Issue: May 1, 2002

Climbing to Glory

SANTA MONICA - Crew Cuts West (www.crew-cuts.com) editor Bob Jenkis lends a hand to a young man pulling himself up an immense monolithic rock face with unfettered determination in the new ad The Climb for the Marine Corps. As the man scales the rock, vivid images of the Marine Corps. are projected onto the rock face and a narrator details the prestigious history of this military branch. As the recruit reaches the top, an ethereal apparition of a Marine Corps. officer extends a welcoming hand. The two men face and salute each other just as a bolt of lightning strikes and the climber is instantly transformed into a marine decked out in full regalia. The commercial ends with the tagline, "The Few. The Proud. The Marines."

Klaus Obermeyer of Flying Tiger Films directed the new ad through J. Walter Thompson, Atlanta. Visual effects company Riot in Santa Monica composited the images of the Marines onto the rock and gave the ghostly look to the corporal apparition. Music and sound design was created at Musikvernuegen in Hollywood by Walter Werzowa and Justin Burnett, and the audio was mixed as Crawford Communications in Atlanta.