Utopic edits Burnett / Esurance election spoof video

From the time Utopic received the footage for Leo Burnett’s Esurance campaigns, the post house whirled through a week of editing and finishing to deliver a 2-minute spoof on the presidential election and a large spot campaign.

Election Insurance,” which bowed on April Fool’s Day, unveils a fictional new insurance product, hawked by Esurance salesman Jon Krasinski, to protect your home after you’ve moved to Canada (or wherever you take refuge) after the presidential election.

The video features a variety of unhappy Americans, each one dealing with the fallout of the elections in their own way.

The two campaigns — the 2-minute video and eleven 15-spots — was handled by Gentlemen, the directorial team of Park Ridge’s Billy Federighi and his LA-based partner, Brett Snider.

They packaged the project with Utopic — partner/senior editor Craig Lewandowski, editor Kat Pryor, EP Heather Mitchell and the whole Utopic team.

“Once the agency had an approved concept, things had to move fast,” says Lewandowski.

“We loved the challenge and energy of the quick turnaround and knew we had to assemble the best team possible to get it done within the timeline,” Snider says. “We were lucky enough to get the whole Utopic team on board. And we couldn’t be happier with the results.”

They shot March 22-23, with 20 local actors, in multiple locations in Villa Park and Elmhurst. Lewandowski was on set the first day shoot for the video, supervising and making sure they had everything needed for the edit.

For the longer video, the boards called for a house with Christmas lights, “but we didn’t have time to decorate a house, Mitchell says. Using stock footage was suggested, but that would have thrown off the continuity.”

Utopic Flame artist Justin Winkler had the solution. “He took a still shot of the house at dusk, color-corrected it to make it look like night and added all the Christmas decorations in Smoke,” she says.

“We also had to do a fair amount of ‘gardening’ in finish,” says Lewandowski. “Shooting Chicago lawns in March is not ideal. But Justin was able to color correct and patch the dead, brown spots and make it look really good.”

Utopic edited for a week, including the weekend, starting March 23. “We needed to get all hands on board and kill it,” says Mitchell. “Election Insurance” was an instant hit and “the intention everyone had was realized.”

Leo Burnett credits:

Chief Creative Officer: Britt Nolan

Creative directors: Brian Shembeda, Jeff Candido

ACD/AD: Rene Delgado

ACD/CW: Jono Paull

Art director: Brian Marcus

Copywriter: Gretchen Zachan

Producer: Tim Allan

Gentlemen production credits:

Directors: The Gentlemen

Executive producer: Greg Jones

Line producer: Jonathan Becker

Utopic post credits:

Editor: Craig Lewandowski

Online creative finisher: Justin Winkler

Editor: Kat Pryor

Graphics: Dmitry Fedorov

Executive producer: Heather Mitchell

Producer: Lauren Gray