I gave a talk at Ogilvy last week, and I used this reel of classic commercials that I learned about in Mary Well’s book and Art and Copy. Here are my notes:
- American Motors Rebel (Mary Wells): This commercial is inspired by an intriguing fact: American Motors Rebels were the most popular cars used in driving school. It then included a fully fleshed set of characters and vignettes. It’s a story inspired by facts.
- I Love New York (Mary Wells): Celebrities. Enough said. And this commercial is credited with playing a big role in turning around New York.
- Alka Seltzer Spicy Meatball (Mary Wells): Raw, unpolished, “behind the scenes” style. Users love raw content that feels organic.
- Crocker Bank (Hal Riney): They produced a brand new song to get young people into a bank. The song was so good it eventually hit #2 on the charts. It was even licensed to other banks throughout the country. Can you imagine a commercial jingle so good it runs up the charts?
- Apple Think Different (Chiat Day): Combines many of the elements of the above: celebrities, rough clips, good music. And a simple message that was actually grammatically incorrect. Think Different is very much like the one and two work brand-based reactions we create on Buzzfeed. For example, Bic’s new campaign is “Get Real” - we made this a simple reaction button to tag content.
- Ian Schrager Public Hotels(Buzzfeed, Dorsey Shaw): Great music, celebrities, simple messaging, raw content.
- Katy Perry (Last Friday Night): Why couldn’t this be a great branded content commercial? I count sneakers, beer, video games, fashion, etc that all could be promoted via an awesome piece of content like this.
