Holiday World & Splashin' Safari: "It's not him. It's us."
A series of shorts for the 25th season of the park's most famous freebie, told through one man who cannot live without free refills.
The challenge
Make a 25-year-old freebie feel new.
In 2000, Holiday World started giving every guest free, unlimited soft drinks. Twenty-five seasons later, everyone in the region already knows. A straight announcement would wash right over people.
So instead of listing the freebie again, we wrote a love letter to it.
The idea
The world moved on. Phil didn't.
Phil is a true believer in free refills, trying to get through an ordinary week in a world that charges for drinks. His souvenir cup goes everywhere, and everywhere it fails him.
Dry, deadpan comedy with a warm heart. Symmetrical frames, short gags for a single actor, and an overly epic score for the homecoming. Three other concepts came first. This one kept the deadpan and added a payoff.
“Everybody already knows the drinks are free. The job was to make them feel it again.”
David Grinnell, Tanner+West
The spot
Three problems, one free refill.
Office break room
Phil stands at a vending machine, cup in hand, looking for the spout. He sets the cup under the change return and waits.
"Where's the spout?"
Lemonade stand
He asks for a refill. It's fifty cents. He asks to speak to a parent. A very large dad steps onto the porch. Phil pays with a crumpled twenty.
"...Refills aren't free?"
City park
An old public water fountain. No logo, no fizz, no ice. He sniffs it, finds the button, and tastes it.
"Flat."
Holiday World
Slow motion. The gates open, the music swells, and he walks in like a soldier coming home. The soda flows, and his face melts into a smile.
It's not him. It's us.
"At Holiday World & Splashin' Safari, soft drinks have been free for 25 years. And some people just... aren't built for anything else."
Production
We shot four locations in a single day with one very large cup.
A 7:30 call, a wrap by mid-afternoon. Lemonade stand first, then the homecoming at Holiday World before the water park opened, then back to Owensboro for the vending machine and the fountain.
Timmy built Phil's wardrobe himself, thrifting with his daughters the weekend before. In the edit, every scene got its own title, so each one could stand on its own.
Behind the scenes
A crew we've spent over ten years assembling for shoots just like this one.
Every great campaign starts with the right story.
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