Chinese footballer Zheng Zhi brings some Asian Algier to Adidas' Beijing Olympics campaign.
The hand-drawn spot builds on "Together" with Zhi's narrative about how the 2008 Beijing Olympics will redeem his people from loss. Disembodied wings carry the Chinese into the clouds. The Chinese, and some feathers, fall out of the sky when Zhi describes the 1999 game.
Despite the tripped-out depressing imagery, the story ends on an up note. Because impossible is nothing, right?
Deep. Or at least really abstract. In which case ... deep.
Check out this fun new Honda ad by Wieden + Kennedy. Also see LOL-worthy website Problem Playground. It will bring out your inner Alice.
The effort is for Honda UK. We like the collective "HURRAAAAAAY!" in the site intro and its straightforward nav: "Click on things to go there. Click 'Home' to come back here." Site includes puzzles, 360-degree vehicle features, download options for the commercial, and a making-of-the-ad video.
Whoever said assembly line work was dehumanizing clearly wasn't employed in the Hybrid department. Suddenly we're starving for a big fat zero-emissions jigsaw.
Champion Alesha Dixon of Strictly Come Dancing stars in this valium-esque Ford Focus ad, which debuted February 1st on Ford.co.uk. Cake masterminded it, tapping Alesha for her number-one status among the Brits, and included nifty knick-knacks like instruments made of real car parts.
The latter sounded neat, but we didn't much notice. All told, the video lacks life and seems too smoked-out and tame to even be decadent. Nice icepick shoes, though. And okay, the personalized plate? Cheesy.
Maybe this is just another one of those clashing Brit vs. American sensibility things.
Psst, Ford and Alesha. Watch Beyonce and Armani do it.
Update: Oops. Look like we pushed an angry button. Brit fans are really sick of comparisons between Alesha and B (see YouTube comments).
This ad for Reebok aired after the game ended on Super Bowl Sunday. It's called "Giants, Welcome to Perfectville."
The premise: the 1972 Miami Dolphins -- the only undefeated team in NFL history -- have long been living in a sleepy but sunny town called Perfectville. One of the members receives a gift from the NY Giants playfully marked, "Enjoy it for one more year."
Other tame leaps at humor include players reliving games, but slowly forgetting what positions they played.
We're officially crazy about CareerBuilder's "Start Building" campaign, which debuted on Super Bowl Sunday.
Wieden+Kennedy, with help from a52 and (Rock Paper Scissors), gives us "Help You, Help You" and "Self-Help Yourself."
We didn't really get what was going on in "Help You, Help You" until the end, which had the odd effect of keeping us glued to our seats until we could make sense of it. We'll preface it thus: watching a guy stroke his own face, before lovingly carrying himself out of his pathetic job, gave us that "foreign-finger-in-our-bellybutton!!!" feeling.
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While the Murano strikes us as exceptionally dull at first sight, here's a low-key ad that does a nice job of highlighting its merits. (Very Apple.)
The spot broke during the Super Bowl. Understandably, nobody paid it much mind; it's a bit mellow for such a high-tension time of year. But in normal daytime TV context -- between a Pampers ad and maybe a soothing Advil spot -- it would probably work quite nicely.
Hey, guess who made it? The ever-addled folks at TBWA\CHIAT\DAY.
"Jinx" by Coca-Cola sparked a political flare war in our Adrants Super Bowl chat room. In it, James Carville and Bill Frist set aside their differences over a personal jinx (except Carville has to buy Frist a Coke, not a slushee).
Cute. Why can't more things in life be solved this way?
Really, we don't know what we were expecting. But we sure hoped it would be more than what Victoria's Secret gave us.
What a waste of Adriana Lima's come-hither talents. Check out the preview, which is about as unimaginative as the ad itself, which just wastes more time.
If you take Will Ferrell's word for it, that is.
This spot, where Will Ferrell screws up an uncountable number of Bud Light ad takes with Freudian slips, is probably our favorite Bud Light ad thus far. It actually made us wonder how much sweat goes into every bottle.
Bud Light. Suck one. Lawl.
We can't believe Hyundai waffled over the inclusion of its ads in the Super Bowl this year, a decision (or lack of it) that build unmerited hype for what we thought to be a really boring brand.
Well, that hasn't changed. This Genesis ad was a waste of time and a waste of $2.7 mill or whatever they ended up paying for it. If they were hoping to be confused for the average Lexus, or the average anything-else, good job, Hyundai.
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