We, as a blog, always want to feature impactful advertising. This commercial for TomTom, created by Pool Worldwide, is indeed impactful. Not because it teaches us something about TomTom – if anything, we’ve learned that TomTom is a brand for being stuck in traffic. Not because it is sexy. And not because it’s brilliantly executed. It is impactful, because it teaches us that John Cleese doesn’t know when it’s time to enjoy his retirement (does he need the money?) – it is sad to see that a once great actor let’s himself be commercially prostituted like this. There are some more films with other (less famous) people who also sing Queen’s ‘I want to break free’ in a theatrical way when their stuck in traffic. There’s also a Facebook page, where TomTom begs you to ‘Like’ them and thus to become a ‘fan’. Finally, the campaign also has a crowd sourcing element built in by asking the consumer to send in some other ‘break free’ moments. Let’s prepare for more knuckle biting.
A bit of a silly advertising if you ask me. Just too slowly executed. Not innovative. The advertiser here looks a bit like a “firsttimer wanting to do social advertising as well”. Apart from that, I know that the actual product they’re promoting (HD traffic) is highly innovative. I always use it to get around traffic in Amsterdam and London. So big ups for the tomtom product, but not for this advertising.
There are just a few IT companies that can make their technology look sexy. Like Apple can. Most other IT companies can’t seem to hide the fact that they’re geeks. They communicate too much about the actual product and technical aspects, rather than benefits.
I regard this advertising as a first attempt to talk in terms of benefits (not getting stuck in traffic) rather than technical stuff (we collect and analyze billions of road movements). So in that sense, this is a first good try. But the execution of the advertising doesn’t nail it.
…knowing the original concept from Pool from Dec 2010…it is fair to say this thing got gangbanged beyond recognition by the client with a gazillion of forced changes based on a lack of understanding for the part of the target group that drives content in social media.
Time will tell…and teach.
Next…
Interesting remark for an adblog run by an ad person: ”(…) it is sad to see that a once great actor let’s himself be commercially prostituted like this.” So it’s okay if a current great actor does it? Or not? Or is Amsterdam Ad Blog against any FP’s (Famous Persons) doing commercials to earn soms extra cash?
@Michael van Os
You have a point there. We don’t mind George Clooney in the Nespresso commercials, because he appears to be himself; sexy, cool, sophisticated, etc. The problem with John Cleese is that he used to be a funny (in an absurd way) actor. This is absurd, but not funny. We realise that this is a matter of taste, but to illustrate what we mean, have a look a this commercial from the 80s for Giroblauw: http://bit.ly/c6s2Ze. That was Cleese being funny.
@AAB You have a point, too. Just thought of another issue though. Was it such a clever idea then that TomTom asked a/its agency specialised in digital to do -by the looks of it- relatively ‘ordinary’ commercials that could easily have been shown on tv (in much shortened versions)?
TomTom’s previous ad agency, TBWA\Neboko if I recall correctly, would have done a better job, I feel (and I can think of several more good ‘general’ or, as some cynics prefer, ‘traditional’ Dutch agencies that could).
Such a, yes, differently specialised agency probably would’nt have used that formerly funny man…
PS Okay, John Cleese is regarded a wrong pick here, but I wonder whether the (Dutch) public at large would have been equally critical. Could they have made STER’s monthly Gouden Loeki longlist if the TomTom-spots were to be shown on tv in the Netherlands? Quite possibly.
@Michael
It doesn’t matter whether a commercial is shown on internet or TV – same thing, only internet is cheaper of course and needs more seeding to get exposure.
Execution is indeed an issue here. Yes, traditional agencies are better at making (funny) films, because they have a different kind of conceptors. But then again, it wouldn’t surprise us if BeyenMeyer is behind this – a relatively traditional agency led by Paul Meijer. They more or less merged with Pool, if we are informed properly.
And your are definitely right about the average consumer being less critical. The only thing is that if you are only trying to be funny for the average consumer (and hit the Loeki longlist), you might forget to sell your product adequately (or on briefing, if you like).
