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10/03/2007
Dove Onslaught: The Campaign for Real Beauty Continues
The latest in Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty series, this blindingly fast video shows the barrage of images that assail young girls every day, just as they're trying to figure out what the hell they think of their own bodies. It's enough to make a grown woman self-conscious. Not that I'd know anything about that.
It's just as effective a message as the Dove Evolution short, but the fact of the matter is that this is a marketing campaign, not a public service announcement. It's a very well-intentioned marketing campaign, but would the Dove brand be so heavily associated with these messages if it were purely altruistic? No. I'm glad that the folks at the Unilever Corporation are thinking outside the box when comes to their advertising. But it doesn't make me more likely to buy their skin tightening cream.
07/23/2007
Behind the Scenes: Sprint's "Dreams"
I've never really been much of a CGI/tech geek. (I'm always more curious about the "why" than the "how".) But sometimes a piece of work comes along that's truly astonishing, that really employs technology not for its own sake but in the service of a larger aesthetic goal. The new Sprint "Dreams" spot is one such example. Directed by Little Miss Sunshine's Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the spot combines old-fashioned stop-motion animation with high-tech post gadgetry to expound on the virtues of light and the power of creativity (it's not corny, it really isn't). Thankfully, the folks at Sprint have posted this great behind-the-scenes making-of short that reveals how the directors and their team of collaborators pulled it off. Think of it as a DVD extra, but for commercials.
Carlsberg and Mentos Don't Mix
We missed this ad when it first debuted in May, but months later it's still a viral video freshmaker. Sadly, the actual chemical reactions found in the interaction between beer and Mentos remain a mystery. But the foolishness in meddling with such dark magicks is crystal clear.
07/18/2007
Volkswagen Gets Freaky
Here, a very German man dances around in a Speedo, farting and twisting his nipples around a VW bug. While definitely not trying to seduce viewers into buying the car (except for those viewers who are ‘into that sort of thing’), in the end this ad comes together, its punch line finally making clear why someone chose to spend money filming this.
Volkswagen has played off its German-ness before (see the German version of “Pimp my Ride”: “Un-Pimp my Auto”), and although it may leave you a bit uneasy, it's more attention-grabbing than the ten-thousandth panoramic view of Brand-X SUV, driving through the desert to a voiceover about warranties.
