I never drink Budweiser, ever, it's a horrible beer. But if we have a hot summer you can guarantee I'll be drinking it thanks to this brilliant new idea from Budweiser.
What's not to like about this? If the weather goes above 20C you get a free beer. Maybe I'm being too optimistic but surely that'll happen at least once over the summer. But even if we don't hit the heady heights of temperatures in the mid-twenties you can still get a couple of euro off your beer. I don't know about you but I'd drop my standards and drink a Bud or two if it's gonna save me a few quid, it's not THAT bad a beer is it?
My uncle is a weather forecaster* and judging by what he says we have in store for the summer I predict we'll all get one free pint and save about €2. Ah well, it's better than a slap in the face with a wet fish.
Check out www.icecoldindex.ie for more information.
Now, who's round is it?
*I can't confirm the truth of that statement.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Long Copy
I'm a bit of a sucker for long copy press ads. It's a bit of a double-edged sword because they're so hard to write and more often than not they end up being terrible ads that no-one will read. I've tried, and failed, several times to write nice long copy ads and it really is an art in itself, a very difficult and skillful art. Get it right and it's fantastic, get it wrong and it's a disaster.
I can't quite say exactly why I love them but when they're done correctly they're some of the best ads you'll see. Art direction is vitally important too, there's no point in having stunning copy if it looks like something your granny threw together in Microsoft Word.
These two ads do a pretty great job of combining great copy with great art direction, and are good examples of why I like long copy so much. They're a both a few years old. Click on either ad to see a larger version. I particularly like the excellent art direction in the Sky Arts ad.
Sky Arts TV Channel
Tate Britain Exhibition
I can't quite say exactly why I love them but when they're done correctly they're some of the best ads you'll see. Art direction is vitally important too, there's no point in having stunning copy if it looks like something your granny threw together in Microsoft Word.
These two ads do a pretty great job of combining great copy with great art direction, and are good examples of why I like long copy so much. They're a both a few years old. Click on either ad to see a larger version. I particularly like the excellent art direction in the Sky Arts ad.
Sky Arts TV Channel
Tate Britain Exhibition
Monday, April 25, 2011
Limitless Collaboration
I've been reading a bit about two really interesting projects recently, both of which aim to harness the amazing possibility to collaborate on a massive scale that has been created by new media and social media. They're actually both fairly similar in what they're trying to do, so much so that you'd wonder if one was inspired by the other.
The first one is a film from Irish filmmaker Frank Kelly and is inspired by Twitter and the 140 characters you're allowed per tweet. It's called '140' and is a feature length movie cut together from 140 individual clips, each 140 seconds long and shot by 140 filmmakers (ranging from absolute beginners to professionals) all over the world at the exact same time on the exact same night in the summer of 2009. The theme for the videos was 'connection.' I had originally signed up to take part in it but had to pull out because I ended up having to work when it was supposed to be shot. I'm raging now because I think it would have been great to be part of such an interesting and novel project. It's such a simple yet powerful concept.
140 has been doing the rounds on the festival circuit and seems to have been very well received. It actually recently won what I think is its first award - a Bronze Palm at the Mexico International Festival.
I haven't actually seen the full film yet but the trailer looks interesting:
The second one is somewhat similar but will most likely gain far more attention because it was produced by none other than Ridley Scott. It's called 'Life in a Day' and uses Youtube as its foundation. Several thousand people all uploaded a video of their day on 24th July last year. Those hours and hours of footage were then edited into a feature length movie. Judging from the trailer it looks to be a slightly slicker production than 140 but when you compare an independent filmmaker from Ireland to someone like Ridley Scott then you're not really comparing like with like.
Life in a Day has generated quite a buzz at several high-profile festivals such as Sundance, Berlin and SXSW. As far as I know it's set for a US cinema release later this year, not sure about a European one though.
Not having seen either of these movies yet it will be interesting to see whether or not they're interesting enough and can create enough of a narrative from such random and disparate footage to hold the viewers attention for 90-odd minutes. Hopefully they can. They're two excellent examples of the type of possibilities that have been opened up by new media channels and social networks, creating the type of work that wasn't possible less than ten years ago and with people with whom you'd never have a chance to work with were it not for these exciting media. I'm sure there are hundreds of other examples of similar types of projects that I've not come across.
It's an exciting time to be a part of the creative arts, it's an exciting time to be online and it's an exciting time to be making connections with people.
