Nike - Nike Football - Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam - The Netherlands
Nike-Write your own future
This last commercial was production wise, one of the best of the whole festival. The edits, the cuts, the storyline, everything about the commercial works. There are almost no words but comments here and there and I think that's one of the things that genuinely helps the commercial. I love soccer and my parents love it too so watching this commercial brought back all the excitement of watching the world cup with them. I think that's what I liked best about it, the fact that it captured the excitement of watching play by play so exactly. Of course the production techniques were amazing too. Getting every emotion that the players have during the games and especially the good play/bad play reactions. I think Nike has always done a great job of finding agencies that capture the essence of their brand which is real sports.The just do it campaign flows perfectly from commercial to commercial and it's just effortless. It also helps that my favorite soccer team ever is Brazil and they are a part of the commercial as well! I also love that Cristiano Ronaldo is also in the commercial because he's such a great soccer player, but, more realistically because he's gorgeous. I think the aftermath of the plays are hilarious too because they're so extreme. The tone of the commercial is rugged and serious but the results of the plays are funny to me. It's a perfect marriage of everything Nike is and what it wants to be.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Commercial 4: Chrysler
Chrysler - Chrysler 200 - Wieden + Kennedy - USA
This commercial was awesome to me. I use stumbleupon.com a lot and there was a page that had the ruins of detroit on it and it was pretty intense. They had all of these abandoned buildings and it just looked like the apocalypse or something from Cormac McCarthy's The Road. My impression of what Detroit is became the apocalypse because that's what I thought it had come down to. When I first saw this commercial, however, I was surprised to see all of the nice statues and all the people that still live there. I think people from Detroit would also be proud of this commercial because it reminds them of the home they remember, not the ruins that people post on the internet. I also love that Eminem was in it because he does for Detroit what Jay-Z does for New York. It's just this loyalty to their city that makes you respect it. The narration on this was also amazing. It built up the scene and told the story of why the city is still great and how it will rise back up to its former glory. I love the camera angles as well because it literally felt like a movie, narration and everything. And of course I loved the end with Eminem announcing that it was motor city and "this is what we do" the whole commercial was just done so well. I also liked that it showed the good and bad of the city. It really tried to show the fact that they are tying to make a come back and buying the car, you would be helping the people of Detroit out in their goal to rise their city up. It kind of makes you patriotic in the fact that by helping one state, you help your country. Awesome.
Commercial 3: Axe
Unilever - Axe Full Control - Ponce Buenos Aires - Argentina
Axe Full Control
This commercial was also one of the ones I had seen before hand in the commercial screening room. What I really liked about this was how serious the tone was for such a funny commercial. The camera angles were pretty simple, cut and go on to the next shot. What I really liked about their technique however was that it had an almost movie like quality. Everything about it would suggest that this was a serious disease and a real problem that men have to deal with it. The theme of the commercial was "premature perspiration," a play off the premature ejaculation problem that many men apparently suffer from. I thought it was hilarious because men are so embarrassed of this issue and the fact that it is actually so similar to sweat stains and such made it even better. Somebody at the festival told me that this was already in america but I haven't actually seen it yet. I agree with my friend Tommy when he said that it probably wouldn't fly in the US. As much freedom as we think we have, the US is still pretty conservative and although the commercial is hilarious and it really is a good promoter of axe, the similarity to the ejaculation thing might not be great. I might just make it go viral in the US by posting it on all my social media sites just so that the world can enjoy! But, it would give a lot of free advertising to axe and I don't really like them, so, I probably won't.
Axe Full Control
This commercial was also one of the ones I had seen before hand in the commercial screening room. What I really liked about this was how serious the tone was for such a funny commercial. The camera angles were pretty simple, cut and go on to the next shot. What I really liked about their technique however was that it had an almost movie like quality. Everything about it would suggest that this was a serious disease and a real problem that men have to deal with it. The theme of the commercial was "premature perspiration," a play off the premature ejaculation problem that many men apparently suffer from. I thought it was hilarious because men are so embarrassed of this issue and the fact that it is actually so similar to sweat stains and such made it even better. Somebody at the festival told me that this was already in america but I haven't actually seen it yet. I agree with my friend Tommy when he said that it probably wouldn't fly in the US. As much freedom as we think we have, the US is still pretty conservative and although the commercial is hilarious and it really is a good promoter of axe, the similarity to the ejaculation thing might not be great. I might just make it go viral in the US by posting it on all my social media sites just so that the world can enjoy! But, it would give a lot of free advertising to axe and I don't really like them, so, I probably won't.
