell shot projects for NetApps and Johnsonville. Additional projects to watch for from the Twist team include a new campaign for CenturyLink, directed by Matt Pittroff; and a new spot for Fresh Wave by Director/DP Rich Michell, as well as continued work from Director Chris Stocksmith for the popular AOL “You’ve Got...” series.
Credits:
Client: Ameristar
Spot Titles: Ameristar Casinos Slots Alive Campaign Fall 2011
“Blazing Dragons”
“Quadricorn 2”
“Tiger Treasures”
“Fortune Firecracker”
“Great Wall 2”
“Fairy’s Wish”
Ameristar Casinos Slots Alive Campaign Winter 2012
“Voodoo Brew”
“Quadricorn 3”
“Swan Lake”
“Nights of Mystery”
(Plus two additional spots that remain under wraps until on-air.)
Advertising Agency: Cannonball/ St. Louis, MO
COO: Stacey Goldman
Creative Director: Joe Bishop
Assoc. Creative Director: Aric Jost
Account Manager: Emily Bury
Producer: Larry Israel
Production Company: Twist
Director: Matt Pittroff
Director of Photography: Andy Lillien (Fall 2011), Doug Chamberlain (Winter 2012)
Executive Producer: Jim Geib, Amyliz Pera
Producer: Steve Blair
Editorial Company: 90 Degrees West/ St. Louis, MO
Producer: Ellen Legow
Graphics: Vlad Sarkisov
Sound Design: Mark Bartels
Editors:
Scott Whiteaker: “Blazing Dragons,” “Tiger Treasures,” “Great Wall 2,” Fairy’s Wish,” “Voodoo Brew,” “Quadricorn 3,” “Swan Lake,” “Night of Mystery”
Andy Devries: “Blazing Dragons,” “Quadricorn 2,” “Fortune Firecrackers,” “Great Wall 2”
Scott Conger: “Quadricorn 2”
Andrew Maggio: “Winners Nights”
Postproduction Company: The Big Tree/ St. Louis, MO
Postproduction Supervisor: Jamie Keim
