Tired of jumping through hoops? Tangerine Bank can help you plot your escape
The struggle is real in this cinematically gloomy 90-second spot from Rethink and director Nick Ball

Editor's Pick
Escape from drudgery is a common story in advertising—as seen in classic spots like Apple “1984” and VW “Bubble Boy,” or more recent work like last month’s primal scream of an ad from RVing Canada.
Here’s the latest entry in the genre—a 90-second spot from Rethink for Canada’s Tangerine Bank, featuring a well-known phrase made literal. Though it turns out our hero is so run down, he’s not even jumping through hoops; he’s gingerly clambering, even crawling, through them, with no end in sight.
The spot was directed by Nick Ball, who also made last year’s “The Troll” for Ikea Canada with Rethink. The details here are strong. The gloomy world feels lived in and real, thanks to scenes like the hoops floating in the park. (Alex Bickel, colorist on the spot, also graded Everything Everywhere All at Once.) The music, an original track that’s upbeat yet a bit maddeningly so, also adds a circularity to the vibe.
“We liked that physicalizing the hoops metaphor was dead simple,” Aaron Starkman, global chief creative officer at Rethink, told Ad Age. “Paired with the bureaucratic world we created, we took it to an extreme to land the point. We’ve all had to jump through hoops, but we shouldn’t have to with our bank.”
“Our goal with ‘Hoops’ is to reignite Tangerine as the no-nonsense choice for customers,” said Nicole German, CMO of Tangerine. Another key to the spot, German added, was casting “the most exhausted looking man in the world.”
Starkman, who was at the shoot, added: “We were working against light and weather in multiple scenes, but we were able to be incredibly efficient with time because our crew and talent were so strong. The locations were selected to lean into that dystopian feeling. Nick was also playing music on set at times, so we could feel the story coming together on set, which for something with heavy VFX was amazing.”
Rethink became Tangerine’s agency of record in 2022. This is its first major campaign for the digital bank.
Credits
- Date
- Mar 24, 2023
- Client :
- Tangerine Bank
- Agency :
- Rethink
- CCO :
- Aaron Starkman
- CSO :
- Sean McDonald
- ECD :
- Mike Dubrick
- Creative Director :
- Randy Stein
- Art Director :
- Max Bingham
- Writer :
- Brendan Scullion
- Group Strategy Director :
- Crystal Sales
- Broadcast Producer :
- Lauren Sloan
- Head of Broadcast Production :
- Steph Walker-Wells
- Director of Broadcast Production :
- Nadya MacNeil
- Production Company :
- OPC
- Executive Producer :
- Isil Gilderdale
- Line Producer :
- Max Brook
- Director :
- Nick Ball
- DOP :
- Daniel Landin
- Editing :
- Nimiopere
- Editor :
- Graham Chisholm
- Assistant Editor :
- Griffin Stobbs
- Partner/Executive Producer :
- Julie Axell
- Color :
- Color Collective
- Colorist :
- Alex Bickel
- Executive Producer :
- Claudia Guevara
- Finishing :
- Artjail
- Executive Producer :
- Bobbi Dedman
- VFX Supervisor :
- Steve Mottershead
- Creative Director :
- Steve Mottershead
- Partner :
- Steve Mottershead
- Head of 2D :
- Andres Kirejew
- Partner :
- Andres Kirejew
- Head of 3D :
- Gene Dresser
- Partner :
- Gene Dresser
- Compositor :
- Andrew Thiessen
- Compositor :
- Alex Shahviri
- Compositor :
- Cory Johnson
- Compositor :
- Rob Del Ciancio
- Digital Matte Painter :
- Bojan Zoric
- VFX Assistant :
- Ben Lee
- VFX Assistant :
- Arash Shahabi
- CEO :
- Alex Pelayo
- COO :
- Asdrúbal Rivera
- VFX Producer :
- Asdrúbal Rivera
- VFX Producer :
- Hector Vargas
- Production Coordinator :
- Hector Vargas
- VFX Supervisor :
- Miquel de Hoyos
- Compositing :
- Miquel de Hoyos
- Post-production Technical Supervisor :
- Oliver De Dante
- 3D Supervisor :
- Jorge Granados
- Compositing :
- Jorge Granados
- 3D Artist :
- Kevin Cruz
- Compositing :
- Cesar M. Romero
- Compositing :
- Ricardo Robles
- Compositing :
- Salvador Rodríguez
- Compositing :
- Oscar Basurto
- Compositing :
- Yael Márquez
- Compositing :
- Paulo Apodaca
- Compositing Assistant :
- Jaylene Aine
- Tools Development :
- Carlos Garcia
- Audio House :
- Stare Crazy
- Producer :
- Jonathan Dreyfus
- Creative Director :
- Jonathan Dreyfus
- Engineer :
- Daniel Müller
- Sound Design :
- Daniel Müller
- Music :
- Vapor Music
- Mixing :
- Vapor Music
- Sound Design :
- Stare Crazy
- Producer :
- Kat Stewart
- Creative Director :
- Ted Rosnick
- Senior Strategist :
- Derek Mollenhauer
- Group Business Lead :
- Amanda Dornan
- Group Account Director :
- Scott Millson
- Group Account Director :
- Shar Khursigara
- Account Director :
- Megan Christopher
- Account Manager :
- Yuvan Duraibabu
- Writer :
- Karine Doucet
- Producer :
- Edith Cayer
- PR Lead :
- Meredith Montgomery
- President & CEO :
- Gillian Riley
- Chief Marketing Officer :
- Nicole German
- Vice President :
- John Rocco
- Director of Brand :
- Brittany Wilson
- Head of Communications :
- Jaime Shulman
- Media :
- PHD Media
- Director of Planning :
- Sara Wilkinson
- Manager Planning :
- Riley Dawson
- Assistant Planner :
- Zeynep Soydan
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