A Creative Bear of a Commercial? Or Barely Selling?
We see a lot of TV ads from the couch. Do we notice? Do they make us laugh? Smile?
Remember? Or ever really sell? Sometimes we read about a viral video which sounds intriguing, so we google-it, Youtube-it. After viewing (2-3 minutes), do we laugh? Smile? Facebook it? Like it? Share it? Trash it?
In this day, where “Hits” and “Likes” are something to be cherished and held to a certain level of esteem and accomplishment, we have to ask “Are we loosing the original goal of sales?”
Charming TV ads
There are the dancing & rollerblading infants (for Evian). It’s a marvel of film, and special effects with excellent choreography (how many bottles did it sell?). There are hundreds of hysterical animal videos, where the product is positioned to be noticed but doesn’t get in the way of the laugh.
I personally like the twist, or miss-direct commercial.
The best twist in a TV ad (or viral video) I ever saw was for CANAL+, a French Movie Channel. It opens in the middle of a castle siege, swords slashing, knights falling, limbs being severed. Camera focuses on a brave female, fully armed and combating and killing several foes at once, swords clanging, shields banging…then you hear “Cut….that was great guys, really great!” You think it’s the director, but you see it’s a bear! No, someone dressed as a bear? But it’s not a full bear! It’s walking and talking, but it’s the skin of a bear, acting and talking like a director, asking for “higher flames”, praising the actress.
You see him directing the special effects editor, and another scene where he has a typical “director meltdown”, and explodes, flinging set sketches all over a table, yelling “I don’t give a shit!” Then he says to camera “where does my passion for cinema come from?” There are several more scenes of him directing, orchestrating music, plotting other scenes of this big budget movie (always action and fast movement). Then a slow pan of a living room, reveals him…“the bear rug” laid-out on the floor in clear view of a TV, and although he’s dead-still you hear his continued thoughts…“I’ve seen so many great movies over the years…so I thought…why not me?”
On the screen a super says THE MORE YOU WATCH CANAL+, THE MORE YOU LOVE CINEMA.
This was the ultimate of twists, in a TV spot. It’s not a real medieval battle; it’s not a real director making a movie. It’s not a talking bear. It’s all in the imagination of a BEAR RUG! The type of creative twist that wins award after award, and in fact, this spot is considered in the industry as one of the greatest commercials of all time! But do we remember the brand? The product? Or just this crazy bear-skin directing a movie? Creativity that’s truly beyond! That wonderful creative-illogical-logic is there… but is the sell there?
There’s the Nissan spot, which starts out with several vignettes of a man doing normal things, like shaking hands after accepting a job interview, or kissing a first date good night, or betting in a poker game. But what happens is, he starts a normal handshake but morphs it into a complicated-man-bro-gansta-from-the-hood type of handshake…but a HORN sound goes off and he stops. The same sound happens when he turns the polite kiss into his tongue in appropriately seeking the inside of her mouth like a snake kiss. HORN and he stops!
The point; “wouldn’t it be nice if we were warned that we are going too far?”
Then you see the same guy filling the air in the Nissan’s tires, as the HORN goes off, signifying there’s enough air! To me those normal actions turned awry, punctuated by a car HORN, captured my interest. All paid off with a great product feature! A feature I’d look for in my next car (after my Hyundai says Sayonara).
This TV ad, gets and A (for Apple)
There’s the Somersby’s Cider spot. You think you’re watching a spot for a launch of Apple’s new app. Takes place in a huge Apple like store with sales people counting down for the launch. They’re all dressed in casual same colored Ts, and their pouring ale. They’re using real apple’s, saying terms like 16 bit 32 bit (holding 2 different apples), it’s wireless, great content (satisfied drinker), easy to use, move towards the mouth and inter-face (customer drinks), one click (toasting glasses), connected and you’ve downloaded. You’re thinking Apple store but quickly see it’s “Somersby’s Cider”. It ends with a clever tag of “Less Apps more Apples”.
Here, was a quick miss direct that grabs your attention, because who doesn’t want to see something new from Apple, but throughout with clever double entendre word-plays, it really hits on key points with the “apple and drinking” references. The product is used throughout, and it’s extremely social and a fun way of getting the point across. My gut tells me this communicated & SOLD!
So what’s creative, what sells, what holds our interest, how long is too long to get the point across. 2 minutes for a viral video? 30 seconds for TV? 6 seconds for a website? 140 characters for a tweet? These are all questions, which the answers for are always changing as fast as new media is being introduced.
Only you know what “Connects” with you. What you “Like”. What you think is creative.
What you buy as “the best commercial ever”, and of course, what you buy.