Something on the shoulder of giants
I’ve seen a fantastic ad that cuts through the usual shit with a remarkably incisive, confident, friendly way of pointing out a product benefit and getting you to like the brand and the product behind it.
It treats you with respect and manages to engage you in a ‘conversation’ that is somehow invisible.
Crazy, I know, but it is written so skillfully, it presents only one side of the dialogue, yet manages to elicit a response from the reader all the way through it. That response is like being gently led somewhere you had no intention of going to, but with your willingness to make the journey increasing with every word.
And how clever is that? It’s going beyond all the ‘would you like to join a bunch of people who are happy to admit publicly that they like Vimto?’ digital bullshit and instead engaging by using nothing but a piece of paper and 100 or so words.
The other great thing is that instead of relying on ridiculous over-dramatisation of a slight or non-existent product benefit, it simply lays out the truth with intelligent self-deprecation.
It’s just a shame that even with all the tools of 2010 at our disposal, nobody comes anywhere near to producing work of this quality.
It’s as if we’ve been given the chance to stand on the shoulders of giants and instead, squatted down over the oversized scapulae and curled out something moist, brown and smelly.
This was the ad that appeared in the first season of Mad Men. Don Draper and is copywriters couldn’t get their heads around it. But then they’d spent the 1950s flogging Lucky Strike cigarettes to the masses.
And they’re, y’know, fictional characters.
How to get it approved 50 years on.
1. Take out the copy. Nobody reads it.
2. Make an experiential site
3. Ta-da!
http://tinypic.com/r/9tjvc8/7
it’d probably be a crowd sourced augmented reality piece.
Actually, what has happened to VW advertising? Seems like I haven’t seen any for years, particularly print. Anyone from DDB care to enlighten me?
they got in the book for print five times this year. true it was 1% car and 99% other. but still counts. right?
http://www.alchemysite.com/9_ways_to_improve_an_ad.pdf
Nearly half a century after this was written, most still haven’t got got the point of it.
sixties was a creative time
music is shitter too.
as are books.
comfort breeds complacency. we need another war to kill fuckloads more parents and breed a generation with soul.
I’d rather have done Subservient Chicken.
Subservient Chicken is an interesting case that backs the whole point up in another context: that was done maybe six years ago, which is virtually half a lifetime as far as the history of digital advertising has gone.
Why has nobody stood on its shoulders, or those of BMW Films to make greater strides?
I am shaking my head at the latest VW work.
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I think Anon makes a good point we do live in some what uninspiring and unpolitical times – when their are some antagonisms you get more ideas and creativity. We live in a sort of nanny state run by bennys.
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Well then there was Whopper Sacrifice. Absolute genius for a cost of virtually nothing. Best Job In The World? Gatorade Rematch? I’m insanely jealous of them all.
Point taken. My post was bullshit.
Hola,
Nombre de http://www.ben-kay.com a GoogleReader!
Gracias
Edwas
If only the planner on the VW account read this blog. 🙂