Comic actor, Martin Short, becomes the ultimate celebrity diva in Preacher’s humorous campaign for Canadian fintech company, Wealthsimple. The entitled star can’t even be bothered to know the company for whom he is working and refused do to more than one take, even though he has muffed it.
No, it’s not the expected campaign from a fintech company. That’s its advantage. It stands out against the doom and gloom of current financial conversations. And it’s entertainment – self-aware humour with a tight script and a flawless delivery by Short, plus smart directing decisions by Biscuit director, Aaron Stoller. Preacher also uses comedy to make sure that the brand’s promise embeds itself in its audience’s minds. Short misreads the line as, “Your monkey should work harder than you do.”
Martin Short’s Short Day at Work is Wealthsimple’s first campaign in almost two years, and the first using an outside agency. All prior advertising in Canada and the US was created in-house. The campaign is running across Canada across major broadcast, connected TV, digital and paid social.
“We’re all working harder than ever to keep ahead, which makes it that much more annoying when our money is sleeping on the job. Instead of playing it on the nose and featuring people who work hard, it seemed more interesting to do the exact opposite. Cue Martin Short, who was gracious enough to help us create the world’s most obnoxiously lazy spokesperson,” stated Zach Watkins, creative director at Preacher.
Credits
Client: Wealthsimple
Chief Marketing Officer: Rubina Singh
Advisor to Chief Marketing Officer: Janet Xi
Editor in Chief: Devin Friedman
Art Director: Jacob Weinstein
Senior Manager (CW): Greg Bolton
Executive Producer: Greg Tharp
Senior Producer: Caroline Brisebois
Agency: Preacher
Chief Creative Officer: Rob Baird
Chief Executive Officer: Krystle Loyland
Chief Strategy Officer: Seth Gaffney
Creative Directors: Zach Watkins & Marcus Brown
Senior Copywriter: Andrew Singleton
Senior Art Director: Mills Adams
Designer: Marissa Servantez
Brand Director: Vi Nguyen
Junior Brand Manager: Dom Shipp
Head of Strategy: Marika Wiggan
Senior Producer: Lauren Bauder
Head of Production: Stacey Higgins
Business Affairs: Miiko Martin
Production Company: Biscuit
Director: Aaron Stoller
Managing Director: Shawn Lacy
Executive Producer: Holly Vega
Head of Production: Sean Moody
Producer: Mala Vasan
Director of Photography: Bryan Newman
Editing: Mackcut
Editor: Pamela Petruski
Assistant Editor: Brandon Alexander
Executive Producer: Gina Pagano
Assistant Producer: Kayla Robinson
Finishing: Schmigital
Flame: Joseph Miller
Sound Design: Marc Healy
Mixer: Sam Shaffer
Colour Grade: Rare Medium
Colorist: Mikey Rossiter
Assist Colorist: TJ Seiler
Managing Director & Executive Producer: Heath Raymond
Music: Mozart Sonata in D major for 2 pianos K448 II Andante
Celebrity Talent: Martin Short
Co-writer: Matt Roberts
