BBDO NY Has Some ‘Ideas’ for GE

BBDO New York’s latest offering for GE continues to celebrate innovation, but marks a stylistic departure from the agency’s recent work for the brand.

While “What Would Happen” and “Childlike Imagination” looked at innovation from a sense of childlike wonder, “Ideas” takes a sharp sidestep, personifying those ideas and focusing on how they often emerge as rough around the edges but grow into something beautiful. In the 60-second online spot, ideas are presented as an odd-looking creature that looks like something that could have crawled out of the reject pile at Jim Henson’s workshop.

Starting from birth, we follow an idea as it has a pretty rough time of things. Continually facing rejection, it resorts to sleeping on the streets until it is finally taken in by GE. “Ideas are scary, and messy, and fragile,” says a voiceover, “But under the proper care, they become something beautiful,” and then we see the fully-transformed idea, followed by the “Imagination at work” tagline.

Following the success of BBDO’s recent work for the brand, the shift in approach comes as a little off-putting, and the idea seems a bit dragged out at 60 seconds. But then maybe the spot being a little rough around the edges actually fits the concept. (more…)

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Ditto Trade Makes a Bullish Splash with New Campaign

Water cooler talk seems to be a popular theme this week. Today, our awkward conversational time passing introduces us to Phil and Marty, the bull and bear duo in the first national campaign for social investing firm Ditto Trade. The online company uses a chain-like system to initiate trades from Lead Traders to the general users, as you can see in this handy diagram. In the above spot, Phil and Marty discuss the merits of Ditto Trade’s unique investing platform. Notice the clever characterization, as Phil uses bullish tactics to sway the reserved Marty.

Ditto Trade CMO Jeff Abbott, a former SVP/creative director at Leo Burnett who spent 20 years at said agency, is the mastermind behind this anthropomorphic campaign. The televised spot is part of a varied pitch to would-be investors that includes print, billboards, and digital ads. Ditto Trade is approaching one million “dittoed” trades by its users, so we may be seeing more of Phil and Marty in the future. I wonder, though, how does Phil button his dress shirt with his clunky hooves? Might have to address that in the sequel. Credits after the jump.

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