My Top 10 TV Ads Of The Post Dot Com Era
[DISCLAIMER]
I'm covering single TV commercials not entire ad campaigns, nor am i covering TV ad series unless one of them stands out on its own. For example there are many iconic series that i love such as Apple's "Get a Mac", ESPN's "This is Sportcenter", DirectTV's "Get Rid of Cable", and Orange's "Film Board" are best when watched in their entirety as a series.
I also tried to keep the TV ads from the time periods of post dot com era. I wanted a bit more modern examples in this list otherwise if i opened it up to all times then you'd have the list full of the iconic ones that everyone knows already like Guinness Surfer, VW Think Small or Snow Plow, or Coca-Cola's Hilltop, Where's the Beef, Budweiser's Wassup, Got Milk, etc. Everyone knows about those anyways so i wanted to keep the ads a bit more recent.
I tried to pick TV ads that were top scoring in ALL categories be it craft/cinematography/production value, story, powerful message, product, or brand relevance.
Apple "Think Different" (TBWA\Chiat\Day) - Most of you know the story: after kicking out founder, Steve Jobs, Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy, its stock the lowest its ever been when in a last desperate move they hired Jobs back to try to right the ship. His first major task was to rebrand Apple and launch what is now one of the most successful brand campaigns ever created, Think Different. What Steve Jobs realized was that brands that could communicate a clear and strong value i.e. something consumers could get behind, became iconic brands. They became immortal. The interesting thing about this is that Apple suddenly made it cool to be different, to think different, to champion people who went against the flow. And naturally this appealed to creative people because we naturally do that.
Always “Like a Girl” (Leo Burnett) - Dove had paved the way for feminine beauty/personal care brands to tackle the larger issues of gender inequality by launching campaigns that were inexplicitly tied to the brand promise. The key that Always struck on was using an age old playground insult "you _____ like a girl" and not only question it but turn it on its head. There are many obvious gender inequalities happening but this one seemed to fly under the radar. Was it because it's almost part of our natural language based colloquialism? Huge props to Always for digging this up and exposing it.
Under Armour "Rule Yourself - Michael Phelps" (Droga5) - What's so striking about this is not only the amazing production value but how it tells an entire emotional journey: dark, raw, visceral, as intercuts between a slowly zooming out long shot of a melancholy swim in the dark. The music choice here is as deserving as the cinematography, but the last final line brings it all together in an explosive revelation. While it is using Michael Phelps and his training to make a comeback as the foundation of the story, in the end the message is more than that. It's about that internal battle and struggle of mental and physical, that fight, we have with ourselves when no one else is watching, that determines who we want to be in the end. It's a statement that reaches far beyond just sports or professional athletes, it's the beginning of a profound epistemological discourse on what it means to truly be self aware.
Sony Bravia "Colour Like No Other" (Fallon) - One of the earliest tech companies to borrow heavy aesthetic and marketing tips from Apple, Sony's launch of its new HD screen technology used in its HDTVs and computer monitors decided not to talk about pixel density, # of colors, etc. Instead they decided to show how Sony Bravia stood for colour through vivid film and photography. The thousands of colored bouncy balls tumbling at various frame speeds over the landscape of San Francisco set to the sweet longing sound track, Heartbeats, by Jose Gonzales, not only showed the technical prowess of the Bravia line but also did it without ever talking tech.
VW - "The Force" (Deutsch) - i think what makes this so powerful is that it hones in on a universal truth. Anyone who's grown up a Star Wars kid has tried in some way or another to "use the Force", to no avail but we all wondered...what if. I think kids show us and remind us about the power of imagination. The true genius is how to talk about a product benefit like remote starter by not talking about it, by showing how it can play a part in a normal every day life but at the same time do something special and spark the imagination of a kid. Distilling the boring product benefit into a story and setting like this is where the true creative genius shows.
Sony Playstation "Double Life" (TBWA) - personally i've always been a fan of mixing mediums, and styles. The dichotomy of something like the lilting tones of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata set to a Subaru in slow motion drifting along a mud spattered dirt road in the emerald green highlands of New Zealand always attracted me. Violence and serenity being interwoven together into a strange but fascinating tapestry of audio visual delight. This ad has an almost Walt Whitman-like narrative set to a dystopia background flitting between grainy and clear, color and monotone. It showed a wide variety of people from all walks of life (British mostly), who were all gamers. It's interesting because the bigger message here is that gamers aren't just fat, socially inept, geeky nerds with thick glasses sitting around playing games. Games are accessible and played by all. Inclusiveness while visually showing the contrast of people executed in pure genius.
P&G "Thank You Mom" (Wieden & Kennedy) - in one TV commercial P&G became the brand platform for mom's all around the world. While it has since spawned many iterations, each one just as powerful as its predecessor, the original one aired in 2010 and strikes a powerful chord with everyone. The underlining message of course asks is there anything more powerful than a mom's love? Is there anything more selfless than a parent's devotion and sacrifices for their kids? The bigger takeaway here is that in a world of ever increasing conflict, fear, and hate dividing and separating us, here is one example of how similar and how alike our values can be...Love.
The Guardian "Three Little Pigs" (BBH) - We've all been there. The impossible brief: client wants product, brand, story, emotions, yet avoid controversy, yet be super creative. They want it all. This commercial did it all. It showed how the product (news) lived across seamless platforms from mobile devices to web to paper to TV, and is an integral part of peoples lives, to the brand promise which is that the Guardian is tireless in its pursuit of the whole picture (truth). The bigger underlining message is of course the state of "fake" news and how the news is portrayed can shape powerful public opinion and discourse. Not only is the Guardian making a subtle nod to their brand differentiation to other news outlets, they also remind them of the innate responsibility news outlets shoulder. To avoid any controversy by relating to a current news event (and also ensure that the creative is basically ageless), yet still have something everyone could relate to, they used a fairy tale of the Three Little Pigs. By embedding them into our modern reality setting, they created a visually stunning story.
Metro "Dumb Ways to Die" (McCann) - i've told my creative teams in the past, anyone can bang out a good ad for Nike or Apple or Coke. Metro Safety? Now that's where creativity and the creative person is really tested. McCann Melbourne really put themselves on the map in this. It shows they went all out. The TV ad itself was meticulously done and i can't help but admire the sheer craft of the original music, animation, and artwork put into it. Then the strategy and the big concept itself hits you. To wrap such a boring and obvious message into a creative wrapping like this and then use multi-channel (they have an IOS game, website, etc.) in such an integrated way astounds me and makes me very very jealous. Although, i can't help but wonder if they were inspired by the social media postings of men doing stupid things, i think titled "Why women live longer than men". There's also an excellent twitter handle by @DarwinAwards that shows the stupid life endangering stuff people in general do. It seems this concept was heavily borrowed from those ideas but that's completely OK because this campaign is an absolute gem.
John Lewis "Monty the Penguin" (adam&eve DDB) - you have to be special to basically create your own advertising event on a yearly basis. The annual John Lewis Christmas spot is now firmly a tradition and they will now forever have to do it. The pressure to top each previous year with another better story is to say the least, a challenge. While everyone has their favorite mine is by far this one. Again much like VW's The Force, the story of having a imaginary (but very real to us) friend is something almost everyone can relate to. One of my favorite comics of all time, Calvin & Hobbes is basically this (and maybe where this concept was inspired by), but what's interesting here is while the kid has no idea really about "love" or "attraction" he knew his friend was lonely. You'll be surprised at how considerate AND perceptive kids can actually be.