The first one is a film from Irish filmmaker Frank Kelly and is inspired by Twitter and the 140 characters you're allowed per tweet. It's called '140' and is a feature length movie cut together from 140 individual clips, each 140 seconds long and shot by 140 filmmakers (ranging from absolute beginners to professionals) all over the world at the exact same time on the exact same night in the summer of 2009. The theme for the videos was 'connection.' I had originally signed up to take part in it but had to pull out because I ended up having to work when it was supposed to be shot. I'm raging now because I think it would have been great to be part of such an interesting and novel project. It's such a simple yet powerful concept.
140 has been doing the rounds on the festival circuit and seems to have been very well received. It actually recently won what I think is its first award - a Bronze Palm at the Mexico International Festival.
I haven't actually seen the full film yet but the trailer looks interesting:
The second one is somewhat similar but will most likely gain far more attention because it was produced by none other than Ridley Scott. It's called 'Life in a Day' and uses Youtube as its foundation. Several thousand people all uploaded a video of their day on 24th July last year. Those hours and hours of footage were then edited into a feature length movie. Judging from the trailer it looks to be a slightly slicker production than 140 but when you compare an independent filmmaker from Ireland to someone like Ridley Scott then you're not really comparing like with like.
Life in a Day has generated quite a buzz at several high-profile festivals such as Sundance, Berlin and SXSW. As far as I know it's set for a US cinema release later this year, not sure about a European one though.
Not having seen either of these movies yet it will be interesting to see whether or not they're interesting enough and can create enough of a narrative from such random and disparate footage to hold the viewers attention for 90-odd minutes. Hopefully they can. They're two excellent examples of the type of possibilities that have been opened up by new media channels and social networks, creating the type of work that wasn't possible less than ten years ago and with people with whom you'd never have a chance to work with were it not for these exciting media. I'm sure there are hundreds of other examples of similar types of projects that I've not come across.
It's an exciting time to be a part of the creative arts, it's an exciting time to be online and it's an exciting time to be making connections with people.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
A Real Royal Wedding
After the seriousness of today's post I thought I'd lighten the mood a little with this brilliant video from T-Mobile. They have a track record when it comes to great virals and in my opinion this one maintains the high standards they've already set. Nothing wrong with a bit of shameless capitalising on the Royal Wedding, especially when it's this funny.
Apparently a lot of viewers in America were slightly confused and thought it was the actual wedding. Why doesn't that surprise me?
Altogether: "Everybody in the house of love..."
Apparently a lot of viewers in America were slightly confused and thought it was the actual wedding. Why doesn't that surprise me?
Altogether: "Everybody in the house of love..."
The Big Alcohol Question
A discussion about alcohol advertising and sponsorship raised its head in a rather indirect sort of way over the last couple of days. I'm a pretty big rugby fan, any of you who follow me on twitter will have noticed a not insignificant number of tweets about Leinster. Leinster play in two European competitions, both sponsored by alcoholic drinks manufacturers - Heineken and Magners (or Bulmers as it's known in Ireland. The Magners League is a competition featuring teams from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy and is about ten years old now. For five of those ten years it has bee sponsored by Magners but they announced in the past few days that they'll be ending their sponsorship at the end of the current season, which finishes in about a month. So the search is on for a new sponsor - not the easiest of tasks in the current economic climate, but that's not the point of this blog.
On various rugby forums and blogs people have started to discuss possible new sponsors and who they'd like to see as a sponsor. But people are also speculating as to why Magners have ended their sponsorship. One possible reason being thrown about is that it's quite possible that in a few years time (or maybe even less) alcohol sponsorship of sports events across Europe will be banned, similar to the current situation in France, and Magners are just preparing in advance for this. This in turn has caused quite a few people to say that they are pleased that Magners are pulling out, and they hope that another alcohol brand doesn't take over, because alcohol destroys so many lives.
This got me thinking about the role advertising, and sponsorship in particular, plays in fueling our excessive drinking culture. There's no doubt that in Ireland we have a big drinking problem, both with underage drinkers and binge drinking, and something really does need to be done about it, but I think that pointing the finger at advertising is just going for the easy target. Of course drinks retailers and manufacturers and the people who advertise their brands have a duty to be responsible, encourage responsible drinking and to discourage underage and binge drinking, that goes without saying. I can't speak for other countries because I don't know the regulations there but in Ireland there is a very strict code to which all advertising must adhere when it comes to alcohol (Central Copy Clearance Ireland or CCCI for those who don't know it). I'm not saying this code is perfect but it does keep all alcohol advertising up to a certain standard and ensures that it doesn't appeal to youngsters and limits how exciting or fun drinking can appear to be. In college I've worked on a few briefs that had to comply with it and it does it's best to make drinking to be a thoroughly unenjoyable experience.
