Grown Up Thinking

I’m looking forward to the extinction of the television commercial.

In a world where seriously bad TV ads are as common as seriously bad fake tans in an episode of MTV’s Jersey Shore, it can be challenging to take pride in a career in advertising.

Each time I turn on the TV or tune into Hulu, my pride is battered in 30-second increments. These are the ads when you try your best to imagine what the agency team said during the pitch meeting to convince the brand managers to buy their ideas. I marvel at the fact that someone, somewhere, in a position of authority said “yes, this is a good idea,” in response to some of these ads.

BUT there are those rare moments when I find proof that there are some people in this industry who are doing good work for the small screen.

I can say with confidence that for 60-seconds of 2009, I was truly delighted by what I saw sandwiched between segments of my favorite TV shows.

Half of that can be attributed to Hulu’s ad featuring Alex Baldwin and his evil plot to take over the world by “rotting” our brains with Hulu, which “beams TV shows directly into your portable computing devices…for free.”

We’re evil, and honest! Now that’s sarcasm you can take to the bank - love it. Textbook surprise and delight.

The other half came from the American Express charge card ad, “Don’t take chances. Take charge.” This ad is simply a series of quick shots of random consumer goods that look like happy/sad faces - set to Bach’s calming Cello Suite No. 1. “Sometimes the little things in life feel like our biggest enemies…”

This is the kind of ad David Ogilvy or Bill Bernbach themselves would create if they were still roaming the halls of their respective agencies. Bravo.

Both of these ads earn high marks in my book for their simple honesty and respect for the consumer. They’re layered with a simple but dense layer of creativity. The worst ads are the ones that make me want to stand up and shout “HEY AGENCY, YOUR CREATIVE BRIEF IS SHOWING!”

The Hulu ad was created by Crispin Porter & Borgusky and the American Express ad was brought to us by Ogilvy & Mather (my alma mater). I would like to extend a hearty high five to both of the teams who injected a small amount of genuine creativity into their work last year. Though I look forward to a day without TV ads, I appreciate the efforts of anyone who brings a little inspiration to the table in the mean time.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 7:01 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.