J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc. has joined forces with Bill Plympton Studio to produce a distinctive animated short for GTB’s (formerly JWT Team Detroit) three-spot “Distracted Driver” commercial campaign for Ford Motor Company.
Despite being friends for over 30 years, this project marks Sedelmaier and Plympton’s first collaboration. GTB approached Sedelmaier to act as art director, producer and animation director for the campaign, who in turn pored over a long list of talented colleagues, finally plucking out Plympton as well as Al Jaffee (MAD Magazine) and MK Brown (National Lampoon).
One of the spots, “The Importance of Paying Attention: Teeth” — produced by Plympton — has been nominated for Best Animated Television/Broadcast Commercial for the 44th annual Annie Awards.
“I trust Bill explicitly. I knew he’d do a fabulous job and stamp it with his distinctive style/technique,” said Sedelmaier. “We discussed his ideas and chose three to send to the agency. Everyone immediately gravitated towards the ‘Teeth’ idea. My job on this particular spot was to be the producer and let Bill do his thing, while keeping the lines of communication flowing with the agency and client. … Kudos to the agency for being nothing but supportive throughout the process!”
“Teeth” sees a driver who notices in the mirror some food stuck in her teeth. Placing both feet on the wheel to keep ‘er steady, she pulls a dental drill out of the glove compartment and goes at the offending speck. The car inevitable hits a pothole, and several bloody teeth go flying with the utterance of an incredulous, “Oh, heck.” The short currently has over 1.8 million views on YouTube.
 three-spot “Distracted Driver” commercial campaign for Ford Motor Company.){kind=link}