I think society's problems with alcohol are much more deep-rooted and far more complicated than just over-exposure to advertising and trying to solve those problems requires looking at far more than just restricting or banning advertising and sponsorship. Like I said advertising and sponsorship are the easy targets, just like reducing pub opening hours, which is another pointless exercise in my opinion. I'd be curious to know if there have been any studies into the effect the ban on alcohol advertising in France (where the Heineken Cup is known as the H-Cup) has had.
People have made the point that the real effects of a ban on alcohol advertising and sponsorship won't be seen for another 20 or 30 years, as it's changing the mindset of a whole generation and that's something that takes an awful long time. This is very true and must be remembered when discussing the issue, but I would be of the opinion, and feel free to disagree with me, that if you ban alcohol advertising and sponsorship you will do very little to sort out the problems with alcohol in this country.
I'm not saying that advertisers can completely wash their hands of the whole situation. It's very important for them to acknowledge and accept the role they play in the whole drinking fabric of society and to take whatever steps necessary to ensure that they act responsible. But ban advertising outright and all you're doing is putting a plaster over a gushing wound.
I don't disagree for one second that it can cause huge problems and can ruin lives. I've seen first hand the chaos it can cause for individuals and families but, like all things, it is safe and enjoyable in moderation and this needs to be at the core of any efforts to solve the problem. Moderation is most likely the best approach to take when it comes to consuming alcohol as well as advertising it. Banning alcohol will hardly solve the problem (it works so well for drugs doesn't it?) and neither will banning the advertising of alcohol.
I don't have all the answers. In fact I don't think I have any of the answers, but I do know that often the most obvious answer isn't the right one and in this case I think the most obvious answer to our drinking problem is to target alcohol advertising.
On various rugby forums and blogs people have started to discuss possible new sponsors and who they'd like to see as a sponsor. But people are also speculating as to why Magners have ended their sponsorship. One possible reason being thrown about is that it's quite possible that in a few years time (or maybe even less) alcohol sponsorship of sports events across Europe will be banned, similar to the current situation in France, and Magners are just preparing in advance for this. This in turn has caused quite a few people to say that they are pleased that Magners are pulling out, and they hope that another alcohol brand doesn't take over, because alcohol destroys so many lives.
This got me thinking about the role advertising, and sponsorship in particular, plays in fueling our excessive drinking culture. There's no doubt that in Ireland we have a big drinking problem, both with underage drinkers and binge drinking, and something really does need to be done about it, but I think that pointing the finger at advertising is just going for the easy target. Of course drinks retailers and manufacturers and the people who advertise their brands have a duty to be responsible, encourage responsible drinking and to discourage underage and binge drinking, that goes without saying. I can't speak for other countries because I don't know the regulations there but in Ireland there is a very strict code to which all advertising must adhere when it comes to alcohol (Central Copy Clearance Ireland or CCCI for those who don't know it). I'm not saying this code is perfect but it does keep all alcohol advertising up to a certain standard and ensures that it doesn't appeal to youngsters and limits how exciting or fun drinking can appear to be. In college I've worked on a few briefs that had to comply with it and it does it's best to make drinking to be a thoroughly unenjoyable experience.
I think society's problems with alcohol are much more deep-rooted and far more complicated than just over-exposure to advertising and trying to solve those problems requires looking at far more than just restricting or banning advertising and sponsorship. Like I said advertising and sponsorship are the easy targets, just like reducing pub opening hours, which is another pointless exercise in my opinion. I'd be curious to know if there have been any studies into the effect the ban on alcohol advertising in France (where the Heineken Cup is known as the H-Cup) has had.
People have made the point that the real effects of a ban on alcohol advertising and sponsorship won't be seen for another 20 or 30 years, as it's changing the mindset of a whole generation and that's something that takes an awful long time. This is very true and must be remembered when discussing the issue, but I would be of the opinion, and feel free to disagree with me, that if you ban alcohol advertising and sponsorship you will do very little to sort out the problems with alcohol in this country.
I'm not saying that advertisers can completely wash their hands of the whole situation. It's very important for them to acknowledge and accept the role they play in the whole drinking fabric of society and to take whatever steps necessary to ensure that they act responsible. But ban advertising outright and all you're doing is putting a plaster over a gushing wound.
