Ford Airbags ad – hate it!

I hate most ads these days. The execution especially have become woefully bad. What might have seemed like a decent idea even till the storyboard stage, look disastrous post execution.

The Ford airbags ad is one such (sorry, I couldn’t find it on YouTube). There are two versions of this. One in which a 7 year old girl sitting in the backseat of an Ecosport makes a sad face and says “Papa, our car has airbags in the front, but I’m sitting in the back”. To start with, the casting of the kid is really bad. Neither does she look cute, nor does she look approachable and cuddle worthy (sorry little girl). Which is what you need to pull off the ridiculous question she just asked her dad. The little devil basically assumed her dad is a jackass of a driver and going to plunge them to their eventual deaths, and then went ahead and deduced that he is somehow okay with killing her and that’s why he chose to make her sit all by herself at the back. And no, she didn’t ask this in an adorable and sassy way a 3 year old asks these kind of questions. Because she is a freaking 7 year old. I know it looks like I’m hating on the messenger, but I’m actually hating the entire messaging system. The next thing that happens is of course the dad says our Ford car has 6 airbags and you’re safe, which is the point of this whole disaster of an ad. How he does not start weeping in absolute agony over the realisation that his daughter thinks he wants to murder her is beyond me. The voiceover calms everything down by asking you to check the number of airbags in a car before you buy one. Acceptable.

There is another shorter version of this ad, in which the girl is shown in closeup and she smirks and asks my Ford car has 6 airbags, how many do you have? That’s it. However, in these 10 second the character, whose only claim to existence is that she was born in a house which could afford a fully loaded version of a car, essentially shows you the birdie and laughs at your poor ass for not being able to afford a better car. Your kid surely deserves to die.

Bad form Ford, bad form.

IPL Carnival ad [video]

via youtube.com

Get inspired!

Puma on Valentine’s Day

via holykaw.alltop.com

Puma has started a new campaign called Love = Football. I really like this idea, even though it is restricted to football only for the brand. 

The above ad was made for Valentine’s Day and I think it is really well made and executed.

Audi trying to ‘Break the Spell’

via youtube.com

This is one of the most well made car commercials I have seen in recent times. I love the way it is attacking all the marquee and established manufacturers at the same time. This ad is made for the US market where Audi appears to be the underdog; and everyone loves the underdog.

Audi is trying to position itself as the rebel which offers all the choices that their competitors are offering under one brand and without the stereotype. It basically is telling people that you are doing nothing but conforming to stereotypes if you drive the other cars; and this would reflect directly in the statement you are trying to make about yourself. As I said in my last post, it is all about making a statement.

This commercial is an excellent example of how one can throw an open challenge to the established players in a cluttered market and try to change the thinking of the consumers to force them to choose your brand.

Finally, I love the way the R8 pulls up in the street for the kid to drool at. I just wish it was not silver! 😉

An ad by Google

via youtube.com

This is the Google ad which was screened during the 2010 Super Bowl. To the uninitiated, Super Bowl has long been the event that everyone looks forward to not only for the ‘Football’ but also for the awesome commercials showcased during the quarter breaks.

Some of the best and most extravagant commercials have been launched during the Super Bowl. I really like this one by Google. You can see all of this year’s Super Bowl ads here.

What do you think? Do they need to spend so much (the most expensive ad slots in the world) to advertise their search engine?

Creative ads on stairs

I have often posted about creative advertisements from across the internet. Here is one more. This time they are showing off their creativity on stairs!

My favorite is the Jeep ad.

Typographical ads

Out of all the media that brands use to advertise, I always had a soft corner for the print medium. It just requires more brilliance and lateral thinking to grab and then hold the reader's attention long enough to get across a message in one page. Also, it gives the reader their own time to connect with the ad in the way they want to or dont want to. And this creates a much bigger impact than a television ad.

Traditionally, print ads have been about the headline, the sub-headline and the body copy, with a picture in it. But, the ads that grab attention fastest are the ones with bold typography. Once, you have the attention, it is the job of the creative to hold and get the message across.

Below are a few ads which have done this brilliantly. You really should see all of these awesome typographical ads.

Talking of ambient advertising

Got these pictures in a mail from my friend Shrenik.

This is one of THE most creative campaigns I have seen. I dont think one needs to say much beyond that.

Enjoy!

Thums Up ad

via afaqs.com

I really like this ad. The execution is actually quite awesome with Akshay Kumar brilliant as usual. This is actually a follow up to earlier Thums Up ads where Akshay goes behind a bottle of the drink.

Only one qualm I have with this ad: it would have been better if they would run the car part and him entering the house part seperately. I think it would have created a bigger impact. I love the way people react looking at his car falling apart and in the second part where Akshay non-chalantly taps away a flame on his shoulder.

Nice concept!

New Fevicol ad

via youtube.com

This is the new Fevicol ad made by O&M to celebrate 50 years of Fevicol, actually Pidilite.

They actually started off the campaign by putting up hoardings and print ads about the world’s shortest feature film titled ‘Moochwali’. The ‘movie’ premiered on multiple GECs simultaneously.

I once posted an ad I had made for a project of mine, which focused on the need for increase in the branding of Pidilite rather than Fevicol. And it seems they are doing something on those lines.

Good one I say.