Friday, November 19, 2010

Watch YouTube's Ad of the Year Winner.


(via) Chances are, you've maybe already seen it, as it has over 11 million views. It is undeniably mesmerizing. "Embrace Life," created for Sussex Safer Roads in the UK, beat out Old Spice's "The man you man could smell like" and more than 170 other entries. It's the inaugural year for the award, with the winner receiving a YouTube homepage takeover worth £75,000. Creator: Alexander Commercials. Take heed, crusty old school TV ad directors and producers.
The video only won a Bronze Lion at Cannes, because: it wasn't created by a "hot" "creative" ad shop. And Cannes is an annual circle jerking side-by-side blowjob douchebag fest. Related: click here to view noteworthy Cannes 2010 winners.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm really grateful for this advert. I really hope they make similar adverts about tying your shoelaces, turning the oven off, and not jumping off of tall buildings, because people just don't know not to do these things without expensive advertising campaigns.

1:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've watched this ad about 6 times, and not once has it made even the slightest bit of sense.

Shoes off, pretend driving in his living room, n front of a table with some sort of glitter box on it.

What does it mean? What on earth does it mean?

It's just an excuse to have some slow motion glitter, no? Which is nice, but...it's just glitter. In slow motion. It's not that interesting, is it?

I am genuinely baffled by the popularity of this ad.

7:00 PM  
Anonymous Nick said...

I enjoyed the comments on this thread enormously.

Number 1 - yes clearly most people know how to turn the oven off, belt up, etc. without expensive ad campaigns and yet still lots of idiots die on the roads every year whilst not wearing a seatbelt. So then we have ad campaigns to suggest that maybe there is a good reason to wear a seatbelt. It's not necessarily the fault of Sussex council or the ad agency that these things are necessary, more the fault of idiots who don't wear seatbelts and then die in car crashes.

Number 2 - I assume you're being flippant or are you just really keen to advertise the fact that you're too dopey to read between the lines of this ad - which apparently millions of others do seem to understand without too much trouble?

9:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I've watched this ad about 6 times, and not once has it made even the slightest bit of sense."

The whole scene seems to be heavily symbolic, but pretty damned easy to understand. The family embracing the guy are the obvious seat belt, but the moment that the car "impacts" it's his "loved ones" that save his life. They're playing on the responsibility people feel to make safe choices because there's people who are relying on you and who expect you to come home every day. Etc. Etc. etc. Very powerful imagery, and I can see how it would tug on anyone's hearstrings. The "glitter", whatever the crap it is (people have had weirder sh*t in random bowls in their houses, don't get me started on potpourri and fake balls of grass) makes me think of shattered glass or a broken windshield shattering during an accident, which is probably what they were going for. Which makes perfect sense and I got it immediately the first time I watched it.


So...if you're still confused then maybe you're just one of the minority of the population that feels the need to find something wrong with great and amazing things that the majority seems drawn to because you want to stand out and draw attention to yourself; or maybe you've just never actually driven a car? Either way, hope it makes more sense and you're able to enjoy this really incredible advertisement a little more now.

5:55 PM  

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