#ad research

I like the use of a different paper material for this ad! I think the visual is nice, especially integrated across different platforms. I think it would be fun to see life-sized because of the illusion. I’m on the fence about the copy. I like it the more I reread it, but at the same time I think it’s a bit corny and something most people would roll their eyes at.

Comparison and contrast is nothing new in ads, but it’s still something I like to look for to see the execution. Nothing groundbreaking about this series, however, and the giraffe head looks weird floating like that. For a tagline like ‘Flying Reimagined’, I don’t see anything being flipped on its head.

This is one of those annoying ads that would be completely forgettable without the backing track, that they keep playing over and over in cinemas, on the radio, and on Youtube. It’s really short and makes use of local celebrities to endorse the product, but the entire thing seems to be based off pure randomness.

In terms of the narrative, I would have found it more touching if he had actually given them back the memories of the experience at the end rather than just sit them down to watch footage of what they did. Ultimately, though, the latter is probably just what “looks” better in the ad.

Puffs has, since the early 2000s, been releasing a cute series of commercials for their lotion facial tissues. It’s a riff on nursery rhymes that’s fitting for their tagline: a nose indeed deserves a Puffs indeed. Even though it’s been years since they started, the formula doesn’t change much from ad to ad. Still, the animation looks as pillowy as the tissue advertises, and I like the gentle orchestral transitions in the background. It looks like a family-friendly ad that would fit in nicely within the commercial time of Disney Channel. The most jarring part of the ad is how the Puffs Plus bit is tacked onto the end with a completely different character.

Scotties: The tissue for any issue. A nice rhyming tagline (if just a little corny). I personally find the idea for this campaign to be on-the-nose, but it gets the point across quickly and simply. Any more copy would just be beating a dead bush. The visual style is nice and minimal; the colours of each ad coordinate very well with the represented tissue boxes. I like the placement of the tissue boxes in front of each person, because it feels like where the box would be positioned in the actual scene of the moment.

This is definitely one of my favourite ads of the year, but it’s only effective if you go in completely blind. Since first watching it, I’ve seen several posts urging people to watch it but also asking them to see if they could keep a careful eye on each scene and “spot the signs.” When I first saw it posted on Adweek, I wasn’t even aware it was a PSA, and even knowing the foundation that funded this makes the twist at the end less effective. While I had been expecting a twist, I thought it would be another clichéd riff on the mystery of the library romance. I expected something comedic and forgettable. The ad definitely plays on that expectation. It’s a great example of why the little details in each scene of an ad matters. People are used to zoning out on them and focusing on the story overall, but a good ad is one where every detail ties back to the message — even the ones we may have missed.

The ending has a bit of something that many can relate to, whether from the mother’s perspective or the son’s. Even when we become adults, to our parents we will always be the child they watched grow. Yes, it’s been done before, but I think that Ikea executed it well.