JCpenny’s “The Doghouse” viral short film

As a rule I generally have a low opinion of buzz words and corporate market speak.  It’s a vocabulary too often used by the uninformed trying to pose as the overly informed and in the end those fancy words we come up with to describe new trends grow stale and wind up ridiculed by just about everyone in the know.  Well at the risk of ridicule I’m going to break my own rule and become a contributor, nay a revivalist to the buzz word lexicon with “Advertainment.”  Sure it’s not my own invention and you’ll find it floating around on the blogosphere here and there, maybe in a few industry articles etc. but it hasn’t really found a catch yet.  I’m using it now because there really is no better word to describe the growing trend I’ve been seeing from big brands experimenting with long-form-video-entertainment-advertising (see why we need a buzz word?).

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It’s true, such a thing exists and I’ve discovered it.  Whilst perusing through the latest offerings on YouTube, (now with new widescreen player!) I came across this little gem that’s sure to be a classic in the brand film world.  The JCB Action Brand Film!. Admittedly they we’re probably just setting out to make a really cool film about their construction equipment but I was pulled in to what is probably some of the most heartfelt brand emoting I’ve ever done. Seriously, after watching this I simultaneously wanted to own a JCB construction vehicle and make a career out of digging holes in the rain while in slow motion.

Would I have done anything differently? No absolutely not. This film is a masterpiece of extraordinary cinematography and editing. My only addition might be to intercut scenes showing a rain soaked battle between vikings and medivel knights happening in between the construction vehicles while bikini-clad, models playing electric guitars rocked out on top of the diggers.  If JCB wanted to take this viral anyway…

But in all serious I tip my hat to this production team, they’ve explored new frontier in the burgeoning brand film genre and it is sure to be repeated by others.

check it out:

JCB

So there’s been some buzz going around about Ogilvy Toronto’s newest effort for Dove.  An interactive choose-your-own-adventure microsite/webseries called Waking Up Hannah.  Now what I find interesting about this series isn’t necessarily the interactivity features (which are well integrated if somewhat superfluous) what I’m excited about is the fact that this is one of the first branded web series to adhere to TV quality production values. (more…)