Shocking…. terrible acting… no idea…. and shot on a VGA phone from the 90′s… my god what on earth is this supposed to do? make me feel? surely the work of someones Mum at Pool….
After TomTom recorded the voices of Darth Vader and Yoda – among others – this time TomTom has teamed up with Sesame Street to promote its navigation system. It’s literally the same ad concept as the previous virals made with Star Wars, but a very smart ad (and business!) property and easily more enjoyable to watch than John Cleese breaking free. Created by Pool Worldwide.
The impressive series of interactive ads created by Tribal DDB Amsterdam in the past year has found the right award show to get fully appreciated; The Lovie Awards. Named after Ada Lovelace, an English writer who lived in the 19th Century and – believe it or not – wrote the first algorithm. That’s how the Lovie Awards should represent “European innovation and creative ingenuity”. Tribal won three golden awards (out of a total of 40) for Philips with ‘Wake up the town’ (featured in this post) and ‘Obsessed with sound’ – and a handful of others. KLM’s ‘Tile & Inspire‘ won two silver and one bronze. Other awarded Amsterdam agencies were LBi Lostboys (Anne Frank), Pool Worldwide (TomTom and Sound Circus – great website!) and Blast Radius (Hugo Boss).
This is a bit of a complicated one – especially when you don’t speak Dutch. Pool Worldwide made a series of 5 short commercials for ‘De Telefoongids’ (the white and yellow pages) to communicate the header in this picture “You can all find it with the free Search & Find app”. The short commercials – pretended to be made by the retailers to sell their businesses – watched in the right sequence (from left to right) create a story about a robbery. The first one shows a tailor (that sells suits), the second one a party store (that sells masks to disguise yourself), the third one a bag store (that sells Claudio Ferrici bags to carry the loot), the fourth one a van rental (so you can drive through a facade), and the fifth one the security at jewelry shop (to rob). The films are purposely made badly to illustrate that De Telefoongids is mainly used by small businesses. What we do like is that the different films form a sort of puzzle – we can even imagine that the pieces are creatively seeded on the web through banners or something. What we don’t like is that the itchy films make us a bit nervous. And though we understand that the commercials address the user of the app, rather than the retailer, this campaign shows how De Telefoongids looks at its customers – quite condescendingly. And then back to us, the target; do we use De Telefoongids to find a bunch of amateurs? Mmm…
Finally, Amsterdam wins its first golden Lion – in cyber. Nike’s ‘Write the future’, created by Wieden+Kennedy has already won a truckload of prizes, but winning in Cannes, is the cherry on top, of course. The campaign won in cyber, because it used social media very effectively; the film received 40 million online views. And since the film is so impressive, we expect it to win (at least) a golden film Lion this Saturday. Two virals were rewarded with a bronze Cyber lion. The first one: TomTom’s special edition StarWars voices – created by Pool Worldwide and directed by Willem Gerritsen (CZAR). This film will surely also win another Lion at the end of the week. The other viral, was Liquid Mountaineering for Hi-Tec by CCCP – a brilliantly executed mockumentary. Interesting detail; this second viral was also directed by Willem Gerritsen. In design two silver Lions were won. One by Amsterdam agency BrandBase for its pallet project, a unique working environment, built entirely from pallets by Most Design. The other silver design Lion went to Heineken’s STR bottle, a bottle that lights up in the dark thanks to its UV-sensitive ink – created by dBOD and Iris.
Amsterdam won two Grand Prix in Film and Design at Eurobest in Hamburg, last Wednesday. Wieden+Kennedy was awarded the prestigious award for its epic Nike ‘Write the future’ commercial – alledgedly the most expensive commercial ever made. And for the same film it won bronze in Film Craft. Amsterdam Worldwide earned a Grand Prix in the category Design for the Onitsuka Tiger ‘Tansu sneaker’. Other than that Amsterdam did not do extremely well, we have to admit. In interactive Pool Worldwide won silver for its brilliant StarWars branded TomTom viral. In the same category 180 Amsterdam won bronze for Adidas’ Match Tracker and NRG3 won bronze for an interactive banner for the EA game Need for Speed Shift. N=5 was awarded silver in the category Media with a ‘Live interactive billboad’ – an aggression awareness campaign. BSUR got bronze in Film for MINI’s Flow, Publics won bronze in Print for KIKA, and JWT bronze in Promo and Outdoor with the MINI Christmas box.
