I saw this over on Joe. My. God.'s blog. It is an Australian TV show that had ad agencies compete and the goal was to come up with an ad to ban religion. The results are very interesting.
If that were tried here in the US there would be bombings of the ad agencies, all of the television sponsors would pull out, Congress would hold hearings, etc.
I'm from Loud and Clear, the agency in Melbourne that created the first ad.
We knew the topic would attract some controversy, however first and foremost our ad (and the entire segment) is intended to be insightful and entertaining. It's a segment about selling the unsellable, and is a chance for agencies to demonstrate some of the techniques we use every day -- the insight comes from the application of those common advertising techniques to scenarios that are obviously absurd. In our case, we used a style that you often see used for things like health insurance or home loans.
We've read lots of posts about the ad -- both from the people who want to pay to put it on air for real, and from people who feel compelled to add their rebuttal. To me, the ad is simply a piece of nonsense, in which a very long bow is drawn in 35 seconds, complete with the Titanic sailing backwards into an iceberg. What's interesting to me is how making such an absurd topic look visually wonderful, adding bouncy music and a non-threatening voiceover somehow makes it all more meaningful, more real, and worthy of engaging with. And that, I guess, is the point of advertising, and of course, precisely why The Pitch is so interesting each week.
And based on your comment... I'm glad we're living and working in Australia!
2 comments:
If that were tried here in the US there would be bombings of the ad agencies, all of the television sponsors would pull out, Congress would hold hearings, etc.
Hi,
I'm from Loud and Clear, the agency in Melbourne that created the first ad.
We knew the topic would attract some controversy, however first and foremost our ad (and the entire segment) is intended to be insightful and entertaining. It's a segment about selling the unsellable, and is a chance for agencies to demonstrate some of the techniques we use every day -- the insight comes from the application of those common advertising techniques to scenarios that are obviously absurd. In our case, we used a style that you often see used for things like health insurance or home loans.
We've read lots of posts about the ad -- both from the people who want to pay to put it on air for real, and from people who feel compelled to add their rebuttal. To me, the ad is simply a piece of nonsense, in which a very long bow is drawn in 35 seconds, complete with the Titanic sailing backwards into an iceberg. What's interesting to me is how making such an absurd topic look visually wonderful, adding bouncy music and a non-threatening voiceover somehow makes it all more meaningful, more real, and worthy of engaging with. And that, I guess, is the point of advertising, and of course, precisely why The Pitch is so interesting each week.
And based on your comment... I'm glad we're living and working in Australia!
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