It’s Monday, post-game ‘Big Game’ 2018. Every social media channel is packed with opinions about who won marketing’s version of the game. And frankly, I don’t care. One person’s hilarious is another’s blah blah. But there was something that grabbed my attention about one of the commercials shown during the game—and it wasn’t the commercial shown during the game. It was the massive strategy behind it.
I’ll wait while you check out this story by Robert Klare in AdWeek.
This is what Ad Folks mean when they say ‘Big Idea.’
We live in Möebius strip world in which up is media, down is media, and media is meta-media. Confused? Check out Exhibit A from Droga5/New York for Aussie tourism in the story above, or watch the spot below:
The money quote from Chris Hemsworth:
“I kept asking the director, ‘Hang on. So I know it’s a movie, but it’s not a movie but a commercial. And I’m playing a—wait … at which point am I playing a character or playing me?….And in the end, [the director] was like, ‘We don’t really know, either. Just have fun with it.’”
I love that. The idea’s so big that even the director Steve Rogers was flying by the seat of his/her huge budget production pants. An idea that big doesn’t have to make logical sense. It just has to work. I’m guessing it did—big time. And that fact that it ripped on some American’s parochial understanding of all things Antipodes? Even better.
Hat’s off the the Droga5 team, but a bigger hat’s off the the Tourism Australia client that greenlit this illogical extravaganza. They made their point in quintessentially Australian fashion; with a heaping helping of good humor. Good on ya, mate!
– D.P. Knudten > Chief Collaborator > COLLABORATOR creative
PS: the Paul Hogan cameo was expected, but really well done/timed. A real treat for those of us who saw it first run in theaters way back when (1986…1986! WTF!!!!)
©2018 D.P. Knudten / COLLABORATOR creative – all rights reserved
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D.P. Knudten, the Chief Collaborator at COLLABORATOR creative, is a ~25-year veteran in advertising and marketing. Providing everything from freelance copywriting; content marketing strategy, creation, execution; and his NonFiction Branding™ system, D.P. collaborates creatively to identify, craft, and communicate the true brand stories of complicated products, services, and companies throughout the United States.
D.P. is also the co-author (with Spencer X Smith)of ROTOMA—The ROI of Social Media ‘Top of Mind’. Be sure to check out its aural companion “The ROTOMA Podcast.” We have new episodes coming out every Monday. Check it out at here or search “ROTOMA” wherever you get your podcasts.