I don't disagree for one second that it can cause huge problems and can ruin lives. I've seen first hand the chaos it can cause for individuals and families but, like all things, it is safe and enjoyable in moderation and this needs to be at the core of any efforts to solve the problem. Moderation is most likely the best approach to take when it comes to consuming alcohol as well as advertising it. Banning alcohol will hardly solve the problem (it works so well for drugs doesn't it?) and neither will banning the advertising of alcohol.
I don't have all the answers. In fact I don't think I have any of the answers, but I do know that often the most obvious answer isn't the right one and in this case I think the most obvious answer to our drinking problem is to target alcohol advertising.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Ads From Your Childhood #2
Time for a new installment of Ads From Your Childhood. This is really just an excuse for a good old trip down memory lane rather than showcasing great ads. The following ads are real blasts from the past and they bring me back to being five or six years old, sprawled across the carpet in the sitting room watching Saturday morning cartoons on the DJ Kat Show (which an alarmingly small number of people seem to remember. Please tell me you remember it?). This was long before Spongebob Squarepants made an appearance and Dora the Explorer wasn't even a thought in some animator's head yet. Carebears, Superted, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (even at that young age I fancied April O' Neil, who didn't?) and Alf (OK he's not strictly a cartoon but Alf's so cool he makes his own rules) were where all the fun was at in those days.
It was also a time of cool kids jingles. Who didn't love this one?
And this ad made me envy every single kid in the UK at the time because they had Toys R'Us and we didn't. I remember once in the early ninties we were going to visit friends of my parents in Southampton and for weeks beforehand all I would talk about was the fact that I'd get to go to Toys R'Us. To be honest I'd still love to go and just play in Toys R'Us.
And the last one for this installment, I reckon I'd bop along to this if I saw it for the first time today. We all adore a Kia-Ora.
Ah, the memories!
It was also a time of cool kids jingles. Who didn't love this one?
And this ad made me envy every single kid in the UK at the time because they had Toys R'Us and we didn't. I remember once in the early ninties we were going to visit friends of my parents in Southampton and for weeks beforehand all I would talk about was the fact that I'd get to go to Toys R'Us. To be honest I'd still love to go and just play in Toys R'Us.
And the last one for this installment, I reckon I'd bop along to this if I saw it for the first time today. We all adore a Kia-Ora.
Ah, the memories!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Hella Cool!
Keeping with the theme of 3D projection mapping this car launch from Hyundai takes it a step further and uses an actual car suspended in front of the building. Pretty cool eh?
I have a very busy week coming up in college with a lot of project deadlines looming in the next ten days or so, so I'm expecting a lot of long evenings and late nights. Luckily for me one of my favourite Irish musicians, Declan O'Rourke, has just released a new album, curiously called Mag Pai Zai. I haven't gotten my hands on the album yet but I'll be picking it up tomorrow and am hoping that Declan's tunes will get me through the week. For those of you who haven't heard of him have a listen to this song from his first album. I dare you not to love it.
If Declan's album fails to keep me motivated and I find myself succumbing to frustration and despair then I'll resort to the age old trick of using lolcats to lift my spirits.
Good old lolcats, never fail to make me laugh.
I have a very busy week coming up in college with a lot of project deadlines looming in the next ten days or so, so I'm expecting a lot of long evenings and late nights. Luckily for me one of my favourite Irish musicians, Declan O'Rourke, has just released a new album, curiously called Mag Pai Zai. I haven't gotten my hands on the album yet but I'll be picking it up tomorrow and am hoping that Declan's tunes will get me through the week. For those of you who haven't heard of him have a listen to this song from his first album. I dare you not to love it.
If Declan's album fails to keep me motivated and I find myself succumbing to frustration and despair then I'll resort to the age old trick of using lolcats to lift my spirits.
Good old lolcats, never fail to make me laugh.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Fanta-stic!
Quick post today. Saw this over on Simply Zesty's Simply Viral page (which showcases a great new viral video every day of the year) and I was really impressed by it - you could say that it's Fanta-stic! Boom Boom! Sorry, I just started following @funnyoneliners on twitter so my head is full of cheesy, stupid puns.
Anyway, as videos/light shows which interact with buildings go I reckon this is about as good as it gets so hats off to Memac Ogilvy in Dubai, they've done a great job.
