Lots of advertisers have tried to entertain us by humanizing animals, but most of them just don't get it. Talking dogs are marginally funny and only for the first few seconds. And having them hold signs in their mouths isn't a better option. Take a look at this Pup Peroni spot for proof.
Maybe it's that companies have to try harder when their product is an intangible. I'm betting that's why most of the commercials I find fun to watch come from eTrade babies or pink-haired Erin and her esurance.
It seems Fallon Minneapolis ad creators Scott O’Leary and Ryan Peck reached just a little further into their creative pockets to pull out engaging material, and with their Traveler's "Prized Possession" ad, they've won me over. Yes, it's another ad featuring an animal with human characteristics, but it's one that's done right. There are no special effects to speak of. I instantly empathize with this dog's need to protect his prize without a word barked, or sign written. Because the action, at once typically human and canine, is underscored by the simple lyrics and raw emotion in the voice of Ray LaMontagne, this message needs nothing more.
By the end, I find I'm just a scruffy little dog trying to protect my bone. And I want a red umbrella.
Ray LaMontagne's full song, Trouble, from the album by the same name.
Showing posts with label insurance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insurance. Show all posts
1/13/10
Geico's "Who's Watching" - Pushbox Voted Most Pointless Commercial
Geico is so committed to appealing to "every man" that they've created some of the worst commercial spokescharacters going. 
I've written about that little Gecko before. You know, the one with the accent that used to sound more British but has recently decided on possibly Australian?
I've written about that little Gecko before. You know, the one with the accent that used to sound more British but has recently decided on possibly Australian?Then there were the cavemen, those featureless, raceless beings who, with their unamusing misadventures, are meant to appeal to everyman. And now they've taken their unwillingness to commit to an identity to new heights. Meet the one character who'll never offend - a mute stack of money with eyes.
It's one thing to play it safe enough to offend no one, but you've gone to great effort to remove the human element from all of your ads. The Somebody's Watching Me campaign is decidedly one of the worst I've seen in recent memory. Somebody's watching? Even the song has a problem with commitment.
Need I say anything more, Geico? The only thing these commercials have going for you is that Michael Jackson's memory is fresh. Because nothing else about this is.
1/10/10
Channeling Madge thru Amy Winehouse - Progressive Commercial
You know Flo.
Men have fallen hopelessly in love with this unassuming, aproned girl-next door, and I'll confess I've got my own girl-crush going. Maybe you've stumbled across The Cult of the Progressive Car Insurance Chick while googling for tricked-out nametags or tickets to the white-space nirvana, a cloud computing shopper's heaven.
Or should that have remained my own little secret.
Twitter's always buzzing with Flo "hot or not" quizzes where the debate on her sexy status falls hard into the territory of fandom.
With her tricked-out nametag, Flo, or Stephanie Courtney, is said to be baffled by the attention, but she's in a family of commercial personalities Americans don't mind barging into their living rooms. She's a perky Amy Winehouse channeling the folksy and outspoken Madge, Palmolive dishwashing liquid's spokesperson from 1966 to 1992. Colgate-Palmolive got Americans to trust the savvy working woman in uniform then, and we seem to love Progressive's red-lipped, quirky reinvention.
For your comparison:
Stephanie's signed on with the insurance company for at least another year, so we'll have plenty of time for the romance to grow cold.
Men have fallen hopelessly in love with this unassuming, aproned girl-next door, and I'll confess I've got my own girl-crush going. Maybe you've stumbled across The Cult of the Progressive Car Insurance Chick while googling for tricked-out nametags or tickets to the white-space nirvana, a cloud computing shopper's heaven.
Or should that have remained my own little secret.
Twitter's always buzzing with Flo "hot or not" quizzes where the debate on her sexy status falls hard into the territory of fandom.
With her tricked-out nametag, Flo, or Stephanie Courtney, is said to be baffled by the attention, but she's in a family of commercial personalities Americans don't mind barging into their living rooms. She's a perky Amy Winehouse channeling the folksy and outspoken Madge, Palmolive dishwashing liquid's spokesperson from 1966 to 1992. Colgate-Palmolive got Americans to trust the savvy working woman in uniform then, and we seem to love Progressive's red-lipped, quirky reinvention.
