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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CP+B Boulder Names Ralph Watson CCO

Ralph_WatsonCrispin Porter & Bogusky Boulder have announced the appointment of Ralph Watson as the office’s new chief creative officer, AdAge reports.

After the departure of worldwide chief creative officer Rob Reilly in December, CP+B “announced a new, decentralized model that gave its offices in various cities more autonomy.” Watson joins the agency from BBDO, where he led the Bud Light account. Before that he was at Goodby Detroit, where he oversaw Chevrolet. The industry veteran has also spent time with Leonard/Monahan, Team One, Arnold and Saatchi & Saatchi New York. He has created award-winning work for clients such as Miller High Life, Fruit by the Foot, and AT&T.

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