You could literally spend hours on youtube looking at videos of 3D projection mapping (ooh, look at me trying to sound like I know what I'm talking about!) and there is some truly amazing stuff out there. I'd highly recommend checking out LD Systems channel on youtube, they do some really incredible stuff. In particular I liked this one. How much fun would it be to work on something like this?
Anyway, gotta run because, as it happens, I've to go work on a Fanta brief for college. I have this cool idea for an animated projection onto a well-known building somewhere, it's a pretty original idea too so I'm quite excited.
Anyway, as videos/light shows which interact with buildings go I reckon this is about as good as it gets so hats off to Memac Ogilvy in Dubai, they've done a great job.
You could literally spend hours on youtube looking at videos of 3D projection mapping (ooh, look at me trying to sound like I know what I'm talking about!) and there is some truly amazing stuff out there. I'd highly recommend checking out LD Systems channel on youtube, they do some really incredible stuff. In particular I liked this one. How much fun would it be to work on something like this?
Anyway, gotta run because, as it happens, I've to go work on a Fanta brief for college. I have this cool idea for an animated projection onto a well-known building somewhere, it's a pretty original idea too so I'm quite excited.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Recycled Phones & Bike Thieves
This seems to be getting quite a lot of attention online in the past few days. According to Copyranter (an angry and bitter copywriter from NYC, he keeps a great blog) it's due to be released in Japan later this year.
Maybe I'm just being fussy but as an ad I don't think I like it. As a piece of art or as a performance I love it - that's assuming the makers aren't lying when they say they didn't use any artificial music in it. I can't quite explain why I dislike it as an ad but like it otherwise, I guess I'm just weird like that.
While I'm here I'd be curious to see what people think of Heineken's April Fools' Day prank. I know the video takes it as a light-hearted joke and some of the 'victims' certainly see the funny side of it, but I wonder is it taking things a step too far. If someone did this to my bike (I don't actually own a bike but let's ignore that for the moment) I'd be pretty pissed with someone who stole my basket and forced me to become a mobile ad for their brand. Maybe they bought them over with a few bottles of Heineken once they'd gotten their reaction on camera - if that were the case then my anger would probably be quenched a little. I'd still want my own basket back though.
What do you think of it? Am I just being a killjoy?
As a little aside I've just bought my ticket for Portfolio Night 9 in Dublin in May and I'm really looking forward to it - although I'm nervous too. I've written here before about the daunting task of trying to find a job once my masters finishes and it's great to see initiatives like this which give young creatives a helping hand. Fair play to Ogilvy for hosting it and to all the other agencies who have gotten involved. It also sets a good deadline by which a portfolio has to be ready to rock - it's always good to have deadlines. Now, to get making that portfolio as creative as a Renaissance painter.
Maybe I'm just being fussy but as an ad I don't think I like it. As a piece of art or as a performance I love it - that's assuming the makers aren't lying when they say they didn't use any artificial music in it. I can't quite explain why I dislike it as an ad but like it otherwise, I guess I'm just weird like that.
While I'm here I'd be curious to see what people think of Heineken's April Fools' Day prank. I know the video takes it as a light-hearted joke and some of the 'victims' certainly see the funny side of it, but I wonder is it taking things a step too far. If someone did this to my bike (I don't actually own a bike but let's ignore that for the moment) I'd be pretty pissed with someone who stole my basket and forced me to become a mobile ad for their brand. Maybe they bought them over with a few bottles of Heineken once they'd gotten their reaction on camera - if that were the case then my anger would probably be quenched a little. I'd still want my own basket back though.
What do you think of it? Am I just being a killjoy?
As a little aside I've just bought my ticket for Portfolio Night 9 in Dublin in May and I'm really looking forward to it - although I'm nervous too. I've written here before about the daunting task of trying to find a job once my masters finishes and it's great to see initiatives like this which give young creatives a helping hand. Fair play to Ogilvy for hosting it and to all the other agencies who have gotten involved. It also sets a good deadline by which a portfolio has to be ready to rock - it's always good to have deadlines. Now, to get making that portfolio as creative as a Renaissance painter.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Ads From Your Childhood #1
So I've decided to start a new series on my blog where I can look back and remember cool ads from yesteryear that bring back memories. I've called it Ads From Your Childhood but of course that's a completely meaningless title because people of all ages read this blog (or so I'd like to think). I could have called it Ads From My Childhood but to be honest there are a lot of classic ads that I really like, and might want to show here, that I don't actually remember seeing as a kid so I decided to avoid that. Apologies for the lame excuse - it was either that or the dog ate my title, and seeing as I don't have a dog I thought that was too big of a risk.
