It is said that a majority of advertising is mediocre and plain forgettable. While we all are exposed to hundreds of commercial messaging, only a handful are memorable. Here are a few which caught my eye over the week ending 6th January 2017: Seagram’s new ads, spec work for Adidas and more.
1. Imperial Blue: men will be men
One of the earliest ‘Men will be men’ ads – the one set in an office lift, set the tone for the whole series. These ads were based on real insightful observations of how men will behave in public towards women, especially attractive women. The ads have a realistic touch to them because they are not always about impressing the opposite sex – they capture the momentary behaviour of men hoping to share space with an attractive. And in that moment, they end up doing silly things which usually end up in loss of face or cause mild embarrassment. I always assumed that the couplet was a line from some Talent Aziz ghazal – apparently, the Creative Director wrote it himself and is likely to be turned into a full fledged song (which could be a great content marketing asset for the brand.
Agency: Ogilvy
Aside from being entertaining, the ads are popular because they evoke the ‘yes, that’s happened to me too’ or ‘I too have behaved that way’ reaction in men. Kudos to the client and the agency for being consistent with the idea for so many years – usually such campaign ideas get killed after 3-4 films citing brand fatigue and ‘kuch naya socho‘ (think something new). Speaking of consistency, almost all the films in the series have had some great acting.
2. Visa: impossible deals
This ad reminded me of the Geico’s un-skippaable ad, as both are based on consumer behaviour towards YouTube ads. Let me not give away the idea – watch it yourself.
Agency: Proximity, Dubai
3. Adidas: Break Free
The students at Germany’s Film Academy of Baden-Württemberg created this riveting spec ad for Adidas. Read more about the making here. The story of a former marathon runner now living in a dreary nursing home, waiting to ‘break free’ as it were is sure to strike a chord in all of us.
Writer, Director: Eugen Merher
4. Samsung service
This could be seen as another typical, long format, made-for-Youtube film which tells a heart tugging story. It is all of that but is still charming. It tells the story of a Samsung service team which goes out of the way (literally) to attend to a complaint. Maybe it was my ad agency background but I expected a twist and anticipated the nature of the protagonist midway through. Such films don’t really answer why the story is unique only to the brand or how a group of visually impaired children add relevance to the proposition of ‘wide service network’. Anyway, since the only metric is views I guess it will be hailed a success. It’s nice, charming film nevertheless.
Agency: Cheil
Which one worked for you? Do comment in.
