Contrasting Arkansas Ads Made Big Game Debut

Still frames from two Super Bowl ads for Baptist Health and Saracen Casino and produced by Stone Ward and Gary Heathcott, respectively

Two Arkansas advertising teams sent Arkansas Business links to ads they were proud to present in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Little Rock agency Stone Ward presented three 30-second spots for Baptist Health, before, after and during the game, and well-known Little Rock ad man Gary Heathcott premiered a new 30-second commercial for Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff.

Both ads featured women, but they couldn’t have been farther apart in tone. Heathcott’s “Devil With the Blue Dress” features the 1966 Mitch Ryder hit and a bombshell title character showing off in the casino.

Stone Ward’s “We See You” ads include women of all ages and shapes, “flipping the script on women’s insecurities,” agency President Millie Ward told Arkansas Business. Another Stone Ward ad that made its debut last year — for Sissy’s Log Cabin — was also in this year’s lineup, she said, calling it a crowd favorite.

“Baptist Health challenged us to create a campaign that speaks specifically to women by presenting Baptist Health as their key partner in all things [related to] women’s health, from taking care of themselves to starting their own family to navigating end-of-life car for their aging parents,” Ward said. “For many years, more women have chosen Baptist Health for their health needs than any other provider in Arkansas, and we endeavored to authentically tell their story.”

“Your body tells a story,” the ads’ voiceover begins. “You see the gray hairs coming in; we see the grace that came with them,” one of the commercials says. “You see your aging hands; we see the lives they have touched… at Baptist Health, we see you.”

“For instance,” Ward said, “a woman might see the dark circles under her eyes, but Baptist sees a mom who was up until midnight taking care of family.”

She said her firm wanted women to experience the campaign as a reflection of their own lives. “There is a resilient ribbon that binds all women and our experiences with motherhood, aging, health care and strength,” Ward said. Also, there’s vulnerability. She called the ads “raw and heartfelt,” and said the campaign is “running on television, outdoor, print, radio, and across all digital platforms. 

Heathcott wanted his saucy commercial to have a strong beat and play up the glamor and fun of seeing and being at the Saracen casino.

“We purchased the [song’s] publishing rights from writer Shorty Long [who wrote it with William “Mickey” Henderson] and also Ryder’s original recording, from him [Ryder],” Heathcott said. “Seth Padgett completed the edit, cutting it down to 30 seconds, which was no small feat.”

The ad features Arkansas native Lauren Ashton Weaver as the devil in blue, “and clearly she delivered,” Heathcott said, calling the actress funny and quick with a laugh. He was worried she wouldn’t carry off the character’s standoffish, “I’m-cooler-than-everyone-in-the-casino” demeanor, but said she quickly proved him wrong.

“It took Lauren about five minutes to get into character and then she was as good as anyone in Hollywood — without the ego,” Heathcott said.

For the ad, he resurrected a technique he first used in a 1989 car commercial featuring two Reba McIntire backup musicians who later joined their cousin to become the Dixie Chicks. He employed a video technique that “painted out” certain parts of the scene to appear in black and white. “That concept was repeated hundreds of times in commercials and even movies for the next couple of decades,” said Heathcott, who has never been hobbled by humility. “I thought it was a perfect time to resurrect that style to give extra prominence to our devil in her blue dresses. Another Arkansan, Bo Collett, did the colorization work…”