A tech guru's 'moderner' world is a minimalist, pointless nightmare

Damian Young plays smug visionary founder Future Strong in spoof for tech solutions firm CDW

Published On
Dec 06, 2019

Editor's Pick

Cutting-edge technology tends to promise more than it can deliver. Remember Google Glass and the Segway?

But Future Strong, the enigmatic, inspirational founder of tech conglomerate Modern Modernization Today doesn’t make trendy gear. He facilitates the creation of modernity for its own sake. Don’t ask whether a desk or a vehicle or a neuro-conductive implant is useful, or necessary, or practical. Ask whether it’s new and different. Is it sleek and cold? Translucent? Hands-free?

Strong meanders through his stark-white headquarters unspooling a buzzword-heavy pitch for products like Sit Square, a spartan platform for squatting while working that takes the open office format to its devastating conclusion, priced at a competitive $25,599. For under $3,000, Wifi Booster Crystals metaphysically enhance network solutions.

By the time Strong introduces the “Data Orb” and the “Office Goat,” the parody is in full effect. Because of course this is a spoof ad, created by Ogilvy Chicago for CDW, an actual tech solutions firm whose long-running “People Who Get IT” campaign pokes fun at hype and hyperbole in the sector.

Strong is played with spot-on smugness by Damian Young (“House of Cards,” “Ozark” and “Californication”), who channels an over-the-top combination of Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. The unbranded, three-minute spot is directed by Jess Coulter via O Positive and is running on TV, radio, digital and social placements.

Credits

Date
Dec 06, 2019
Client :
CDW
Agency :
Ogilvy & Mather-Chicago
Executive Creative Director :
Dave Loew
Creative Director :
Pat Seidel
Creative Director :
Chris Rose
Creative Director :
Joe Ondrla
Executive Producer :
Mike Diedrich
Sr. Business Affairs Manager :
Nathalynne McGinnis
Business Affairs Manager :
Jim Moore
Group Managing Director :
Cathy Francque
Account Director Supervisor :
Charles Brandl
Account Manager Supervisor :
Whitney Burton
Account Executive :
Yulia Linnik
Senior VP Strategy & Marketing :
Mark Chong
VP Marketing :
Jim Mitchell
Director, Brand & Sponsorships: Dean Lamb :
Dean Lamb
Manager Brand & Sponsorships :
Sara Valko
Production Company :
O Positive
Director :
Jess Coulter
Executive Producer :
Ralph Laucella
Executive Producer :
Marc Grill
Producer :
Devon Clark
Director of Photography :
Eric Steelberg
Editorial Company :
Optimus
Editor :
Matt Glover
Executive Producer :
Tracy Spera
Music :
Human Music
Composer :
Justin Hori
Executive Producer :
James Wells

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