Commercial influence....

[Warped9]

Most anyone you talk to agrees that the vast majority of commercials on TV, as well as those seen before feature films at the cinema, are usually tiresome and endlessly annoying. Of course there are also those rare ads that just reach you in some way particularly if they're genuinely funny and/or fresh in some way or other.

That aside, it's one thing to be influenced by word of mouth or by recommendation from someone you know, but have you ever found yourself influenced by a commercial in a positive way? Influenced enough to actually be interested in looking into a product further?

Many, many years ago I saw an ad for the Gilette Mach 3 triple blade razor. Something in that ad caught me and I actually made a point of seeking those blades out and trying them. As a result I've been using the Mach 3 razor and blades ever since for perhaps near twenty years I think.

Also the early ads for the first colourful Apple iMacs are what initially intrigued me with Apple computers followed soon after by someone I know who soon bought one. Ever since I've been an Apple supporter.

Anyone else?

 

[Holdfast]

I love advertising.

Correction. I love GOOD advertising. In some ways, I find advertising one of the purest creative mediums - very limited time, clear motive, hostile or disinterested audience and still the best adverts sell a powerful message. I love how advertising can subvert and convince an audience through clever psychological tricks. It's quite beautiful when done right.

Some favourites from the past year or so, off the top of my head. All use a number of sly little techniques to sell their message.

Bendicks - Chocolate Collapse
(sorry, can't find a live video link)

EDIT: found one! Click to play

Virgin - Still Red Hot
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cM4EOeJzHA[/yt]

T-Mobile - Share Life
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM[/yt]

I'll probably think of more later...

 

[John Picard]

^^ Those two red heads in the VA commercial were SMOKIN!

 

[Warped9]

The T-Mobile ad was cool. It made me smile.

I remember an add from way bay in the late 70s or early '80s about the VW Scirocco. The ad was simply a Scirocco racing a la James Bond manner through the streets of Monaco or some such locale, and at the end of it some gorgeous woman gets out of the car on the docks or something (it was a long time ago). There was nothing mentioned about the car or the company, just the scenes of that car racing through the streets as if on a mission. Back then I thought the ad was just so cool. And even now when I think of the original VW Scirocco I still think of it as a cool car of its time. It also dovetails with a time when I started to really like VWs in general (and still do). even had a '79 VW Rabbit which I simply adored. Sometimes I still really miss that car. Indeed when I look at cars that interest me I often find myself looking for some intangible that evokes a similar feeling as my Rabbit gave me.

 

[Holdfast]

^^ Those two red heads in the VA commercial were SMOKIN!

Sorted out your choice of air travel to the UK next year, have we?

That ad has LOADS of little fun jokes about the era, esp. for British viewers. It's very neatly done. I also liked the little inside joke at the end about the guy needing a new job. The fellow is basically a look-alike for Maurice Saatchi, who in the 1980s headed up the Saatchi & Saatchi advertising agency who held the British Airways advertising contract of the era. So it's really a little sly dig at British Airways.

The T-Mobile ad was cool. It made me smile.

Nicely done, isn't it?

I remember an add from way bay in the late 70s or early '80s about the VW Scirocco. The ad was simply a Scirocco racing a la James Bond manner through the streets of Monaco or some such locale, and at the end of it some gorgeous woman gets out of the car on the docks or something (it was a long time ago). There was nothing mentioned about the car or the company, just the scenes of that car racing through the streets as if on a mission. Back then I thought the ad was just so cool.

This sounds based on the short film Rendezvous where a guy races a car through the streets of Paris just after dawn to make it to a date with a girl at the end.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfCj7LPKCu0[/yt]



EDIT - I also found a live link for the chocolate ad I mentioned in my first post. I can't embed it but it autoplays at this link: http://www.visit4info.com/views/content.cfm?action=home&review=40

It's a clever ad because of the sheer number of messages about the chocolate it manages to send in such a short space of time, and the music track works perfectly to enhance the messages.

 

[ITL]

Quite few years back Tizer (a soft drink) ads were very popular. They used the same format with slight alterations for each ad - and they even once made an ad that substituted Tizer for Sprouts and it still managed to be a legitimate and recognizable Tizer ad. Genius.

 

[Jadzia]

When I was a child, I remember advertising being fun and fashionable. Commercials and posters were the sorts of things kids would talk about at school, and they'd enjoy having the company logos etched onto their key-rings, badges, and other stuff they could wear.

Whereas now it all feels very tiresome, and I'll takes steps to not see advertising.

I used to enjoy commercials. Some, like the piano moving chimps still makes me smile.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzEBLa3PPk[/yt]

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Quite few years back Tizer (a soft drink) ads were very popular. They used the same format with slight alterations for each ad - and they even once made an ad that substituted Tizer for Sprouts and it still managed to be a legitimate and recognizable Tizer ad. Genius.

Wasn't that Tango?

 

[ITL]

^ Yes. Yes it was. My brain remember badly and that. Still - good ads, eh?

 

[Zulu Romeo]

^ Yes. Yes it was. My brain remember badly and that.

Tango'll do that to you, yes.

Still - good ads, eh?

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1jywlZG74o[/yt]

Don't try this at home, kids.

 

[Kirkman1987]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om84Zc4-KcQ

Pole Position was pretty epic :-)

 

[Holdfast]

OK, a few funnies from times gone by... none particularly clever, but they all made me chuckle when I first saw them:

John West Salmon:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVS1UfCfxlU[/yt]

Heineken:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4VFqbroi1I[/yt]

Carling Black Label:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcQAkEFGTW8[/yt]

And talking of Carling Black Label, how about this pair (of related ads):
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT4DR_ae_4o[/yt][yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCemJAd3KZA[/yt]

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Still my favourite advert ever:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzSErmq-PaA[/yt]

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Wasn't that Tango ad the one that was banned and replaced with the orange guy kissing him instead?

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Wasn't that Tango ad the one that was banned and replaced with the orange guy kissing him instead?

That's the very one. Sadly, the replacement version never inspired millions of kids to start planting smackers onto their playground nemeses.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Wasn't that Tango ad the one that was banned and replaced with the orange guy kissing him instead?

That's the very one. Sadly, the replacement version never inspired millions of kids to start planting smackers onto their playground nemeses.

That'd be a fun behaviour to see appearing due to advertising. It's certainly change playground arguments.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Wasn't that Tango ad the one that was banned and replaced with the orange guy kissing him instead?

That's the very one. Sadly, the replacement version never inspired millions of kids to start planting smackers onto their playground nemeses.

That'd be a fun behaviour to see appearing due to advertising. It's certainly change playground arguments.

This conversation reminds me of this sketch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hcoT6yxFoU

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^ha, great sketch.If "text speak is ruining our language" was true this is exactly what we'd see.

 

[Cicero]

I've always liked this Mountain Dew ad, though I wouldn't drink the product unless it were significantly altered.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_1HdRaQ2ME[/yt]

 

[Holdfast]

Brilliant new commericials for The Sun newspaper:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk2brfbSG2g&NR=1[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ1QwExp0_g&NR=1[/yt]

Smartest newspaper ads of the year, by far. There's actually a slightly less "pointed" version of the first one on TV, which makes it a more affectionate parody, which I think works even better. The one I linked here (the only version I could find on youtube) has a trace of bitterness, which the newer cheekier version eliminates completey and so is even better.