Concepts too big for their products

Every once in a while I see an ad with an idea so big and thoughtful that I get genuinely excited. “This is what advertising is all about,” I’ll say to myself as I watch with anticipation, waiting for the product or brand to merge with the big idea unfolding before me. But then, as quickly as my excitement rises, it fades. The concept has nothing to do with the products benefits.

The LG BORDRELSS™ commercial is exactly this kind of ad. In reality the concept does have something to do with the product, and the connection becomes a little more clear (sort of) if you read the mini-novelization of the commercial on the LG Television’s facebook page:

“In the island afar, hundreds and thousands of flightless birds gaze at the BORDRELSS™ ocean and the BORDRELSS™ sky, extending far beyond the horizon. An invisible border is cast around the island, blowing fear and anxiety into the avian inhabitants. What if the barriers weve always thought were there, suddenly werent? Fully geared up with courage and muse, a single one takes big steps out of the flock – toward the cliff. Wings spread. Ready to take off. Drawing the peers eyes, its feet are off the land. Hearts pounding and breath held, all left behind wait for him to rise. That instance. The bird rises from the far below, sets its direction toward the far horizon and gently flies off to LIVE BORDRELSS™.”

As much as I enjoyed the concept, it overshadows the actual innovation it’s advertising. I found myself so distracted by the ad’s concept that when it got the part where it tries to sell the television, the benefit seemed almost laughable. And what’s worse, the television actually does have a border, it’s just not a raised border like most TVs. So LG want’s me  to LIVE BORDRELSS™ by buying a television that still has (for all intents and purposes) a border. Don’t get me wrong, this television is sexy, but come on LG. If you’re going to take me to the “Isle of Flightless Birds” and show me a lone innovator daring to challenge the expectations of his peers by venturing forth to LIVE BORDRELSS™, at the very least the TV better not have a border.

What I’m wondering is, can an concept for an ad be so big or so meaningful that in comparison, the product it was created to sell looks like, well, a TV with a flat border  instead of a raised one?

See the commercial “Fly For Freedom” here

Coffee Shops

I’m doing an update on my website right now in a local Boston coffee shop. This may be a little voyeuristic of me, but I really enjoy throwing in my iPod headphones without turning any music on and listening in on other peoples conversations. Not personal ones, but those kinds of conversations that people seem to think need to happen in a coffee shop. To my left, there are a couple engineers so animated about talking about renewable energy projects that they are literally yelling at each other in agreement. I only understand every third word and it’s usually a curse word, but I somehow feel like I’m a part of their conversation–if only to play the role of the bystander. There’s something validating about doing or talking about important things with witnesses present. Heck, I’m sitting here working on my website and writing on my blog in a coffee shop full of people. Why is it that I can’t concentrate on anything when I’m in my apartment completely alone, but the moment I’m sitting in a loud coffee shop somewhere I can focus? Well, except for this 15 minute break to write this post.

First Post and Found Thoughts

This is my first post in this thing. I’ve made a promise to myself that I’ll keep updating this whenever I have news or something I feel that needs to be said.

I was digging through some of my old sketchbooks and found a piece of writing that I feel is pretty appropriate for this blog that will focus on advertising and my endeavors in the industry.

Musings on Advertising (written roughly December 2008)

If you asked me if I’d still be in advertising 15 years from now, I honestly couldn’t tell you. All I know is that right now, it’s what I have to do. I know this because advertising makes me nervous. I’ve spent most of my adolescent and adult life in a state of equilibrium, almost never getting stressed out, over thinking, or getting frustrated by anything. One of my friends has even taken to calling me the “king of calm”. And while my temperament has been a blessing in my day to day, I have a hard time getting truly passionate about something.

Advertising makes me want to slam my head against my sketchbook. It makes me complain to my roommates about the marathon meetings with my art director to finish an ad on deadline, or the countless hours I spent in front of my computer of tweaking the layout on the leave-behind for a mock new business pitch.

Advertising is a bully that works you over real good, and after you’ve gone down, kicks you in the ribs once or twice, just because. But when the dust settles, you’ve never felt more alive because for a second, you didn’t think you’d make it through. Advertising makes me confront failure in the same way. Every time I tackle a project, there is a moment when I realize that I could fail. I might never come up with a creative idea. I could spend hours working on a concept only to have it met with blank, unappreciative stares. So I look failure straight in the eyes, grab my sketchbook, and run the other way. Fast.

That might sound like a nightmarish way to work, but after awhile, I’m pretty confident I can run faster than failure does. But I won’t be slowing down to find out. Maybe I just see it this way because I so rarely find myself frustrated or stressed out, but I think that’s what makes my desire to work in advertising so strong.

In the end, I think happiness is about doing something that gets your pulse pounding.

Advertising does just that.