How did this come about?

Sometimes I see ads and I wonder what the pitch meeting looked like. This ad for Volvo is pretty fantastic, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why. It’s such an odd collection of elements, especially when you consider the likely audience for the ad:

  • Gold Volvo Trucks
  • Jean-Claude Van Damme doing the splits
  • Enya
  • An aircraft runway in the desert, at sunset

I’m not sure what the audience for these Volvo trucks is like, but I can only imagine that the client demanded an ad designed to go viral. Still, I enjoy the ad. It’s got a certain grace to it.

Apple’s Advertising Folly

While it’s easy to pick on a company that gets so much right, Fast Company did a great job pointing out the problem with Apple’s ad shown above. The ad opens with the words:

“This is it. This is what matters. The experience of a product.”

The problem is that the ad should open with:

“This is it. This is what matters. The experience of a person.”

Apple should be showing how their products enrich the lives of their users by complimenting their lives. Instead the products are shown as the end, instead of the means.

Liking isn’t Helping

Ad campaign shows that Facebook Likes don’t help. From Bored Panda:

The idea is simple but daring – virtual things don’t count in real life and even a billion “Likes” on Facebook won’t help those facing crisis in their everyday lives. It might win you an iPod if you’re lucky but it won’t stop poverty, homelessness, economical and cultural collapse that are caused by wars and natural disasters. Therefore, the campaign calls for action with its tagline “Be a volunteer. Change a life”.

Read the rest of the article and see two more great variations of this ad campaign at Bored Panda.

Bodyform Talks Straight About the Period

Bodyform Maxipads created this great video in response to a Facebook post that calls them out – humourously – for not accurately portraying the experience of a woman’s menstrual cycle. It’s great to see this kind of tongue-in-cheek, fun responses from a major brand; it gives the brand character and builds the brand’s believability.

Thx, Ads of the World.