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Ada native Chris Wire didn’t build a better mousetrap. He didn’t have to.
Instead, he did create 30-second mousetrap video, viewed, oh, perhaps 100 million times. You’ve no doubt viewed it yourself.
Chris, a 1989 Ada High School graduate and son of Keith and Kathy Wire, owners of Keith’s Hardware, is principal owner of Real Art, a technology and design agency in Dayton.
He says that prior to attending the University of Dayton he worked at Keith’s Hardware practically every day and weekends since he was born and all the way through high school.
This winter the Ohio Department of Health selected Wire’s company to create a video to communication the seriousness and to heed the rules of social distancing pertaining to the COVID-19 virus.
“They hired us because they like the way we view the world,” he laughed. Click here to see the way Real Art views the world. (It’s the company website.)
Where did the mousetrap and ping pong ball idea originate?
“I remembered an experience in a chemistry class taught by Mr. Lusk in high school,” said Wire in a phone conversation this morning with the Icon. “He shows us a film about a nuclear chain reaction.”
Wire said that while his company did some brainstorming on how to create the health department’s video, his thoughts returned to that Ada classroom experience.
From that thought emerged dozens and dozens of mousetraps set off by ping pong balls. The rest is…now a sensation on the internet.
The Ohio department of Health posted the video on Twitter and Instagram, and “it’s had 25 to 30 million views on Twitter and up to 100 million internet views totally,” said Wire.
How many mouse traps are in the video and how long did the shoot take?
Wire says and he and his staff bought every mousetrap in Dayton – at least a few thousand – plus 500 ping pong balls.
“It took two days to shoot (the video),” he said, adding that there were a lot of false alarms when a trap would go off before its time.
After the shoot, there were three days of editing and then it was delivered to the Department of Health.
Real Art, a creative agency, focuses on brand experience and content. A visit to its website demonstrates how it combines the never-before-seen with the why-didn’t-I-think-of-that, as it blends art and invention, getting people to discover and remember you.
At moment it has a couple thousand mousetraps and perhaps 500 ping pong balls in its storage. Ask Wire if you need a dozen.
