Omelet L.A. and Idris Elba Show No Mercy in Rainbow Six Trailer

By Patrick Coffee 

What’s Stringer Bell been up to recently? When not getting shut out of the Oscars race or teasing (false) rumors that he’ll be the next James Bond, Idris Elba occasionally takes time out to relax and make a big-budget video game ad.

Omelet L.A., which created this campaign, has also made a few moves this fall. It hired a new chief creative officer and chief production officer from nearby 72andSunny and a top strategist from Deutsch while in the process of moving into the coolest fucking office ever.

This trailer for Ubisoft’s Christmas offering “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Seige” shooter is the biggest recent project for the West Coast shop, and you can pretty much see money exploding out of the walls as Elba’s team takes down some bad dudes and ruins a perfectly dumpy Prague apartment.

We didn’t realize Elba was a pianist, though we are vaguely familiar with his side gig as a DJ/ kind-of-decent rapper and bra strap enthusiast. (Dude, you have a 14-year-old daughter. Anyway.)

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The campaign includes some other spots detailing different aspects of gameplay. Here, for example, Elba explores some “intimate arenas” and the tomcats named Clancy who inhabit them while reminding viewers that “Nothing will test your nerve like the cozy corridors of the siege.”

A couple of other points about this campaign: it’s Ubisoft’s biggest ever, and the company partnered with Omelet to secure the skills of top film world talent like director Seb Edwards–who hasn’t helmed an American ad in two years–and editor/designer Angus Wall, who won Oscars for The Social Network and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Elba’s “You can change the game in one bold move” line may well ring true, but it reminds us that leading a counter-terrorism unit is kind of like running a drug gang in West Baltimore: you have to stay calm and do the hard work. As Stringer once said, “The game is the fuckin’ game. Period.”

Oh wait, that was Avon.

 

Client: Ubisoft

Agency: Omelet

Chief Creative Officer: Grant Holland
Executive Creative Director: Shannon McGlothin
Creative Directors: Josh Smutko, Raul Montes
Art Director: Kate Eglen
Senior Copywriter: Jimmy Barker
Chief Production Officer: Dan Ruth
Executive Producer: Annie Uzdavinis
Producer: Matteo Mosterts
Head of Client Services: Katrin Tenhaaf
Associate Account Director: Derek Effinger
Associate Account Director: John Moloney
Account Manager: Jay Mattingly
Associate Account Executive: Brynn Wagner
Senior Brand Strategist: Jasmeet Gill
Production Company: Park Pictures
Director: Seb Edwards
Head of Production: Anne Bobroff
Executive Producer: Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Dinah Rodriguez
Line Producer: Pat Frazier
Director of Photography: Mattias Montero
Editorial Company: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Angus Wall
Executive Producer: Angela Dorian
Producer: Jared Thomas
Color Facility/VFX Company: A52
Colorist: Paul Yacono
Color Producer: Anna Vegezzi
VFX Supervisor: Jesse Monsour
Lead Flame artist: Jesse Monsour
CG Supervisor: Adam Newman
2D VFX Artist(s): Steve Wolff, Richard Hirst, Michael Vagilenty, Christel Hazard, Dan Ellis
3D Artists: Adam Newman, Sam Ortiz, Joe Chiechi
Flame Assistants: Gabe Sanchez / Chris Riley
Producer: Zach Wakefield
Head of Production: Kim Christensen
Executive Producer: Patrick Nugent
Audio Company: Lime Studios
Mixer: Matt Miller, Zach Fisher, Joel Waters, Samuel Casas
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan
Producer: Joanna Taylor
Music Company: Angry Mob Creative
Composer: Mat Zo
Producer: Matt Lange
Creative Director: Chad North
Sound Design Company: Barking Owl
Sound Designer: Michael Anastasi
Creative Director: Kelly Bayett
Producer: KC Dossett

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