There may be no good week to be a seal, but it’s definitely a good week to be the Discovery Channel, which was awarded an Emmy Monday for a promo for its annual Shark Week.
The network walked away with a win in the 39th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards in the Outstanding Promotional Announcement category Monday for its hilarious 2017 promo that featured British singer-songwriter Seal serenading an excited crowd with his iconic hit, “Kiss from a Rose,” before being devoured by a great white shark.
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“It’s still a bad week to be a seal,” the promo states after a shocked silence.
The promo played off Discovery’s popular 2014 “Snuffy the Seal” campaign, the network explains in a new release, and within just a few days, it brought in millions of views and helped Shark Week 2017 kick off to its highest-rated opening-night telecast ever.
This was the network’s second win at the News and Documentary Emmys for a promotional announcement, having won its first Emmy in 2014.
Honored in the Emmy win were:
- Lara Richardson, EVP, Marketing
- Josh Kovolenko, VP, Marketing
- Pablo Pulido, VP, Creative
- Megan DeSouza, VP, Marketing
- Jason Turner, Senior Creative Director
- Daniel Oleksiuk, Senior Director, Production
- Curtis Smith, Senior Manager, Strategy
- Chau Hoang, Production Manager
- Peter McKeon, Director / Creative Director
- Teresa Antista, Executive Producer
- Jon Messner, Producer
- Kevin Sarnoff, Director of Photography
- Ryan Walch, Editor
- Quico Encinias, Director of Animation
- Stanley Ng, Lead Compositor
- Mike Gut, Zach Lyall, Post Producers
- Important Looking Pirates, VFX
Shark Week 2018 had some instantly memorable moments as well, including Food Network star Guy Fieri’s brush with danger in Guy Fieri’s Feeding Frenzy.
The Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives intended to embark on a “epic all-you-can-eat seafood buffet” with 21-year-old son Hunter in order to determine what makes sharks such “skilled eaters in the ocean,” taking the father-son duo on a number of dives in some of the most shark-infested waters in the world.
Fieri found himself in trouble not with the apex predators, but with his dive equipment, when a safety diver took note of his air supply decreasing quickly, indicating a leak in his main air supply. With the help of his fellow divers, he made it back to the U.S.S. Flavortown, but the celebrity chef was definitely shaken by his experience.
“I could barely breathe,” Fieri said, once back to safety. “I was huffing and puffing the whole time down there.”
We can’t wait for what this year’s Shark Week will bring!
Photo credit: Discovery
