If you haven’t already seen the state of Ohio’s social distancing PSA featuring ping pong balls, which has now been viewed tens of millions of times on various social channels in the past day, watch it.
Social distancing works. We are all #InThisTogetherOhio. https://t.co/jU4ZAkm3Py pic.twitter.com/uKJtfi4cuP
— Ohio Dept of Health (@OHdeptofhealth) April 9, 2020
The concept, which owes a nod to the 1957 Disney Film Our Friend the Atom, is clear and concise and eminently shareable, even if the metaphor isn’t exactly right; the point is that it’s persuasive and digestible.
Once you’ve watched it, take a minute to enjoy some of the behind-the-scenes details from Real Art, the Dayton company that made the spot, including this gem on how the final shot was captured.
Here’s some behind the scenes… I knew it was impossible to make the perfect throw in a single take. With only 1 hr left in the shoot (no room to start a chain reaction & reset), we used gel superglue to “freeze” the traps. And then… I threw the perfect throw in 1 take. 🙂
— Andy Nick (@nickAD) April 9, 2020
A lot of people have been asking how we did the @OHdeptofhealth video (aka – the Mouse Trap project). Here’s an iPhone clip of our first “shot”, which took 8 hours to set up. pic.twitter.com/3xxjiiz2N5
— Andy Nick (@nickAD) April 9, 2020
honest truth? The plan was to have 3k mouse traps. But with zero production time and major shipping problems due to COVID-19, it turned into our producer’s job to drive to every Dollar Store in a 50 mile radius of Dayton Ohio. So, 500 is what we got. Movie magic, do your thang.
— Andy Nick (@nickAD) April 10, 2020
Even Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling tweeted the video.
This is such a memorable, effective bit of imagery. #SocialDistancing #SlowtheSpread https://t.co/pq9qAtMR0C
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 10, 2020
This article appears in Mar 18 – Apr 14, 2020.