CUTTERS RAISES THEIR BEER STEIN (Artists in Advertising)

STEVE STEIN DIRECTS & EDITS 4 NEW SPOTS FOR 'HERE'S TO BEER'

CHICAGO, MARCH 15, 2007 - Steve Stein of Cutters may not be a college professor, but he certainly knows what it's like to deliver a dry lecture. Serving as director and editor of four new spots for herestobeer.com, Stein captures people offering professional insight regarding everything from tax preparation to the best way to examine a man's testicles.

"We took a run and gun approach," said Stein, who also helped conceive the spots. "The first one was really a test, a simple locked-off shot, using available light. The client and agency liked how it turned out, so we used that as the template for the campaign."

In the spots, an "Accountant" offers a perspective on allowable deductions that would make an insomniac sleep through tax season. The viewer is expected to hang in just long enough to be hit with a vibrant banner reading "Everything you didn't learn in Beer School." A "Lawyer" quotes bankruptcy law chapter and verse, but not without the help of a volume from the shelves that fill the frame behind him.

"It was a fine line not to make them obviously funny, because they need to feel real," Stein noted. "In the end they were really all just very simple testimonials."

Maybe so. But even before the real jokes hit, Stein was sure to cast subjects that provided for a little amusement, such as an "Engineer" who appears to be completely absorbed in his blueprints, and a "Doctor" who considers removal of underpants a critical part of routine examination. "It may not be something that requires years of med school," Stein mused, "but if you think about it, the underwear has to come off, doesn't it?"

"Accountant"