For your comparison:
Stephanie's signed on with the insurance company for at least another year, so we'll have plenty of time for the romance to grow cold.
1/5/10
Alright Trigon, But The Kid Gets It
Love viral YouTube videos featuring wisecracking kids? Well, even if they hold no special place in your cold little heart, you've probably at least grinned while viewing this 2007 collection of commercials from the creative works of Bob Ebel.
Bob's achieved industry guru status when it comes to directing children. His most virulent ads, filmed for Trigon health insurance, have been blogged and reblogged worldwide and I'll admit that even after bumping into them in every cranny of the internet, I'm still not done watching. As a matter of fact, I'm here to continue spreading them. The kids are just that funny.
...I trust the children and the children trust me.
The secret to his literal "commercial success", says Ebel, is that he
trusts the children, and the children trust him. It's a nice enough sentiment and time tested notion but where the idea becomes craft is in the ad industry's understanding that we, the consumer, want to join in and trust those precocious little people too.
Marketers have been disarming us with children since the beginning of the Ad Age (Mikey, Life Cereal), but Ebel's talent for getting us to love his pitch comes in creating finely balanced and very clever juxtapositions that dangle us on the edge of that "circle of trust" he brags about.
What's his trick? Within the world of the Trigon commercials shown below, the fact that the not-so-ingenue is selling a product is laid bare and the children themselves seem to be in on the game. You'll even find one little one acknowledging his stage by breaking eye contact with his audience, glancing off-camera at least once during the long take. This is a very self-aware bunch and there's no attempt to mask the fact that what's going on here is a Sell, using bits of recognizable dialog borrowed from a very adult world. When one of the little girls lapses into a fit of giggles, her costar's dour expression, just in case we've lost sight of what really needs to transpire in the ad's 30 seconds, reminds her and us, "We're doing business here."
We watch, understanding that we're entering a deal. We'll agree to listen to your obvious pitch, Trigon, as long as we're all in on the joke delivered by those precocious little minxes. Well done.
These two ads speak volumes in little voices. For your enjoyment, I'm including a link to the entire playlist.
Bob's achieved industry guru status when it comes to directing children. His most virulent ads, filmed for Trigon health insurance, have been blogged and reblogged worldwide and I'll admit that even after bumping into them in every cranny of the internet, I'm still not done watching. As a matter of fact, I'm here to continue spreading them. The kids are just that funny.
...I trust the children and the children trust me.
The secret to his literal "commercial success", says Ebel, is that he
trusts the children, and the children trust him. It's a nice enough sentiment and time tested notion but where the idea becomes craft is in the ad industry's understanding that we, the consumer, want to join in and trust those precocious little people too.
Marketers have been disarming us with children since the beginning of the Ad Age (Mikey, Life Cereal), but Ebel's talent for getting us to love his pitch comes in creating finely balanced and very clever juxtapositions that dangle us on the edge of that "circle of trust" he brags about.
What's his trick? Within the world of the Trigon commercials shown below, the fact that the not-so-ingenue is selling a product is laid bare and the children themselves seem to be in on the game. You'll even find one little one acknowledging his stage by breaking eye contact with his audience, glancing off-camera at least once during the long take. This is a very self-aware bunch and there's no attempt to mask the fact that what's going on here is a Sell, using bits of recognizable dialog borrowed from a very adult world. When one of the little girls lapses into a fit of giggles, her costar's dour expression, just in case we've lost sight of what really needs to transpire in the ad's 30 seconds, reminds her and us, "We're doing business here."
We watch, understanding that we're entering a deal. We'll agree to listen to your obvious pitch, Trigon, as long as we're all in on the joke delivered by those precocious little minxes. Well done.
These two ads speak volumes in little voices. For your enjoyment, I'm including a link to the entire playlist.
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