A bit of a silly advertising if you ask me. Just too slowly executed. Not innovative. The advertiser here looks a bit like a “firsttimer wanting to do social advertising as well”. Apart from that, I know that the actual product they’re promoting (HD traffic) is highly innovative. I always use it to get around traffic in Amsterdam and London. So big ups for the tomtom product, but not for this advertising.
There are just a few IT companies that can make their technology look sexy. Like Apple can. Most other IT companies can’t seem to hide the fact that they’re geeks. They communicate too much about the actual product and technical aspects, rather than benefits.
I regard this advertising as a first attempt to talk in terms of benefits (not getting stuck in traffic) rather than technical stuff (we collect and analyze billions of road movements). So in that sense, this is a first good try. But the execution of the advertising doesn’t nail it.
…knowing the original concept from Pool from Dec 2010…it is fair to say this thing got gangbanged beyond recognition by the client with a gazillion of forced changes based on a lack of understanding for the part of the target group that drives content in social media.
Time will tell…and teach.
Next…
Interesting remark for an adblog run by an ad person: ”(…) it is sad to see that a once great actor let’s himself be commercially prostituted like this.” So it’s okay if a current great actor does it? Or not? Or is Amsterdam Ad Blog against any FP’s (Famous Persons) doing commercials to earn soms extra cash?
Here’s Pool’s award winning work from 2010 on the special edition Star Wars voice: http://bit.ly/dDBjMX
@Michael van Os
You have a point there. We don’t mind George Clooney in the Nespresso commercials, because he appears to be himself; sexy, cool, sophisticated, etc. The problem with John Cleese is that he used to be a funny (in an absurd way) actor. This is absurd, but not funny. We realise that this is a matter of taste, but to illustrate what we mean, have a look a this commercial from the 80s for Giroblauw: http://bit.ly/c6s2Ze. That was Cleese being funny.
@AAB You have a point, too. Just thought of another issue though. Was it such a clever idea then that TomTom asked a/its agency specialised in digital to do -by the looks of it- relatively ‘ordinary’ commercials that could easily have been shown on tv (in much shortened versions)?
TomTom’s previous ad agency, TBWA\Neboko if I recall correctly, would have done a better job, I feel (and I can think of several more good ‘general’ or, as some cynics prefer, ‘traditional’ Dutch agencies that could).
Such a, yes, differently specialised agency probably would’nt have used that formerly funny man…
PS Okay, John Cleese is regarded a wrong pick here, but I wonder whether the (Dutch) public at large would have been equally critical. Could they have made STER’s monthly Gouden Loeki longlist if the TomTom-spots were to be shown on tv in the Netherlands? Quite possibly.
@Michael
It doesn’t matter whether a commercial is shown on internet or TV – same thing, only internet is cheaper of course and needs more seeding to get exposure.
Execution is indeed an issue here. Yes, traditional agencies are better at making (funny) films, because they have a different kind of conceptors. But then again, it wouldn’t surprise us if BeyenMeyer is behind this – a relatively traditional agency led by Paul Meijer. They more or less merged with Pool, if we are informed properly.
And your are definitely right about the average consumer being less critical. The only thing is that if you are only trying to be funny for the average consumer (and hit the Loeki longlist), you might forget to sell your product adequately (or on briefing, if you like).
@AAB In that case, re BeyenMeyer, I rest my case
Tip from one of our readers (“One thing is sure, they don’t have any copywriters @ Pool
”): http://bit.ly/j2CxqY
What a F*****g stinker… why? wtf? how…
Everybody knows John acts great on long takes (one shot).
Like this looks shit! thumbs down director and creative team.
Shocking…. terrible acting… no idea…. and shot on a VGA phone from the 90′s… my god what on earth is this supposed to do? make me feel? surely the work of someones Mum at Pool….