Tagged : Advertising

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Bonjour Language School Ad

This is an oldie, but a goodie as they say. A French Language school add from the Cannes Lions advertising festival a bunch of years back, this ad has the stereotypical French narrator listing off a bunch of contradictory health facts about how people eat and have sex across the world, and how they all live longer than they do in the USA. After a barrage of facts and sexy imagery, the conclusion is to eat whatever you like, and have sex as much as you want, and that the real thing that will kill you is speaking English. I love it. This is probably one of my favourite ads of all time.

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Van Damme Coors Light Commercials

“Hello. Yes, I am Van Damme.”

Continuing the trend in absurdist advertising that Wieden + Kennedy resurrected with Old Spice in North America, Coors UK has adopted the technique into their UK television spots featuring none other than the Jean Claude Van Damme himself. Sporting his bad mullet and an awesome full denim outfit reminiscent of 1994′s Hard Target, JCVD stands on top of a high snow covered mountain recounting tales of past wilderness hardship.

As a kid who grew up watching JCVD roundhouse kick his way through the 90′s I feel like this is an appropriate homage to the often mocked celebrity who now seems okay with mocking himself (see JCVD the movie). Whoever wrote these commercials at London’s VCCP ad agency has obviously seen a few Van Damme movies, noting particularly the reference to the leopard print underwear (pronounced ander-ware) which is a similar line to the one about the black silk underwear in Double Impact, a movie where JCVD played himself as twins.

So the question other than, will Van Damme comparing his crotch to an ice cold beer sell more beer, is:

“Have you ever seen a man penguin walk after an intense mating season…have you?”

UPDATE:

Unfortunately, and likely due to some boneheaded contractual agreement, the Van Damme Coors Light ad spots have been pulled from YouTube. Perhaps the Muscles from Brussels didn’t agree to taint his US image, or Coors didn’t pay him enough. Either way, you can still view one of the spots at Ad Forum.

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Volkswagen Courage Commercial Song

Volkswagen joins Subaru in the “great car commercial music” category with VW Canada’s latest commercial called “Drive Until: Courage,” where a young man drives around the block working up the cajones to propose to his girlfriend. It’s a great sentimental ad that underscores the significance of the automobile in our life. But what’s that song??

Immediately after seeing this ad for the first time I was on my iPhone Googling “Volkswagen Courage Commercial Song” to figure it out. Turns out it’s the familiar “Just Like Honey,” by Jesus & Mary Chain. You may remember it also as the poignant closing song in the Sofia Coppola movie Lost in Translation.

You can read more on the technical production side of this commercial at The Rooster’s Blog.

 

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Powerful Stuff Subaru Commercial Song

Every now and again a commercial jingle grabs me in a good way. This one by Sean Hayes is one of them.

Powerful Stuff stands as a testament to the power of good music to underscore emotion in advertising. I had no recollection of what the commercial was about just that it was for Subaru and the song had the lyrics “powerful stuff.”

From there I googled Subaru commercial powerful stuff, and ended up watching the ad again, which featured a Subaru Forrester. They even provided a link to download the song via Facebook. How’s that for a little consumer insight? Powerful stuff indeed.

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Ikea Art of Cooking Videos

The Swedes are at it again with some great viral video fair directed by Carl Kleiner. Ikea’s Art of Cooking is a mix of funny and practical and covers everything from a Michel Gondry-esque drumming baby to a miraculous double egg yolk separation. For a change I actually watched all of them.

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Jim Beam Advertising & Bold Choices

I have worked on quite a few alcohol advertising market research projects over the past few years and I’m always interested in how a booze brand will market its image. Trendy drinks are fleeting, as are gimmicky campaigns, so how do you build that long standing brand appeal? The answer in all of the work I have done and scene is that the only way to have staying power is to be the real deal and to have — authenticity.

It’s easier said than done, particularly these days when authenticity means playing up an old world style that may or may not be true to the roots of the brand. I can think of a handful of brands easily that have waltzed onto the scene proclaiming to be the bomb diggity, but have faded away only to be thought of in conversations that begin with “remember when?”

To really, truly be authentic, the product first has to be good, and then the brand can move from there. In these lean times of recession it has become de rigueur to play up an old fashioned history that brings people back to a simpler, more meaningful time, but I can also remember the early 2000′s where the future was cool. Slick modern furniture, $20 Grey Goose martinis, and technical fabrics. Things have regressed a bit and it’s easy to see why, but 10 years ago this stodgy recession stuff would never have flown.

Successful branding transcends these radar blip trends and also transcends generations to build long lasting imagery and brand ethos. This recent ad from Jim Beam directed by Dante Ariola and starring Willem Dafoe is quite clever to me because it plays on the idea of simpler times, and a meaningful life, but is not necessarily leveraging something trendy to do it. Willem Dafoe is the epitome of longevity. He’s never really been cool, but he’s good, and he’s been around for a long time. In short — he’s classic.

I think that’s the message that Beam is trying to get across here.  They are classic and that in itself is a bold choice. I mean they’re not even advertising their premium Jim Beam Black reserve brand — just plain old Jim Beam. That’s the real deal.

What do you think?