Insane Ad

This video is ... very deserving of a creative award. From my understanding, it's already won a few and will continue to do so throughout this year. It was created by Y&R Chicago.

I went there ...

Katrina and I did a project for another class where we had to examine and re-pitch an award-winning ad campaign. We work very well together and decided to pick Viagra and play off of its already established humour. I remember when these commercials came out over a year ago and were piggy-backed against one another as a means to stay in the minds of the consumer. Toronto's Taxi created four different spots outlining stereotypical leisure activities older couples use as a means for sex substitution. The ads resulted in a hilarious spot featuring men complaining about their strolling, reading, home decorating, and antiquing addictions. The more research Katrina and I did on the commercials, the more we began to appreciate the humour that the videos were trying to instill. Previously, Viagra had targeted men alone with a tag line of "Talk to your doctor," but with these new ads, the topic of ED didn't have to be such a taboo subject in society. The ad was appealing to both men AND women ... the duality of the commercial is what separated it from its competitors such as Cialis and Levitra. We presented the "Confessions Campaign" with great success and allowed both of us to have a little fun at poking fun at the guys in the class.

The one you always come back to ...

I always come back to this commercial. Every once in awhile, the thought of it comes back into my head and without fail, always puts a smile to my face. I saw this particular commercial at the Cannes Advertising Festival last year and have always referred to it as one of the coolest commercials I've seen. I'm not a big animal lover, but this commercial just goes right to my heart. It's creative as hell and filming this must have been incredible. Man, if I had money to burn ... taking non-flying birds hang gliding ... who wouldn't?!

I tend to enjoy commercials that aren't necessarily about the product but rather, focus on making the audience think. Stepping above the usual "show and tell" of most commercials, ones that allow the audience to see the humour or emotion, to me, gain a far superior reaction from audiences. Creativity is at the core of design, no matter the medium. Challenging your audience shows effort and thus, deserves my attention. It is commercials such as this one that make me not change the channel or mute between my program.

Oh Pepsi & your continuity errors ...

I'm a big fan of commercials. Every year I go to the Cannes Advertising Festival, which normally showcases the best commercials from all around the world. It's interesting to see the various methods of persuasion and how they vary depending on the location and agency. I must admit, the Cannes Ad Films are always my favourite and I look forward to seeing them each year.

I was shown this commercial the other day and although clever, I did manage to find a continuity error near the end. You're looking at a billion dollar company (Pepsi) whose ads are world renown ... you would *think* that this would have been noticed. The rivalry between Pepsi and Coke has gone on for decades and has become a staple in both company's ad campaigns. So, nothing new to have Coke present in this commercial. Entitled "Diner 2," the noticeable error occurs at the 44 second mark where the Pepsi rep videos the Coke rep drinking the new Pepsi MAX (...how dare he). The coke switches hands in the video in order to fully show the product but if you look closer, you'll notice that the Coke rep is holding it in the opposite hand. I don't know ... it may seem silly, but c'mon ... Pepsi execs should be noticing stuff like that. As a previous film student and now studying advertising & design, it's small stuff such as the continuity error that really ruin the commercial for me. Yes, it's a clever concept but man, get your editing straight!