I sent my three favourite ads of all time to Adrian.
He put them on his blog called threeadsforads.
Then I reblogged his post:
Iâve never met Chris. From what I know heâs a copywriter at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, an agency that wins a lot of awards despite employing idiots like Coleman*. Serendipitous following of randoms on Twitter may have bought Chris and I together, but it was our commitment to banter and internet that lead to mutual Tumblr following and regular acknowledgement of @ replies. No doubt someone out there is thinking âCanât believe Flores is posting that cunt Hillaryâs dribbleâ; but I havenât met that person, so Iâm going to go with the âChris seems alrightâ line.
After apologising for the waffling, Chris left me with a line that sums up a common theme amongst those Iâve asked to contribute:
âThanks for the opportunity to do this, bro. Itâs always good to remind yourself why you donât just pawn all the departmentâs Macs and book a one-way flight to Acapulco.â
[*I actually have a mad man-crush on for Coleman. Mainly cause he grabbed my penis the first time we met in person. True story.]
This is hands-down my favourite ad of all time.
Cuts straight through the crap. No product benefits. Not a tech spec in sight. It doesnât even show the fucking product.Â
It makes you stop and go âwhat the shit was that?âÂ
Brilliant disruption.
And an engaging piece of storytelling about the emotion of being a Playstation owner.
I used to wonder how TBWA London sold this idea in.Â
Did they act out the script in Sonyâs boardroom?Â
Did they roofie the research group and say everyone loved it?Â
Surely it didnât go near link testing.Â
Then I found out the ad is just a butchered version of a Tim Hope short. Â
Still, totally tits
When I was 16 I worked night shifts at a fruit and vegâ distribution centre and 4am shifts at an airport record store. I did a lot of night driving.Â
So when I first saw this ad I knew exactly what DDB London were on about.Â
Meanwhile, Richard Burton reading Dylan Thomasâ Under Milk Wood.Â
You canât really fuck that up, can you?
Radiohead blipverts
In 2000, Radiohead released Kid A - the album that, for me, redefined music.Â
Remember back then? Music videos were consumed on the telly, and were the main promotion for albums (CDs).Â
So the band, Stanley Donwood, Chris Bran and Shynola said âpish off ta thatâ, and made a series of fucking twisted âblipvertsâ.Â
They popped up at random - in ad breaks and between music videos - with disturbing, glitchy visuals of DNA strands, eyeballs and stick figures re-enacting scenes from Titanic.Â
They ranged from 7 seconds to over two minutes, wreaking havoc in an otherwise mindless viewing experience.Â
To me, it was great because the band reevaluated their standard promotion platform, and slapped us with something unexpected.
And yes, I queued for hours at a midnight opening to buy the record.