Commercial 2: Otrivin Nasal Spray
Novartis Consumer Health - Otrivin Nasal Spray - Saatchi & Saatchi, carouge - Switzerland
Otrivin Nasal Spray
This was probably one of my favorite commercials in the entire show. It's so simple and it was probably really cheap to make but it was hilarious! Otrivin nasal spray was trying to promote that it's better to breathe through your nose because you look dumb breathing with your mouth open. The camera angles were pretty simple, it just followed the teacher handing out a pair of scissors to every student. I think what made the commercial so good is that they didn't use any words. It was simple enough that just by watching it you knew what was going on. The only thing I think they could have done better was making it more apparent that the one little girl breathing through her mouth got a pair of safety scissors. I got the looking dumber thing the first time but didn't actually catch the little girl getting safety scissors until the second time I watched it. They also had a second commercial where a guy is breathing with his mouth and a lady decides to be nice and help him by tying his shoes. Again, hilarious. I was actually lucky enough to catch this commercial in the commercial screening room where I saw a lot of the winners in this category.
Otrivin Nasal Spray
This was probably one of my favorite commercials in the entire show. It's so simple and it was probably really cheap to make but it was hilarious! Otrivin nasal spray was trying to promote that it's better to breathe through your nose because you look dumb breathing with your mouth open. The camera angles were pretty simple, it just followed the teacher handing out a pair of scissors to every student. I think what made the commercial so good is that they didn't use any words. It was simple enough that just by watching it you knew what was going on. The only thing I think they could have done better was making it more apparent that the one little girl breathing through her mouth got a pair of safety scissors. I got the looking dumber thing the first time but didn't actually catch the little girl getting safety scissors until the second time I watched it. They also had a second commercial where a guy is breathing with his mouth and a lady decides to be nice and help him by tying his shoes. Again, hilarious. I was actually lucky enough to catch this commercial in the commercial screening room where I saw a lot of the winners in this category.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Commercial 1: Old Spice
Old Spice - Odor Blocker Body Wash - Wieden + Kennedy Portland - United Kingdom
Odor Blocker
The old spice legacy that Wieden + Kennedy have created is amazing. They've managed to bring back a brand that was falling into the shadows against new, cooler brands, such as axe. That being said, I'm really tired of the old spice guy. In this specific commercial they attempted to play off the campaign that shot them to stardom and recruited Terry Crews to basically create the same commercial except on steroids. The point of the commercial is to promote their new line of odor blocker body wash. I like that it's a new guy (and Terry Crews is pretty cool), but, the muscular black guy in a towel is just getting old and annoying for me. The concept of the commercial is on track and the filming is done very well. I don't blame them for trying to capitalize on their very successful idea, but, I think they're all about creating different types of ads that people haven't really seen before. I did like how in one of the spots the camera went into his armpit and then into that guys armpit and so fourth. It was a really cool effect and I think it helped convey the message that it penetrates deep enough to keep you smelling good. The rest of the camera angles were pretty stationary, Mostly Crews standing in one spot and things happening in the background. They didn't use as much green screen technology as the first commercial and that was a plus because it differentiated the two. I also liked that they tried to make it a little rougher of a commercial then the previous one. Crews was tougher looking and spoke like a big guy, unlike the original old spice man who's more elegant and handsome. I also think they could have mentioned more studies to prove that it actually does work better but, it was still a pretty good commercial.
