Gruen — Can’t take ’em with you

The idea

Gruen asked us to sell compulsory organ donation. We borrowed a familiar bit of advice about money and took it much too literally.

Three siblings arrive at their father’s will reading, expecting to inherit his belongings. Dad has other plans. The house must be burned down. The Porsche is being buried with him. Other assets are destined for the ocean.

You can’t take your stuff with you. So why take your organs?

Bringing it to life

The idea started with around 15–20 of us in a room throwing ideas around. Once we landed on a direction, a core team of four took it forward.

I took responsibility for the art direction and set design, including sourcing and purchasing props, dressing the whole set and tracking the budget.

We wanted a slightly tired, Fisk-like lawyer’s office. Everything needed to feel like it had been there for years.

Making the budget work

We had approximately $2,000 to work with. Buying everything new would have eaten into that budget and given us things that felt too fresh for the character. It also felt wasteful to buy everything first-hand for a shoot.

So I shopped around in op shops, finding pieces that already had some life in them. I brought those finds together and dressed the whole set to make the office feel like somewhere this lawyer actually worked.

The result

The finished spot aired on Gruen and earned an equal win in The Pitch.