Domino Expert Comes To Town For A One Of A Kind Commerical

It's not something you see everyday: a sea of green, blue, and yellow. It’s a scene too pretty to touch, but in this case, that's the point. “The time spent in this entire project is a lot more than people probably realize” says Beth Miller, President of HPN Marketing Services. 

When Star Financial Bank decided to change their image, they hired HPN for help.  “When people found out that we were going to use more than 20,000 dominos in a TV spot they were just amazed” says Miller. 

Like dominos, your financial life can often become scattered. Your banker isn't talking to your insurance agent, and your insurance agent isn't talking to your money manager.  “With star bank, all three come together” says Miller. And what better way to demonstrate that than with thousands of colored dominos, right? But as with all things, what goes up, must come down. 

"I kept setting them up in my basement and before I knew it, I had 5,000 set up” says Robert Speca, a domino expert. Speca flew in from Philadelphia for the shoot.  He's set multiple records for the most dominos ever set up-- “The most I set up was 111,111 and that filled a whole basketball court. It took 2-weeks to set up and 35-minutes to fall over” says Speca. 

Most of us are used to the white plastic dominos, but to pull off an intricate domino design, it's best to look to what the pros use. ‘The size of the domino makes a difference and the makeup. Wood ones fall better than the plastic ones, which are more slippery. You don't want them to be more slippery and in fact the type of paint you put on them affects how they fall” says Speca. 

This also isn't a hobby for the clumsy. In a second, 30 dominos can fall over, meaning your design can quickly turn into a disaster. Speca knows this all too well. “I had 7,000 set up once and I said to someone ‘give me that last domino’ and they actually tossed it to me and it hit my hand and bounced out and knocked them all over” he says. 

So what do you do in a situation like that? While many might panic, get angry, or start crying, Speca says you've just got to breathe. “Breathe and realize that you got to start over” says Speca. And just like life, if you try, try, and try again, eventually things start to fall into place. 

Now you may be thinking 'what do you do with 20,000 dominos when you're done?' Star Bank plans to donate all 20,000 to Junior Achievement in Fort Wayne. Volunteers for Junior Achievement will then put them all back into sets and sell them as a fundraiser. 

Tune into FOX Fort Wayne News First at Ten tomorrow night for the full commercial.