Scott, a veteran endorser for Black Box Wines, Audi, Smirnoff and Expensify’s first Super Bowl ad, among others, spoke to Adweek about the new campaign and its creative process, his litmus test for agreeing to brand gigs and the dangers of overexposure.
ADWEEK: How did the creative for the Phillips Norelco spot come together between the brand, you, director Jesse Peretz and writer Chris Kelly?
Adam Scott: Philips Norelco gave us a wide berth to come up with the idea—they were super collaborative and encouraging. [Chris and Jesse and I] had a series of conversations, the brand recorded them and printed out the text. Chris picked and chose what he thought would work and formed the spots out of them. We got on set, Chris and I improvved a bunch, and Jesse cut it together.
With many brands approaching you, what criteria do you use to assess an endorsement opportunity?
The brand needs to be something I could see myself or my family using in our daily lives, and something that’s within the realm of the lifestyle that I happen to lead. A large part is if I think people out there would enjoy and benefit from it. And that the company itself is treating the world around it responsibly—that’s another important piece.
How important is creative input in your decision?
It’s important, but if something comes fully formed, and I think it’s great and ready to go, then of course. But in this circumstance, they came with a loose idea of what they wanted to do, but wanted the input and wanted to see what other creative people could bring on board. It was by far the best experience I’ve had with a brand—the collaboration was really open, but also the parameters were really clear. From here on out, I feel like I know what the ideal situation could and should be.
How would you gauge commercial overload?
We’ve all seen people become a bit oversaturated and maybe endorse an amount of products that might be excessive. The thing you wouldn’t want to do is advocate for so many different brands and products that you render it meaningless. It’s good and more meaningful if you set a ceiling so you’re not all over the place all the time. You don’t want people to get sick of you or sick of what you’re out there trying to endorse. If there are too many [ads], it’s hard to differentiate between them and they start to lose their potency.