bbdo

The latest series to come from mega-corporation GE and BBDO NY tries to combine the brand’s eco-friendly research and their olympic sponsorship through three new commercials: Discus, Dragon and Crane.

Crane, shown above, starts out by showing us a crane taking off from a beach with the background audio being of a pilot getting permission to take-off from the tower. It then pans to a shot of a commercial jet mid-air with the narrator talking about how GE provides an aircraft engine that saves gas and has less fuel emissions. They forgot to mention price though, I wonder if this engine costs 5X what most currently used engines do and whether or not I’m covering the difference via the high price of airline tickets (or by me having to pay for a pillow/blanket)?

Discus, found below, starts off with an Olympic Discus thrower competing in Roman times at one of the first Olympic Games. His powerful throw makes the discus soar into the air, only to drive straight into a pillar due to an interfering gust of wind. The building soon collapses (cheesy!) and the voiceover tells us about GE’s eco-friendly wind energy that is helping to power this years Olympic Games.

Dragon, the third in the series and shown below, takes the Olympic tie-in a little too far. It takes place in what appears to be “ancient China.” Villagers hike up bundles of grass and other flammable objects into a cave where, you guessed it, a dragon lives. The dragon, after noticing the villagers, sets their amassed pile of grass/plants on fire. The camera then pans away to show them running back to town, with steaming pipes leading from the cave to the village. What do the pipes lead to you might ask? An above-ground jacuzzi built right behind their thatch hut. Wow.
The narration then tells us that:
Read the rest of this entry »

Part two of the AMV BBDO created “Get Some Nuts” Snickers campaign once again shows us an A-Team inspired Mr. T putting the hurt on those who are a “Disgrace to the Man Race.” The first part of this campaign, shown on brentter.com last year, gave us Mr.T shelling out a severe level of pitying on a fool who fakes an injury on the soccer field.

Just like with Chuck Norris, any appearance by Mr.T tends to make a spot memorable in my mind…so I’m slightly biased when I say that I’m a fan of this campaign.

Mike Sutherland and Antony Nelson are credited as the copywriter/art director for this piece with Guy Manwaring directing for Therapy Films, London. Alice Grant was the producer with The Mill, London being used for the post-production work. As with the first spot, Wave Studios, London was responsible for all the audio post-production work.

This has to be one of the most emotionally riveting PSA’s that I’ve ever come across. The song selection was impeccable - Johnny Cash singing the Nine Inch Nails song, “Hurt,” mixed with the vibrantly chilling imagery of the household of an abused child leaves my stomach turning. Directed by Mark Molley for the Australian Childhood Foundation, this spot was conceptualized by Clemenger BBDO.
Good work for a noble cause. We need more of these creative spots to draw attention to everyday problems affecting millions who are just under our noses but still within our grasps.