I was eating supper with my daughter, Allie. We were discussing the
future of advertising. Believe me, everything else I might have been
discussing with a seventeen-year-old was off limits.
Me: “I think you have to look to YouTube for the future of TV commercials.”
Allie:
“But really mom, who would go to YouTube to watch a commercial. I can’t
imagine anyone would go seek out, say, a Honda commercial voluntarily.”
Me: “Hah! How about a commercial for a $375 blender?”
Allie: (shakes her head)
Mom:
“A guy blended an iphone – an iphone – and got 6 million people to
watch it on YouTube. It turned into smoke. It was pretty cool.”
Allie: “I want to see that.”
Me: “Precisely.”
Anyone
who has ever tried to get the last word with a 17-year-old knows how
hard that is. About as hard as getting 6 million people to *want* to
watch your commercial.
Lisa Hickey is a "slightly insane creative thinker and writer. Designer and strategist. Global conversationalist." As well as a valued friend and colleague. You can follow her conversation on Twitter @lisahickey and visit her blog The Hurricane Inside My Brain.
Jim Mitchem
May 5, 2009
I’m happy to hear that you can still have solid conversations with kids when they’re well into their teens. Whew. The other thing is that willitblend.com looks like the brainchild of David Letterman, doesn’t it? 😉
I like the future of advertising. As long as others don’t try to capture eyeballs by being idiots.
(great musical score for this spot – it works perfectly)
Susan Mazza
May 5, 2009
Wow – the last word. You go mom!
Been watching a few of my favorite shows online instead of prime time and it has been interesting to see how they do commercials. Funny how I don’t mind the interruption there as much as I do when it is on the TV. Probably because I can walk away and start again when I am ready!
Hadn’t considered actually going to u-tube to watch a commercial though. Hmmmm – guess you go the last word with me too.
Kat Jaibur
May 5, 2009
Great post, Lisa. And whoever created that spot for WillItBlend was brilliant. Agree with Jim, it owes a debt to Letterman. So the future of commercials on YouTube is that they must appeal to 17-yr-old mentality. What next: Drop a BMW off a rooftop?
Nichole
May 5, 2009
Wait, Lisa… your daughter eats supper with you?? You get props for that… and for getting the last word…. Unless she rolled her eyes. LOL.
But you’re right about YouTube. I rarely see commercials on TV, but will search for interesting ones I’ve heard about on YouTube. And the ones that I like best, I watch repeatedly. Like the Scrabble Hula video, which I’ll likely never see on the telly.
DC Grrl
May 6, 2009
Great post, great ad. You make an excellent point about viral ads. It takes a special touch. The Celebrity Apprentice episode where they tried to create viral ads produced miserable results.
This is entertaining, shocking and demonstrates a product’s durability at the same time. Perfect ‘blend.’ And a batch of 20-somethings will be putting BlendTec blenders on their wedding registries this spring.
Lisa Hickey
May 6, 2009
Thanks for the comments all. I’m thinking now that we should all try to do commercials for *ourselves*, and see how that goes. It ain’t easy!
My novel – Minor King
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