It’s a rare opportunity to be affected by a commercial. The shortest of short films, intended simply to burn an impression into your mind. The laziest simply explain a product or service- the best succeed by flashing a glimpse into a world or of a story that is so enticing and manipulative (in whatever sense intended) that you cant help but remember the company or product they are hawking along with it, regardless of your attempts to do so. I’m going to post up a few that have resonated with me over the years. Im sure youve seen a few of these, hopefully some will be new.
I watched this today and not only was the artistry involved in the animation impressive enough to stand on its own, they took it to a narrative read from a book that builds to such an emotional finish you wish there was more to go along with it.
On the other side of the spectrum are the ad companies that create an ad that resonates so well that they end up taking a life of their own as reoccurring characters and storylines that span several spots like mini episodes. Usually they run on the comedic side of things, since a 7 part dramatic storyline selling beer would be, hmmm… boring. Remember the Budweiser Frogs? Of course you do. They were so ubiquitous in the 90′s that they spawned all manners of paraphenalia: toys, tees, houseware, you name it. So to keep it going they even introduced new characters.
And before the gecko there were the cavemen. Their ads were so successful some ill-advised producer thought they could translate that hilarity into a 22 minute sitcom. What they didn’t realize is that the humor works because its in spurts, sandwiched inbetween boring commercials for products designed to make you even lazier. But back to the point at hand:
TANGENTS!
Early Spike Jonze work after moving from skate vids to music vids to corporate commercials. Coincidentally (or not) the song in this commercial was from the band Wax, who you may or may not have remembered from this, one of the music videos that (arguably along with the Weezer and Beastie Boys videos released the year before) brought Jonze into the mainstream spotlight.
A Better Moustrap:
AND of coarse I had to put a Bravia ad in here. Sorry.