Top 5 Commercials

While reading Advertising Age the other day I stumbled across the Creativity's Top 5 Commercials from the first week of 2009. These commercials are from different parts of the world, so it was impossible for me to see them all before watching this video.

Watch the video at:

http://adage.com/brightcove/lineup.php?lineup=1442790036&title=6963187001

They began with #5 which was a commercial for Audi. It depicted a drawing of a man moving around the box shaping it into a car. I felt it was creative because it was impossible to tell what the guy was doing for over 30 seconds. Finally it begins to hint that it is being shaped into a car. One issue I had with this commercial was the length of it; it seemed to take too long to reach it's intended point. However, it was created to be shown in the UK, not the US. I liked the fact that it takes thinking and it draws the viewer in because they are unsure of what is actually happening with this box.

Number 4 was Gatorade's new commercial "What's G?" I greatly enjoyed watching this commercial, but I wish I had seen it on TV first. The reason I wish I'd seen it on TV is because they do not tell you what "G" is. Lil' Wayne implies it with the wording, but they never show the product, only the logo at the very end. I feel this is an effective beginning to a new campaign because it makes people think. Those who have seen the new packaging or athletes that know their products may know what this commercial was implying, but I feel there is a decent percentage of the population who was merely confused by what's being advertised. The commercial was classy and simple. Having still footage of the athletes scroll across the page with Lil' Wayne's voice over explaining the traits of athletes that drink Gatorade. The commercial simply ends with the new "G" Gatorade symbol, but no picture or extra copy about the product.

I did not particularly like the commercial in spot #3. Again, it was too long for my taste, seeing I'm use to super short commercials being from the US. Although I thought it was interesting I didn't exactly understand why the man was fighting with himself. Is it suppose to relate to the consumers' struggle on whether or not they should purchase the car? I also felt had too much of an action scene or movie feel for a commercial. I do believe I would have enjoyed the commercial more if the fighting scene resulted in the assembly of the car, but by the end of the commercial I felt lost and confused.

The commercial that made the #2 spot was a trailer for a movie/documentary that comes out in Spring 2009. I found it interesting and it definitely captured my attention. But I did not realize that it was a movie trailer until the end of it. It definitely gave off a different vibe than a typical movie trailer - I almost feel that I would have paid better attention to it if I knew it was a trailer from the beginning because the whole time I was watching it I thought it was a product advertisement, so I was analyzing it more than absorbing the information they were giving us about the film. But I certainly am interested in that film now, and I hope I see more advertisements as the spring approaches.

The #1 commercial for the beginning of 2009 was Virgin Airlines' 25th Anniversary commercial. I thought it was cool how they had the commercial take place back in 1984, which is when the airline began. And I felt the commercial was definitely captivating. However, I feel that in the U.S. there would be a decent percentage of people who found this commercial degrading to women because it greatly focused on the stunning beauty of the stewardesses as they walked through the terminal. One effective attribute when producing a commercial is focusing on sexual appeal without being too obvious, and this commercial definitely succeeded at this. While this was a good commercial, it was not my favorite out of these 5. I definitely enjoyed Gatorade's "What's G?" commercial the best.

As the new year begins...

It has been a little over a week into 2009 and it seems to already be flying by. Hopefully that means there is a lot of fun and excitement ahead. I kicked off the new year with friends – we spent 4 days hanging and bonding at a friend’s house while doing activities like: hiking, crafts, going to a giant trampoline place, broom ball, dance parties, and a photo scavenger hunt. My favorite parts of this trip, besides becoming closer with everyone, were playing broom ball and the photo scavenger hunt in downtown Santa Cruz. I was also excited because I got a few really cool photos from doing the scavenger hunt.

This photo was used as our "creative"/tie-breaker photo. While we were wondering around we came across this giant green shed, with some mail boxes that were also painted green next to it. I took this picture from the street while everyone else climbed up. I love how this pictured turned out because I didn't even need to alter the photograph at all. When we showed our picture for the judging of the scavenger hunt contest everyone commented on how it looked like a posed band photograph.