A Good Commercial Can Make You Want To Be Someone Else
One thing Bennett Creative video production and marketing is always on the lookout for is a good commercial. Good commercials inspire us, encourage us to think a little differently or push the boundaries a bit, it’s a way to get new ideas. As mentioned in a previous post about Snapchat, on Monday mornings the Bennett Creative team gathers to watch a few commercials at our staff meeting. Some mornings we have a long list, others maybe just one. When in doubt, we head to Dorothy Bennett’s ‘likes’ on Vimeo.
This past week was a week we defaulted to the like list. Dorothy was still picky about which commercials we watched. Never one to disappoint, she wow-ed us with some majorly vibey brand videos from UGG and LEGO.
No one in our office would particularly identify as the someone portrayed in the UGG video, yet after watching, Dorothy mentioned that the brand video made her want to be that type of person. The brand did such a great job creating a mood, and had a way of making you want to be what they were representing. The colors, the graphics, the music, it was hypnotizing.
The Lego video felt like a major production due to the set and costume, and everything that went into all of it. It was also highly specific to its audience. In general, both the UGG and Lego commercials were highly specific to their audiences, very targeted, and it works. We at Bennett aren’t necessarily in that target, but after watching the captivating ads, we were inclined to explore that world.
Dorothy said, “It feels like in these commercials, they showed the niche of their ideal consumer, instead of showing how their product could apply to any consumer. Even though I’m not the consumer that they show in these commercials, because I now appreciate the aesthetic vision that they showed, I would be willing to be that person for a time in order to interact with their product.”
That’s a powerful commercial, y’all.
Are You Watching Long Form Videos?
The Lego commercial for adult Legos was a long one, almost two minutes, which in today's social media and media consuming standards, feels a bit like, well, forever. Most things are much more condensed due to our ever increasing shortened attention spans. The Bennett Creative team discussed how easy it would be to grab 15 second clips from the Lego video, add text or graphics, and turn them into short videos for social media. So much content was in that video that could be spliced to make a number of different short videos. Never a bad thing for your marketing and social media team.
The Bennett Creative team has been talking about how long form video is making a resurgence. If you’re on social media, especially TikTok, you might have noticed that videos are growing in length. Previously, it was thought that videos needed to be short for our face-paced, fleeting attention spans, but this year, the longer videos have made a comeback. Maybe in part due to TikTok’s creator reward program for creators making videos 60 seconds or longer. TikTok even announced that long form viewership was up 40%.
Short form isn’t going anywhere, that’s for sure, but the Lego commercial points to the come-back of long form videos. To the novelty of taking time to create something a bit more special, more thought provoking, something that tells a story in more detail. Some people are ready for that content and other people report feeling stressed out if a video (on social media) is longer than 60 seconds. Our attention spans have done nothing but gotten shorter over the years due to consuming such large amounts of information.
On Instagram Reels, a few clients we do marketing for went viral. Those videos were slightly on the longer side. One being 30 seconds, the other nearly 60. Maybe we were being rewarded by the algorithm for a longer video? The verdict is still out on long form versus short form. Bennett Creative believes they both have their place and the use of both is probably the most beneficial.
We Are The Target in This Commercial
The third commercial Bennett Creative is really into, possibly our overall favorite, is this one for QuickBooks, recommended by Motion Designer, Charlie Boothby. This commercial starts out in a wide frame, capturing the whole set. The team noted how this commercial feels like a oner, or a video shot with no cuts. The general consensus was that the focal point didn’t feel flat, with speculation around whether a dolly or even a robot was used to zoom in, but the point being that it was all one shot. We were also curious if the slow motion was done by the actors or in editing. It almost looks like the actors were cued to move in slow motion, but we couldn't be sure. Either way, it was a nice touch.
Another thing we took time discussing, on the second viewing, was the graphics. Andrew Bennett would pause the commercial and chat about how the graphics were set up. How negative space was created next to the person being zoomed in on, space for a QuickBooks graphic to go in. Also noted and approved of, was how the graphic was darkened just a bit to draw your eye without taking away attention. We’re constantly thinking about graphics and how they work in video content here at Bennett Creative.
We watched this commercial three times, each time taking more in. A few things were noted. The photographer's camera strap that matches QuickBook’s brand colors. The name tags on the event business people. So many little touches in wardrobing that add to the commercial.
Dorothy also mentioned the class discussion subtly at play. At a big business event where people are being rewarded for their business skills, small business people are working their own businesses to make it happen. We know firsthand event business skills. Not only is the commercial funny and well made, we feel seen.
Obviously, everyone at Bennett Creative unanimously agreed that our favorite part was the plumbers eyebrow wave. All in all, this commercial caught our attention on a creative and entertainment level.
What commercials are catching your eye and why? We'd love to know.
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