Category: Advertising

Advertising

Babbel Presents: An Alien Abroad

By Delphine Hirasuna |

How better to illustrate how frustrating and isolating it feels to be a foreigner who can’t communicate with locals than to use a “real” alien. The funny commercial, made by Wieden & Kennedy London and directed by David Shane, features a tourist named Alexi from who knows what planet explaining how Babbel, the language learning app, transformed his travel experience. He went from being treated like a strange alien to the gregarious, likeable individual he really is. The advert was charmingly “convincing,” except for the fact that on first meeting Alexi, the locals remained infinitely polite and patient and didn’t threaten to call the cops. Must not have been made in the U.S.

Advertising

Fanciful Humor of Apple iPhone Ads

By Delphine Hirasuna |

Film director Dougal Wilson and Furlined, a global production company with offices in Los Angeles, New York and London, are sweeping the 2018 ad awards shows, including medals from the Art Directors Club, One Show, Webby Award, D&AD, and British Arrow. Their winning entry is “Barbers,” a quirky commercial promoting the Portrait mode on Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus. Previously available only on DSLR cameras, the Portrait mode uses the iPhone’s rear cameras to separate the foreground subject from the background, to secure impressive studio-quality lighting effects.

The location for showing the iPhone’s Portrait is set in a funky New Orleans barbershop, enlivened by “Fantastic Man” by Nigerian synth pop artist William Obyearbor. Apple says it had to do 24 haircuts to make the advert. It donated the shorn hair to Locks for Love, a nonprofit that helps provide hairpieces to disadvantaged children in need.

Read More »

Advertising

Overdramatic Edeka Grill Commercial

By Delphine Hirasuna |

Berlin-based ad agency, Jung von Matt, has produced a wildly over-the-top ode to grilling meats that could be a scene from “Game of Thrones.” Made to promote the German supermarket chain Edeka, the ad titled “Men of Fire” relates the affinity of fire to meat through the ages. British actor Christopher Fairbank narrates with Shakespearean gravitas the importance of fire as he walks us through the centuries. “In the beginning there was fire kindled by lightening from heaven,” he roars, taking us past cavemen gnawing on “slain” charred meat. Fairbank’s scorns the modern barbecue fare – the “ridiculous sparkling drinks, the fussy pretentious artisanal salads, breads, and sweet dips too.” The one eternal truth he tells us is that “meat was meant to be charred.” The ad was a wonderful spoof, although since Edeka isn’t an American brand, it was unclear what the ad was plugging. Still it was memorable and fun.

Advertising

Stella Artois Ice Skating Priests

By Delphine Hirasuna |

This two-minute commercial for Stella Artois Beer, shot in 2005, is as engaging to watch as a Harold Lloyd black-and-white silent comedy from the 1920s. Directed by UK-based Jonathan Glazer for Lowe London, the Stella Artois “Ice Skating Priests” ad says a lot about the history and reputation of this Belgian pilsner beer without actually saying a word. We get the idea that Stella Artois has been around since the 1920s by viewing the action in grainy bxw. The film imitates the look and feel of an old silent picture with its use of flat, even light in every scene and the minimal use of camera angles. The soundtrack is the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Listz.

The exclusivity of Stella Artois is conveyed by the sight of humble priests surreptitiously pooling their funds to send a young priest off to buy a case to make their ice skating outing an extra special occasion. The ad campaign’s slogan simply reads “Reassuringly Expensive.”

Advertising

This Is No Yolk! Humpty Dumpty Was a Cannon, Not an Egg!

By Delphine Hirasuna |

Most of us grew up believing that Humpty Dumpty was a big clumsy egg that fell off of a wall and couldn’t be put together again. This notion was drilled into our consciousness by illustrators who came up with their own interpretation of what Humpty Dumpty looked like. But when you go over the actual words of the 18th century rhyme, nowhere does it state that Humpty Dumpty was an egg.

That depiction was introduced in 1872 by John Tenniel, who drew Humpty Dumpty as an egg in Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking-Glass.” The egg characterization was picked up in the 1902 “Mother Goose” storybook illustrated by William Wallace Denslow and in the 1916 version of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by artist Milo Winter. Maxfield Parrish even painted a Humpty egg on a 1921 cover of Life Magazine. Pop culture came to embrace the persona of Humpty Dumpty as an egg — but it wasn’t.

Read More »