BBDO New York tells the story of “The Boy Who Beeps” in a new online spot for GE.
The two-minute ad begins with the boy’s birth, and the beeping sound he makes in place of the usual baby’s wail. It’s soon apparent that the boy can communicate with machines. This starts off small, with him using his voice to change the channel or hit snooze on his alarm clock, but soon he’s using his power for greater purposes. Maybe it’s the great soundtrack by Beck, but the strange story is oddly touching somehow. Coming on the heels of the recent “Ideas,” it seems that BBDO is going in an emotional direction in their online work for GE. (more…)
Is there anything more heartwarming than watching children of all ages fall over repeatedly?
From Proctor & Gamble and W+K comes “Pick Them Back Up,” a new spot that’s part of the “Thank You, Mom” campaign running during the length of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. If you’ll recall, P&G and Wieden have been leaders in mom joy, child guilt and intermittent bouts of crying since a 2010 Mother’s Day campaign, which set the stage for the very viral 2012 London Olympics spot “Best Job.” Since the initial broadcast of “Best Job,” most of the world has been stuck in a routine of enthusiastic weeping followed by hugging their mom until it hurts.
Adding a little humor to the affair (this is, if you’re a sociopath like me), “Pick Them Back Up” sees attractive young mothers repeatedly watch their children fall down before picking them up, thus transforming them into successful Olympic athletes. For those mothers whose children didn’t grow up to be competitive in winter sports on an international scale, well, your time was better spent leaving your kid on the ice and just working on you for a while.
Of course, this spot also begs the question, how did they film so many babies falling over? Were they stunt babies, or did they trip them with invisible wires or something? In any case, after seeing this on TV, your mother’s gaze will slowly drift over to the photo she has of you as a baby on her nightstand, and she’ll sigh a million disappointed sighs because you were once so cute and loving and now you apparently don’t “have the time” to give her a call once in a while. She’s right, you know, because you just watched this and it caused you do to nothing. Credits, and one in a series of new athlete-specific video, follow after the jump.
We are now in the season of LeBron James commercials. He’s like Victor Cruz, only taller, better, richer, and not a Time Warner Cable lackey. If you happened to watch the opening night of the NBA season, you saw three different LeBron endorsements, including a new two-minute Samsung spot (:60 version with just the family after the jump) that gives viewers a glimpse into the family life of the best basketball player in the world.
If you care about such things, you may remember last year’s Samsung/LBJ launch, which also premiered on opening night as the Miami Heat were getting their first set of rings. That 2012 spot was more about LeBron and his friends ruling Miami in barber shops and ice cream trucks. This year’s version is all about LeBron and his family: his sons hanging out in the pool or on a driveway basketball court as his wife films from a Samsung Galaxy. ”The Next Big Thing is Here” flashes on the screen as LeBron’s son celebrates after swishing a jump shot. We get it, but it’s still fairly interesting to let two little boys take some of the spotlight away from the real star.
The spot is an easy watch, a relaxing tone that rubs off on the viewer. Life is good for LeBron, and even though I typically prefer product-focused ads to lifestyle ads, when the spokesman is one of the most famous people on the planet, customers may take notice. Smiles all around and credits after the jump.
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