When you leave people to their own devices, they tend to get nihilistic. When they get nihilistic, they make darkly comic scripts for DirecTV.
Case in point: the satellite-TV company's Twitter-sourced fable—created in the style of Grey's long-running "Cable Effects" campaign—of what happens if you don’t cut the cord.
The satellite giant asked its fans to contribute a story line to the campaign by tweeting one-liners with the hashtag #GetRidofCable. The company then selected the best ideas and made a cohesive, disturbing story—read like a storybook in the video below—of getting addicted to cheese during lab experiments, going back in time and undoing your own birth … all because the protagonist refused to say no to cable.
It's actually a pretty good entry in the campaign, even if the last line is a bit long-winded. Then again, despite the medium's limitations, people on Twitter aren't really known for keeping it short, are they?
If DirecTV is trying to position its Wireless Genie Mini device as a high-tech toy for doofy bros who view women as puppets—mission accomplished!
Perhaps that's a tad harsh or too literal. Still, there's something unnerving about these new ads from Grey New York, directed by Bryan Buckley, featuring a life-size blonde marionette. In one ad, she struggles with her wires while pouring lemonade for a pair of DirecTV-lovin' dudes. In a second spot, our heroine dangles from the bedroom ceiling in a sexy negligee, concerned her human beau is more attracted to DirecTV.
Self-conscious oddness is the obvious goal, and the campaign certainly works on that level. Even so, there's a touch of mean-spiritedness that doesn't sit right. The puppet is the most appealing part of these commercials, and it's easy to sympathize with her plight. This, in turn, kind of keeps me from feeling good about the Wireless Genie itself, which lets multiple TVs share HD-DVR programming over WiFi (so first-worlders won't trip over unsightly wires and fall flat on their Google Glass).
Cut those cords and free yourself, my wooden sister! Today, there are so many ways for a marionette to be fulfilled—like rapping for JCPenney or blogging for Target. Don't let some half-wit string you along!
CREDITS Client: DirecTV Campaign: "Marionettes" Agency: Grey, New York Chief Creative Officer: Tor Myhren Executive Creative Director: Dan Kelleher Vice Presidents, Creative Directors: Doug Fallon, Steven Fogel Art Director: Marques Gartrell Copywriter: Kim Nguyen Agency Executive Producer: Andrew Chinich Agency Producer: Lindsay Myers Agency Music Producer: Zachary Pollakoff Account: Chris Ross, Beth Culley, Anna Pogosova, Aaron Schwartz, Meredith Savatsky Production Company: Hungry Man Director: Bryan Buckley Executive Producer: Mino Jarjoura Producer: Rachel Curl Production Supervisor: Colette Findley Director of Photography: Scott Henriksen Editor: Tom Scherma, Cosmo Street Assistant Editor: Dave Otte, Cosmo Street Editorial Executive Producer: Maura Woodward. Cosmo Street Editorial Producer: Heather Richardson, Cosmo Street Visual Effects: The Mill Visual Effects Executive Producer: Sue Troyan, The Mill Visual Effects Producer: Anastasia Von Rahl, The Mill Casting Director, Los Angeles: Kathy Knowles, Kathy Knowles Casting Casting Director, New York: Fay Shumsey, Fay Erin Casting Audio Mixer: Tom Jucarone, Sound Lounge
DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket, which offers every game live on any digital device, turns average Joes into "the world's most powerful fans" in three goofy spots from Grey. These godlike guys grow freakishly tall, grill burgers using their bare hands as spatulas and ride around on lightning bolts and date adoring goddesses clad in sparkly bikinis and Mercury-winged caps. They're like the Titans—from mythology, not Tennessee—reborn as outsized, sports-obsessed, media-savvy fanboys. Meanwhile, regular dudes who still watch the games on cable are portrayed as nebbishy geeks.
Guys are hyper-competitive and love to brag about everything, so I can see where these ads would appeal to some. And they're visually memorable. That said, they seem a tad mean-spirited, portraying "powerful" football fans as boastful loudmouths who lord it over everyone in earshot. What? You've got the game on DirecTV? Well, good for you, big man!
People who unironically think of their dogs as children are probably a) not well and b) overjoyed about DirecTV's announcement that it will be carrying DogTV, a $6 per month premium channel whose programming comforts animals while their owners are at work. It sounds (and is) ridiculous, but DogTV takes its mission seriously. Not only dooes it show programs that alternately stimulate and relax dogs, but the colors and audio in its broadcasts are adjusted for canines as well. My advice is to save money and just leave the TV on the Food Network all day. Dogs sleep most of the time anyway, and any dog who lives with the kind of credulous yuppie dork who would subscribe to a dog TV channel is used to hearing Alton Brown's voice by now. Photo via.
Voici le nouveau court-métrage du célèbre studio créatif PostPanic, écrit, dirigé et réalisé par Mischa Rozema. Intitulé sobrement « Stardust », ce projet à propos de la capsule Voyager 1 est une véritable réussite visuelle. L’ensemble est à découvrir en images et vidéo HD dans la suite de l’article.
Prises depuis une station spatiale internationale, ces impressionnantes images en time-lapse permettent de découvrir l’espace et les étoiles sous un regard nouveau. Une vidéo splendide montée par Alex Rivest, à découvrir en HD dans la suite de l’article.
Une très belle série spatiale du photographe anglais Simon Norfolk, qui explore la vie et les coulisses de fabrication du satellite Astra. Cet artiste est représenté par Peter Bailey. Un projet commissionné par This is Real Art, sur une direction créative de Paul Belford.
Une utilisation étonnante de Google Maps et de la vue satellite pour ce court film “Satellite Car Chase” illustrant une course poursuite dans la ville de New-York. Il s’agit d’une production et réalisation de la société Honest spécialement pour l’édition Psst! Pass It on.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
