animation
10/09/2007
Sony Bravia's Play-doh Bunnies
This playful stop-motion animation builds one tiny bunny bouncing onto the streets into an entire rabbit army, set to conquer the city with adorable. It's a fun, whimsical commercial meant to emphasize one idea -- color is swell -- but doesn't really say anything about the product being advertised, Sony Bravia. Whatever that might be.
So in order to write about this video, I Googled Sony Bravia -- and discovered that the reason the name sounded familiar is that Sony Bravia's last big viral ad was the Jose Gonzales-scored Superball spot. That two-minute piece, capturing a gorgeous slow-motion waterfall of bouncy balls, was a whimsical delight -- that also didn't really say anything about the product.
So, um, way to create branding, Sony. Job well done. Now I just need to figure out what you're selling. I guess Bravias are TVs? Well, that was my second guess. Right after color printers.
12/13/2006
Zune Ad's Charms Fail to Sell
Microsoft's shiny new Zune music player isn't finding the success some anticipated, despite its technological superiority and wireless capability. Sure, any attempt to challenge a cultural icon like the iPod is bound to have a rocky start, but its attempts to penetrate the marketplace are failing like crazy. So where falls the blame?
These adorable ads, working the claymation style to create a menagerie of adorable creatures sharing joy and happiness via wireless communication, are without a doubt visually stunning. Our favorite, in which a little girl pacifies a killer robot with a dove and then teams up with him to spread some block rockin' beats, is especially charming and witty (not to mention a useful guide to the handling of killer robots). However, none of these adorable creations ever actually use a Zune: the hurdle that keeps these ads from effectively reaching their audence. The iPod is an icon for a reason, after all -- for one thing, people know what it looks like. Do you know what a Zune looks like? Neither do we. Neither does this killer robot. And what good does that do anyone?