Odor Blocker
The old spice legacy that Wieden + Kennedy have created is amazing. They've managed to bring back a brand that was falling into the shadows against new, cooler brands, such as axe. That being said, I'm really tired of the old spice guy. In this specific commercial they attempted to play off the campaign that shot them to stardom and recruited Terry Crews to basically create the same commercial except on steroids. The point of the commercial is to promote their new line of odor blocker body wash. I like that it's a new guy (and Terry Crews is pretty cool), but, the muscular black guy in a towel is just getting old and annoying for me. The concept of the commercial is on track and the filming is done very well. I don't blame them for trying to capitalize on their very successful idea, but, I think they're all about creating different types of ads that people haven't really seen before. I did like how in one of the spots the camera went into his armpit and then into that guys armpit and so fourth. It was a really cool effect and I think it helped convey the message that it penetrates deep enough to keep you smelling good. The rest of the camera angles were pretty stationary, Mostly Crews standing in one spot and things happening in the background. They didn't use as much green screen technology as the first commercial and that was a plus because it differentiated the two. I also liked that they tried to make it a little rougher of a commercial then the previous one. Crews was tougher looking and spoke like a big guy, unlike the original old spice man who's more elegant and handsome. I also think they could have mentioned more studies to prove that it actually does work better but, it was still a pretty good commercial.
Satuday! :)
The moment we've all been waiting for...
The highlight of today was definitely the film awards show. We walked in to the always beautiful auditorium and tried to fight our way into some seats. This was probably the most anticipated award show because it's the commercials one. This was also particularly important because they were revealing the titanium and integrated categories tonight. They also opened a new category, creative effectiveness which measures not just how creative a campaign was, but, how effective the campaign actually was. The commercials were all great, but, they were actually most of the ones we had previously seen in the screening rooms and a lot of them were the ones I chose to critique for a different assignment so I'm just going to talk about them all together in later posts. Wieden + Kennedy won a lot of awards, as expected, including independent agency of the year. WPP won holding company of the year, BBDO won network of the year, and BBDO sao paulo won agency of the year. I was particularly excited for these wins because I LOVE BBDO. I just think their style, their motto, everything is pretty cool and I would love to work for them! We all decided to dress up for this so I was in new heels that I had just bought before I left for France and I've officially decided that I'm never wearing them again without some kind of padding or something because next day blisters are not okay!! I just wanted to throw that out there to vent about my frustration with them.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Friday!
Who's Patti Smith?
So Molly and I woke up late again. Shocker. But, we did make it to the highlight of my day which was a talk with BBDO atlanta CEO Chris Hall. He was a pretty down to earth guy and had three take home points for us. Creativity=effectiveness, we're in the golden age of creativity and collaboration is key. He elaborated on each of those points and it was a really good talk. He didn't sound like a seminar speaker and was very genuine about the advice he was giving. He was also ready and willing to answer any and all questions we had for him. The next seminar was intriguing to me because I had no idea who Patti Smith was, but, I definitely found out. I think it hit me that she was a big deal when she walked in and people stood up for her and gave her a standing ovation without even saying anything. Her book, Just Kids, is very popular and she herself is an inspiration as well as a great speaker. She even read a personal letter from the book out loud and sang a song. She's iconic and apparently a rock and roll legend and I still can't believe we got to hear her sing and give her opinion. After this we all decided to just come home since there weren't really that many seminars left and to be honest, I think we were all getting a bit tired of being in there for so long. We had a nice quiet time at home and went on a beach trip later on in the night to share stories and such. Really great way to spend a Friday night.
So Molly and I woke up late again. Shocker. But, we did make it to the highlight of my day which was a talk with BBDO atlanta CEO Chris Hall. He was a pretty down to earth guy and had three take home points for us. Creativity=effectiveness, we're in the golden age of creativity and collaboration is key. He elaborated on each of those points and it was a really good talk. He didn't sound like a seminar speaker and was very genuine about the advice he was giving. He was also ready and willing to answer any and all questions we had for him. The next seminar was intriguing to me because I had no idea who Patti Smith was, but, I definitely found out. I think it hit me that she was a big deal when she walked in and people stood up for her and gave her a standing ovation without even saying anything. Her book, Just Kids, is very popular and she herself is an inspiration as well as a great speaker. She even read a personal letter from the book out loud and sang a song. She's iconic and apparently a rock and roll legend and I still can't believe we got to hear her sing and give her opinion. After this we all decided to just come home since there weren't really that many seminars left and to be honest, I think we were all getting a bit tired of being in there for so long. We had a nice quiet time at home and went on a beach trip later on in the night to share stories and such. Really great way to spend a Friday night.
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