Advertising

What Pet Cats and Great Athletes Have in Common

By Delphine Hirasuna | September 11, 2014February 15, 2019

At first this commercial for Temptations Tumblers cat treats by adam@eveDDB/London seemed like a brazen effort to hook viewers in by combining two of the most popular subjects on YouTube — top athletes and adorable cats. The first half of the “Time to Play Ball” Temptations commercial did look like an ad for Nike or Adidas, with not a furry paw in sight. But then the shared attributes of jocks and cats came into focus. The athletes looked steely, determined, alert and focused. Even the hairs on their neck stood at attention. The cats, presented in elegant slow motion, exhibited the same kind of single-minded concentration. Nothing distracted them from the tiny Temptations Tumblers tossed their way. The comparison came together nicely and worked. (It didn’t hurt to be able to feature cute cats and buff jocks either.)

Advertising

Schwartz’s Explosion of Flavors

By Delphine Hirasuna | July 10, 2014September 4, 2014

How do you make herbs and spices tantalizing on a visual and auditory level? Asked by Schwartz Flavour Shots to create an ad that turned its seasonings into a complete sensory experience, Grey London unleashed Schwartz herbs and spices in an explosion of colors choreographed to a classical arrangement by M.J. Cole of Soho Music. Directed by Partizan’s Chris Cairns, the Schwartz Flavour Shots commercial used pyrotechnic designers to trigger 140 separate explosions of spices. Several sacks of black peppercorn, turmeric, cardamom, paprika, ginger, cumin seeds, chili and coriander were synchronized to blast off on cue to the notes and chords of Cole’s piano score. Filmed at Pinewood Studios in the UK, the commercial had to be shot in one take. The final result was an exciting visual feast.

Advertising

OPI: Made You Watch!

By Delphine Hirasuna | April 11, 2014February 19, 2019

Oh, how marketing has changed since YouTube came into being in 2005. On the whole, online commercials are more entertaining and longer in length than the 30 and 60 second spots shown on television. This video for OPI fingernail polish titled “Instinct of Color” is like viewing a mini stage performance. Sensuous and mesmerizing, this video features a dance challenge between a beautiful thoroughbred named “Lady in Black” and four talented dancers – all to promote fingernail polish. Created by DAN Paris using music “Down the Road” by French DJ’s C2C, the 2 ½ minute video ad doesn’t display the actual OPI nail polish bottles until the end and mostly shows the best-selling colors in the OPI line on the hooves of the horse and the dancers’ apparel. The commercial is without voiceover or marketing spiel. You watch it for pure enjoyment. This is the push-pull difference between TV and Internet. TV ads push their message in front of viewers by ”barging” into hit TV shows. Online advertising videos have to pull viewers to their site by offering the promise of fun and amusement. They need to give viewers a reason to seek them out and tell their friends so their message will go viral.

Advertising

Audi Quattro: The One That Got Away

By Delphine Hirasuna | March 21, 2014February 19, 2019

This is a car commercial inspired by epic themes found in Herman Melville’s 1851 classic “Moby Dick.” Told by a tormented Alaska tow truck driver, played by David Florek, the modern-day Ahab is fraught with frustration, yearning and regret over the car that kept escaping his grasp, even in an arctic blizzard. Created by San Francisco ad agency Venables Bell & Partners, the commercial spins an overblown account of trying to hook the wily Audi Quattro. Though exaggerated to mythic proportions, the tale of the tow truck driver versus the Audi Quattro is not anything like the story of Ahab’s obsessive and vengeful pursuit of Moby Dick, the great white whale that chewed off his leg and ultimately destroyed his Pequod ship and him along with it. But the comparison makes a wonderful yarn, especially when you consider that the commercial is really about Audi Quattro’s four-wheel drive system — which would really be boring if the narrator told it straight.

Advertising

Misfit Right In….Las Vegas-Style

By Delphine Hirasuna | March 5, 2014September 4, 2014

The evocative typography and energetic soundtrack are what drew us into this 30-second TV spot for the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, but I don’t know what to make of the sales pitch for the hotel/spa. There’s nothing really risqué or particularly naughty about the imagery, but the message that flashes on screen is provocative. “Mutation is progress…Wrong has more fun…Correct is a mistake…Right is a trap…Fight right…Break some eggs… Wild is laid…Misfit right in….Just the right amount of wrong.”

Created by Fallon ad agency in Minneapolis, the commercial seems to validate the promise that “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” According to Fallon’s website, “[Cosmopolitan’s] brief was ‘disruptive simplicity.’ And the desired outcome was, as always, to create something that would tickle the senses of the Curious Class and showcase the brand’s unique blend of attitude, wit and sophisticated.”