this is so smart and very relevant!
Archive for July, 2008
you say what? #29
wahahaha! this is hilarious!
Collateral Damage
Let’s make a list of things that have been ruined forever by advertising, shall we?
Talking animals;
Countless pieces of great music, from pop to classical, most recently, Daydream Believer;
Talking babies. Granted the Etrade baby is, at times, inspired, nevertheless, the whole talking baby shtick is toast;
Our respect for artists who prostitute their art by allowing it to be bastvertized, starting with Dylan, the Beatles, The Who, the Rolling Stones, Springsteen, and we haven’t even touched on visual artists;
Countless one word punchlines such as:
“What?” (in response to being stared because of having done or said something stupid or outrageous)
“Dude.”
Children talking like adults;
Impossibly clueless people who are dumbfounded or rendered speechless by the news of a benefit of some product or service, (see the new National City Bank campaign.);
Many special effects and other manipulations of reality. For example,
morphing;
abrupt changes back and forth between normal speed to fast motion to slow motion;
Large objects (cars, pianos, wrecking balls, etc.) falling unexpectedly into frame, crushing a person, a car, whatever.
The credibility of many iconic cultural figures, when they become advertising pitchmen, i.e. Robert DeNiro. Bob Dylan, Spike Lee, Bill Curtis,
This, surely, only scratches the surface of stuff that advertising has beaten to death, thus severely diminishing or outright ruining the original intended effect, along with stuff like great art, music etc., that simply ought not to be cheapened/diminished/ prostituted for the purpose of selling banking services, soda pop and so forth.
I invite you to add to this list. It’s not only good therapy, but it might turn into a useful list of “don’ts” next time you’re conceptualizing. If we compile a long enough list, it could become a book, in which case we could all split the royalties.
if i have to add one, it’ll be people randomly pulling the product out from their pockets to introduce it to their friend – as if they carry it everywhere they go. (*note: CLs)
adidas Vertical Soccer
every month i’ll present an interesting outdoor campaign to my clients – hoping to inspire them along the way. shall post it here so i can refer to it in the future!
Agency: TBWA\JAPAN Tokyo
Concept:
Interesting OOH execution that proves adidas’ slogan “Impossible is Nothing”
Where: Shibuya, Tokyo’s busiest pedestrian intersection
How:
- Soccer players are suspended from cables on a billboard, about ten stories away from the ground
- The men then play an impressive one-on-one game high above the streets by kicking around the football that is tethered between them
- Each session lasts about 15 – 20 minutes, 5 times a day for two weeks
- The headline reads “Own the passion and you own the game.”
Best Practice Areas:
- Innovative use of existing media space – The world’s first vertical soccer game and living billboard.
- An excellent example how a good big idea can magnify a budget of about USD180,000 to generate USD150 million worth of free publicity worldwide.
- Campaignable big idea that is able to carry through to other campaigns – this was the first “Impossible is Nothing” campaign. Future adidas campaigns carried on the same big idea and continued to challenge the idea in different scenarios.
Key Learning:
It takes something special to bring the swarming streets of Tokyo to a standstill. Adidas did it by bringing soccer (the 2nd most popular sport in Japan after baseball) to a different level. At the same time, they managed to challenge and prove its slogan/brand promise. – “Impossible is Nothing”.
