So you want some crazy dancing in your commercial. Understandable. That concept worked out pretty well for Apple. But is there a limit to how crazy the dancing can get? That question is answered by Intel's ad for their new computer processors:
Yes. That dancing is too crazy. It borders on laughable. The first dancer looks like Eminem on meth -- why do you want a guy who looks like that in your commercial? But I'd like to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. Maybe in real life this guy doesn't totally suck. Maybe it's the fault of the commercial environment - the client, the director, the agency guys. Here's how I like to think the scene went down during the shooting of the commercial:
Director: Okay, cue the music. Dancer #1, let's go! Wait, fix your collar. Okay, now do some Hokey Pokey. Great! All right, now pull yourself through the picture. Yes! Just like that. Okay, give me a half Shoulder Shrug. Nice. Do something spazzy with your arms - perfect. Pull yourself through the pict - wait! No, you just did that. How about a Duck Tilt. Yes! Now bring it home with a Full Elvis. And cut.
Ok, bring out the K-Fed lookalike. Sweet hat, dude. Okay, let's see what you got. Cue the music again! Nice entrance. Okay, give me some Ray Charles. That's it, play that piano! Do some Thriller Dance, don't make it too obvious, though. Bingo. Okay, now finish it off with an extended Don Knotts. Nice... walk it, baby! Walk straight on through Mayberry! Annnnddd cut! We got it - wrap!!
Amazingly, Intel extended this concept into a full campaign. You can view the other components here and here. If you don't want to waste a minute of your life, I'll just describe them for you in one sentence fragment: Same eurotrash-style music, different freaky dance moves.
What's the lesson? Don't copy ideas from other ads unless you can execute a variation with the same level of excellence. Intel just comes off looking cheap, like they can't come up with their own advertising concepts. Oh, and Intel? Don't expect Apple to invite you to their next rave in Cupertino - they know how to move on a dance floor over there.
After taking a closer look at this ad versus the iPod ones, I think the main difference is that Apple hired dancers, and Intel hired mimes.
ReplyDeleteThe bigger problem is that while it's obvious how people dancing to music sells iPods, I'm not sure how it's supposed to sell computer processors, especially since that isn't usually something you sell directly to the end-user.
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