This Ikea commercial from Crispin Porter & Bogusky was awarded the Film Grand Prix last week. Give it a watch. Then watch the Honda Cog spot and the Saturn Sheet Metal spot. How the hell could anyone think this lame spot from IKEA could top Cog or Metal? OK, it’s not lame but it is not even close to the brilliance of the other two.
Industry big wigs gushed over the spot though. “Everybody felt very good about the winner,” said jury president Dan Wieden. “What it does is it connects with this insight into human nature, that we form irrational attachments to these objects, and then it slaps you for having this attachment. And it solves a business problem that keeps the sector from growing as much as it could, which is that people do form these attachments.”
Blah, blah, blah. Boring. Not even amusing. The Cog and Metal spots, by far, do much more to catch your attention, entertain you, and make you think about the product. How is a light sitting on the sidewalk in the rain supposed to make us feel sad? Please! Did anyone feel sad for that lamp? Oh, I guess the judges at Cannes did. So sad, in fact that I guess they gave the award out of pity.
And listen to this blather from an industry big wig. “It’s just a very, very fresh idea and a new piece of thinking,” said Nick Bell, executive creative director at J. Walter Thompson/London.
Fresh idea? New thinking? Are you high, Nick? Have you even seen the Cog and Metal spots?
Am I the only one that feels this way? Please let me know.
