Encased in nearly $100 worth of bubble-wrap, purchased just days earlier at a packing supply store in Toronto’s west end, Toronto creative Cooper Evoy spent a day in mid-December walking around New York landmarks like Times Square and the Washington Square Arch.
Along the way, the associate creative director and writer was eyeballed by security at the Central Park skating rink, while countless numbers of people approached him asking if they could pop the wrap. He was even featured on the popular Instagram account Subway Creatures, which has more than 1.2 million followers.
He was sweating profusely and seriously dehydrated from a lack of water (the bubble wrap suit required nearly three hours to put on, and he wasn’t about to do it more than once—so peeing was out of the question). Standing on a subway platform, he was approached by a man who asked him how many storeys he thought he could fall without injury.
It was all part of a self-promotional video Evoy created to get on the radar of New York agencies. Its premise is that Evoy has left Canada—and its free healthcare—behind, and wants to ensure he’s adequately protected until he can find a job, with healthcare, in the centre of the advertising universe.
“Every time I talked to a Canadian about moving to the States, the first question was ‘What are you going to do about heath care?’ At some point I made a joke about a bubble-wrap suit, and I started thinking maybe there was something to that,” said Evoy, whose career has included stops at Cossette, Red Urban and DDB’s Toronto and Vancouver offices.
“I’m always looking to push myself out of my comfort zone, and it felt like a good time to make the jump and try to find work here,” said Evoy. “But New York is such a hyper-competitive job market that anything I could do to potentially help myself stand out seemed like a good idea.”
The black-and-white video was directed by Evoy’s friend Jon Weiman, half of the Canadian directing team Jon+Torey from Stink / OPC. It is sound-tracked by the Harry Nilsson song “I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City.” “It has this mystical feel to it that kind of juxtaposes this sad bubble boy,” explained Evoy.
Evoy, who arrived in New York on Friday, posted the video to LinkedIn and Vimeo on Wednesday morning.
–Chris Powell
