David and Goliath

When I clicked to check out David and Goliath's work for Universal Orlando I was expecting to see what we are programmed to see when thinking of an amusement park ad: stomach-dropping, scream-inducing movements or emotional family snapshots. I was happily surprised to see something different, something more cerebral. This ad from David and Goliath New York briefly reminded me of BBDO's "Are you reaching your potential" stork spot for Monster. Granted, that's giving David and Goliath a lot of credit here, more than is deserved because BBDO's spot is one of my favorite and an incredibly acclaimed work. I see a parallel though in the man seeing the adolescent version of himself and remembering what he dreamed of in regards to where he is now and how he has lost sight of that, but it is still inside of him. I appreciate that this ad doesn't take the easy road by showcasing the superficial aspects of Universal Orlando. Not until the last few shots do we see a ride or game, and those tidbits are a mere afterthought to the message. The spot is even filmed thousands of miles away from the place it's advertising. It uses its 30 seconds to appeal to your heart and your mind, a total risk for an amusement park advertisement. I respect when an agency shows you how much care they put into their ad and David and Goliath has won my respect here.

Weiden+Kennedy

You can't talk about Weiden+Kennedy without talking about 1 orf 2 things: Nike and/or Coca Cola. Weiden+Kennedy is one of the few agencies that has truly had a tremendous part in building a brand, and 2 of the most recognized and loved brands in the world at that. This spot from W+K Amsterdam gives a peek at how true that is. The brand is so established and loved that it can trademark happiness. This weird and flirtatious ad titled "Library" embodies Coke's Open Happiness campaign, one of W+K's crowning achievements.

Rethink

Rethink does some unexpected stuff. They are one agency that is not afraid to test the boundaries of human liking and comfort. But as I have learned studying this industry, that sort of ballsiness is what often gets work recognized. The Vancouver shop handles the campaigns for Science World, a nonprofit organization center in British Columbia for people to experience and learn about all things science. I don't know about you, but when I think of Science the words fun, funny, and playful don't come to mind. Rethink likely knows that which is why their campaigns are so overtly contradictory to these preconceived notions. One previous print ad is a photo of a Marilyn Monroe-like woman with her dress blowing up like the iconic image of the star with the copy, "You fart 14 times a day." See what I mean by testing the boundaries? I find it so curious that these ads are of rather mature content and seemingly target older audiences, while Science World sounds like a place for mainly kids to learn. Hmm. This seductive senior campaign is enough to pick my interest about the place.

R/GA

AMV/BBDO

This spot for Heinz from AMV/BBDO London takes me back to the TBWA "Absolut Houdini" print ad. By removing the product AMV/BBDO is using a reverse psychology like approach to show how integral a part the product- and more importantly, the brand- is in our lives. The agency knows it can only pull off a trick like this with a classic, embedded brand like Heinz. To add another layer of genius, they show people from varying generations using the bottle with different meals and extracting the ketchup in different ways. It gives an element of individuality to peoples' interactions with the long-loved brand.

Venables Bell & Partners

Venables Bell & Partners has a drawer full of great work for HBO. HBO is such a quality powerhouse that you expect that its advertisements will be held to the same standards. I like that there is no dialogue in this ad and that the only copy comes at the end-it's like a little surprise, the payoff. Only Sopranos fans get the references throughout the ad. The great thing is that HBO and the Sopranos fan-base is so loyal that they can get away with withholding the information until the end. The rest of VBP San Francisco's campaign for HBO is just as rewarding, with each ad catered to a different program so every audience- and boy are they devoted- gets a ting from seeing them.

Mother

I'm in awe. Advertisers have been trying to figure out different ways to capitalize on facebook, twitter, and the like in this day in age when it gets harder by the minute to grab people. Rely on Mother London to find a way to innovate. Mother created a community around Dell by combining the computer company with MTV in time with the MTV European Music Awards. All they did was create a place where the world could all come together to sing one song and the rest was up to mankind. Behold Dell "Amplichoir"- the compilation of 113,000 people who came together to sing "Lollipop," Dell's theme song. People shared videos of their versions of the pop song and 88,000 people voted and engaged in dialogue about the brand on social networks. Over 1,000 blogs and websites, including this one, wrote about "Amplichoir." Dell set up a station in Berlin, the location of the EMA's where fans could create their own videos right there on Dell computers. Mother is the all-time Superhero of advertising- we can count on them to use their intelligence and immense power for good not evil.