Alum Squeezes the Juice Into Battery Campaign

With the help of big-name endorsements from NBA superstar LeBron James and celebrity choreographer Wade Robson, Alan Hall ’89 managed to steal the show at the MTV Video Music Awards—not with a song, but with a commercial for Juice Batteries.

For creative media agencies vying for a piece of the increasingly powerful and discerning teenage consumer market, the MTV Video Music Awards are nearly as important as the Superbowl, and during this year’s August 28 show, Hall’s two 30-second spots for the neon green and blue packaged batteries stood out among a sea of ads for big name products like Sony, Cingular, Taco Bell and Revlon.

Hall is the fast-talking owner of Jameson Entertainment in Los Angeles, a creative shop that acts as an all-in-one idea factory and production studio.

While the premiere Madison Avenue ad agencies tout handfuls of iconic brands on their client rosters and accumulate legions of pop divas and Michael Jordan’s to sponsor them, Hall’s agency hit it big by earning the chance to work with James, the 6’8” basketball star who has an even bigger image among teenage uber-consumers.

“The situation literally fell into my lap,” Hall said, noting that his work with James resulted from a tip from the president of Juice that James would be in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, for a short time and available for a shoot. Seizing the opportunity, Hall assembled a twenty-person crew in two days.

“I flew by the seat of my pants. There were no storyboards,” he said. Hall worked on the concept for the commercial almost until the time of production, with the shoot resulting in 15 and 30-second spots featuring James advising his audience to “Get your Juice.” The spots will air exclusively on MTV.

Aside from the celebrity, the flashy design, and the media, Hall says that his “Who’s Got Juice” slogan aims to empower young people. The commercial’s script reads like a cross between laws of conservation of energy (“Juice cannot be created, destroyed, denied, or imitated”) and a halftime locker room pep talk (“You can’t see Juice, only those who’ve got Juice. Creative Juice, Athletic Juice, Competitive Juice, Intellectual Juice; whatever; they have Juice and you know it”).

The result is a commercial which presents its product as the Gatorade of electronics for techies and jocks alike: dynamic, energizing, refreshing and cool.

Just as his opportunity with James happened unexpectedly, so did Hall’s idea of a media career based in Hollywood.

The former government concentrator and football player admits that he was “perilously close to going to law school,” but after working as a paralegal in a Boston law firm, Hall decided that a career in law didn’t provide the creative outlet he wanted. He traded coasts and started developing and producing material for reality TV.

Thinking back on his decision, he said, “Look, the bottom line is that I’ve been watching TV my whole life.”

His work in commercials has turned that hobby into an increasingly high-profile position in the marketing world.

The combined impact of a new product, a hot celebrity endorsement and airtime on the highest rated cable television program has already had an effect on Hall’s ever-growing career. In addition to more commercials for Juice—the next involves NASCAR racing—Hall will soon also be producing spots for big brands such as Mentos candies and Chili’s restaurants.

In addition to his continued work on television ads, Hall is also currently searching for the star of a future Juice commercial as part of a $25,000 promotion being run by the battery company.

For Hall, working with NBA stars and getting airtime during major cable TV events isn’t just a money-making opportunity. His philosophy is simple: “It’s a whole lot of fun,” he says.

—Crimson staff writer Lisa M. Puskarcik can be reached at puskarc@fas.harvard.edu.