L.A. Hospital Puts So Many Beds on the Freeway

The director of Sony's 'Balls' returns to the streets

In the spot below, you’ll see hundreds of beds rushing down highways. And all of these beds look basically the same.

Of course it’s a metaphor, designed to illustrate the detached, uncaring and generic vibe that permeates modern healthcare.

The work positions Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Los Angeles as an enlightened alternative that reflects the facility’s “unwavering commitment to humanity and healing,” says David Angelo, founder and creative chairman of David & Goliath.

The agency worked on the campaign with director Nicolai Fuglsig. Dude’s all about fillings thoroughfares with strange, surreal, brand-building sights—as we learned some years ago from “Balls,” his masterpiece for Sony Bravia.

“In California, so many health care centers compete to see who has the most beds,” notes agency CCO Ben Purcell. “We set out to capture the heart and humanity that is inherent to the Saint John’s experience and celebrate their ongoing commitment to helping people not just get well, but live better every day.”

“We took an actual bed from Saint John’s and rigged it with remote control so that we could move the way we needed it to, turn corners and make the journey to the hospital all on its own,” Purcell tells Muse.

The team operated as if filming a car ad, with drones and tracking shots. Inside the hospital, to maximize safety, they pulled the hero bed by hand and removed the rope in post.

As for the freeway CGI, the angles are wide enough to keep the illusion moving right along.

Themed “Everything for the Better,” the push breaks today across TV and digital with the lead :60, plus more spots to follow.