sneaky but likeable advertising
I love the fact that it’s really entertaining and well shot and funny, then it’s an ad for helping people out.
Along similar lines…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wGN-lbd7Ss
Very good: you get to enjoy the back and forth between the Pres and Zach, then there’s a message about healthcare.
If I were Dave Trott, at this point I’d mention something about predatory thinking. The problem: young people aren’t engaged in the process of Obama’s online healthcare thingie, so how do we slip that message to them in a way they’ll enjoy, pass around and respond to? Answer: (oddly) Between Two Ferns. Then they actually went and did it (can you imagine David Cameron trying to pull off something similar?).
Usually I think I’d feel a bit cheated about these ‘sneaky’ messages but they’re both for great causes and work so well (healthcare enquiries went up 40% after the BTF thing was shown) that I’m happy to be violated in the above manners.
While I’m here, another blogger has explored honesty in advertising.
Update: there’s also sneaky and not likeable.
But there’s an enjoyable counterpart to such deceit:
Barry O’s thing is some sort of triumph. Between that and the Spielberg pisstake, he’s really got some PR balls/nous. We get Blair/Cameron saying shit like ‘am I bovvered?’. Even the fucking Queen’s got more street smarts than those out-of-touch ballbags – show up with James Bond for Olympics? Hell yeah.
On reflection, maybe it’s indicative of being in touch with people, culture etc. on a personal level that Barry O’s stuff works. And indicative that our leaders have nothing to do with the proles and no idea how to relate to them that theirs doesn’t.
In other news, have you seen the Aussies’ recent PSA for drinking? It’s further proof after ‘Dumb ways to die’ that they know how to talk to people. And further proof that we in the UK have no fucking clue.
https://www.youtube.com/user/drinkproperly
Oooh… that Aussie ad is really good.
Reagan. Actor turned President.
Obama. President turned Actor?
We’ve come a long way, baby.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFEhmF-cSi8
AROOO!
Brilliantly put Ed. The thing is, it’s not that hard to do. It just seems impossible for anyone to fucking get. We’ll aim for literally everything else except that.
If the ad or the brand was a person in a bar would I want to hang out with them. If the answer is no then start over.
The AAHNULD thing is great. I’d love to crush some planners and “social strategists” with that tank. Aussie ads are good too, pushes the boundaries a bit.