Carmax went all out for their Beetlejuice commercial collaboration (aptly titled Beetlemax). It used to be companies would go all out come Halloween season with themed commercials. We hardly see anything of that scale these days, it's mostly limited to the rare Halloween candy commercial minus the razzle-dazzle of those vintage ads that felt like an occasion. The Beetlemax ad, however, does not fall into the current trend. Instead, it harkens back to the marketing of yesteryear. They put in work. Take a look.
Shorter teaser spots have been floating around over the last couple of weeks, but the full 90-second spot really highlights the fact that they went all out on this thing with full-blown Beetlejuice set design and various Netherworld creatures and creations inhabiting the afterlife. We even get the iconic “Day-O” song and dance, a model town, and the “Shrinkers” thrown in with a bespoke branded twist.
Fans of Beetlejuice will remember Keaton decked out in a cowboy hat and Western garb as he riffs on a sleazy car salesman commercial in an attempt to get Lydia Deetz's attention, (free demon possession with every exorcism). The faux commercial served as inspiration for the Beetlemax spot.
The whole thing is pretty damn clever and I'm genuinely impressed by the production value on display here. “We’re taking you on a wild ride through a car dealership run by none other than Beetlejuice
himself,” said Sarah Lane, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer at CarMax. “With his mischievous and
unpredictable antics, Beetlejuice is the perfect character to show you how car buying shouldn’t
be, and why CarMax is the way to go.”
Accurately bringing the world of Beetlejuice to life reimagined on the small screen takes a killer team. Directed by Ulf Johansson, the commercial spot was lensed by Tarantino collaborator Director of Photography Andrejz Sekula (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs), Production Designer Steve Smithwick who handles all of Warner Bros. European work, and a consulting Production Designer who is no stranger to the world of Tim Burton, Mark Scruton (Wednesday).
But the list doesn't end there. A huge part of capturing the look of Beetlejuice relies heavily on makeup and costume design. Academy Award-winning costume designer Colleen freakin Atwood (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) consulted on costume design, and Oscar-winner Neal Scanlan (special makeup effects supervisor for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) helped bring the Shrinkers to life for BeetleMax.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has been wildin' out with their promotion for this one, releasing tons of merch, a popup display at the Warner Bros. Studio tour, popcorn buckets, a special Denny's menu, and special edition flavors and packaging for Fanta sodas. Considering some of this stuff is harder to track down than the year's hottest concert tickets, it's no wonder they're fueling fans with all the Beetlejuice we can handle. It's certainly become a bit of an event. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is in theaters September 6th.