Being an aspiring young advertiser who is hoping to impress people and climb the ladder of success in this industry I should probably choose Apple's 1984 commercial as the first ad to showcase here but I'm not going to, for two reasons. 1. It was before I was born - a pretty good reason I think, and 2. I actually never knew this ad existed until I was on Erasmus in Germany in 2007 and saw it there. I'm impressed by it, and appreciate the balls it took to invest so much money in an ad that was only aired once but it honestly doesn't really feature on my radar when I think of great classic ads. Maybe it should but it doesn't.
The one ad I remember most from being a kid is one that everyone knows and almost everyone loves. I was only 8 when Guinness' Anticipation ad was released so it certainly wasn't aimed at me or my friends. It definitely made an impression on us though and I remember we used to have competitions to see who could do the the best impression of the dance (which usually ended in an argument as we all thought our dance was the best one). I've been told that this was actually filmed in the basement of the studio where a Guinness ad was being shot but there was disagreement between the agency and Guinness over the ad which delayed the shoot. A bunch of the crew then apparently went off and shot this on their own and it ended up being used. I can't say for definite that this is true but the source from which I heard it is pretty trustworthy.
There's something quite timeless about the ad. I reckon if the ad were run now it would be just as successful as it was 17 years ago - a true sign of a good ad.
I'd worry about some of the ads that todays children will be looking back on in 15 or 20 years time. Take the new ad from Jacobs for their range of biscuits.
Apologies to anyone who was involved with this (a bit presumptuous to think that they'd be reading my blog?) but I just don't like it. Actually I can't stand it, not because it has totally ramped up the sex content in an ad that is targeted at a young audience, although I'm sure that offends a lot of people, but because it's cheesy, repetitive, uses a poor jingle and is completely opposite to what people expect from Jacobs. Don't get me wrong, going against people's expectations isn't always a bad thing, in fact it quite often makes for great advertising, I just think in this case it's a bad call. I'd love to see figures for how effective this campaign turns out to be, maybe they'll prove me wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if it turns a lot of people off. (There is actually one thing I like in the ad - the DJ's headphones, I want a pair!)
Something tells me that people won't be writing about that ad in 17 years time. But hey, that's just my opinion.
Being an aspiring young advertiser who is hoping to impress people and climb the ladder of success in this industry I should probably choose Apple's 1984 commercial as the first ad to showcase here but I'm not going to, for two reasons. 1. It was before I was born - a pretty good reason I think, and 2. I actually never knew this ad existed until I was on Erasmus in Germany in 2007 and saw it there. I'm impressed by it, and appreciate the balls it took to invest so much money in an ad that was only aired once but it honestly doesn't really feature on my radar when I think of great classic ads. Maybe it should but it doesn't.
The one ad I remember most from being a kid is one that everyone knows and almost everyone loves. I was only 8 when Guinness' Anticipation ad was released so it certainly wasn't aimed at me or my friends. It definitely made an impression on us though and I remember we used to have competitions to see who could do the the best impression of the dance (which usually ended in an argument as we all thought our dance was the best one). I've been told that this was actually filmed in the basement of the studio where a Guinness ad was being shot but there was disagreement between the agency and Guinness over the ad which delayed the shoot. A bunch of the crew then apparently went off and shot this on their own and it ended up being used. I can't say for definite that this is true but the source from which I heard it is pretty trustworthy.
There's something quite timeless about the ad. I reckon if the ad were run now it would be just as successful as it was 17 years ago - a true sign of a good ad.
I'd worry about some of the ads that todays children will be looking back on in 15 or 20 years time. Take the new ad from Jacobs for their range of biscuits.
Apologies to anyone who was involved with this (a bit presumptuous to think that they'd be reading my blog?) but I just don't like it. Actually I can't stand it, not because it has totally ramped up the sex content in an ad that is targeted at a young audience, although I'm sure that offends a lot of people, but because it's cheesy, repetitive, uses a poor jingle and is completely opposite to what people expect from Jacobs. Don't get me wrong, going against people's expectations isn't always a bad thing, in fact it quite often makes for great advertising, I just think in this case it's a bad call. I'd love to see figures for how effective this campaign turns out to be, maybe they'll prove me wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if it turns a lot of people off. (There is actually one thing I like in the ad - the DJ's headphones, I want a pair!)
Something tells me that people won't be writing about that ad in 17 years time. But hey, that's just my opinion.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)