4 Video Advertisers Rocking the Market

By Joe Cunningham, Internet Marketing Manager
10/08/2013

I don’t watch a lot of TV, but that doesn’t matter.  Despite Netflix taking over much of the “viewing marketing” (which is fine with me, love to stream on my own time), video ads remain a strong advertising medium via sports bars, friends’ houses, and YouTube pre-roll (you know, “You can skip this ad in 5, 4, 3, 2 seconds…).

And if you manage to regurgitate a really smart vid, people will share the heck out of it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and blogs like this.  When was the last Wednesday that you did not see someone post “Hump Day” on Facebook?  Am I right or am I right?

Anyway, I wanted to take a moment to bow to some grandmasters of video advertising that deserve a good pat on the corporate back.  Pay attention to the best and you will learn something.

4 Greats in Video Advertising

Mind you, these are just my own picks based entirely on my biased opinion of what rocks.  You are more than free to add your own favorites and comments below.

The ScarecrowChipotle

If you haven’t seen Chipotle’s new “Scarecrow” ad, it’s about time you do.  It takes on the form of an animated short film and is poised to win all the ADDY’s and some Oscars if it could.

The short takes on an eerie subject – mass-produced fast food – that has been rightfully subject to much criticism over the years since documentaries such as Supersize Me.  This company takes a different approach to its advantage.

The film follows a scarecrow through his agonizing daily routine working for “Crow Foods” and shows the cruel, synthetic bestiality “under the curtain.”  Having grown up working on a large dairy farm, I can attest that they are not exaggerating.

The protagonist, stirred by his own concern and accompanied by a haunting rendition of a Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory song sung so well by Fionna Apple, turns to making his own food, but from naturally grown products.

The result – the film itself – is nothing less than astounding.  You have to watch it (click here to do so).

Chipotle offers an app – a game not unlike the video – as a continuation of the video’s powerful effect aimed at the younger generation.

No doubt the ad has stirred up a lot of cantankerous fast food exec’s, but that’s the idea.  The rest of our human beings’ hearts have struck a cord with the company and our eyes have been opened.  This is a dynamo of an ad on many levels that cannot be ignored.

GeicoGeico

Despite the fact that “everybody knows” that “15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance” (look I just typed that, that’s how effective they are), I still manage to spell their name wrong on the first try.  But Microsoft Word noticed.  Either it’s the i-before-e or they are just that well known.  Or both.

There seem to be no end to Geico’s creativity in advertising.  Everyone seems to have a favorite and other no-so-favorites (like wanting to make out with a pig, I mean gross and disgusting – but hey, they got me talking about it…); and their ad men keep coming out with new characters and new types of ads they can run until it’s time to switch gears again.

For instance: the gecko traveled the country (lame, in my opinon), then edits his own ads (yeah, not that funny); they bring in the pig, which was apparently one of the more widely successful James Bond-like narrator ads (personally I loved the Abe Lincoln one); and then there’s the two guys with banjo’s.  Love the “Two Tickets to Paradise.”  Funny stuff.

In any case, they get that stuff in your head and keep it there.  Hey, when I went to compare rates, guess who’s was the cheapest?  Guess who I pay a [huge]-ton of money every month now?  Point made.

Dos Equis ManDos Equis

“Alien abductors ask him to probe them.  Cuba imports cigars from him.  Even his enemies list him as their emergency contact number.  He is the most interesting man in the world.”

Okay, so I don’t drink the stuff.  I’m not a major drinker because I work out and DD a lot (hey somebody’s gotta do it).  I drink Baily’s on the rocks (started drinking in Dublin at 18, there’s no age over there) and I’m a bit of a wino thanks to my waitering career.  That doesn’t make me not revere the Dos Equis man and imagine in my subconscious that if I were to drink the stuff in public I’d be seen as not just a cool, tough guy, but extremely sophisticated and mysterious nonetheless.  Laugh it up, but the thing has an aura thanks to some ingenious ad dudes.  I mean, even Chuck Norris asks for his autograph.

Heineken

I know, two beer companies in a row, but you have to admit, they do a fantastic job!

When the economy is down, liquor sales go up.  It’s a proven fact.  However, liquor advertising is still an all-out war: who is going to be your “depressive of choice?”  They are all gunning for you.  (Okay, depressive is a strong word, how about relaxation or party beverage.  Happy now?)

James BondHeineken continues to generate a certain type of ad that impresses me time and again with both the continuity and diversity.  You’ve seen them.  They are a series of “party” ads (no big surprise there) but on an extremely up-scale, retro-hipster with a decent amount of money feeling.  Sometimes they even throw in a celebrity protagonist or side character: i.e. Adrien Brody in a “dressed in the nine’s” ball and Daniel Craig as James Bond in a particular favorite and successful train chase.

Long story short, they’ve created a new, hip-yet-sophisticated feel for themselves.  They are not just a European’s way to get drunk; they are cool, they are “in.”

Onward

Where will we go from here?  Technology is rapidly advancing to include new ways for video to be accessed from everyone’s figure-tips and in front of everyone’s faces.  Experts predict in 10 years, the World Wide Web will be almost entirely video, with streaming HD speed problems decreasing with constantly improved tech.  If you are not on the bandwagon, you will get left behind.  It’s time to invest in some video.

If you need more of a why, see a previous post I wrote about the subject.  If you’d like to start your project right this minute, contact us.  We are the best Syracuse video production team around.  (That wasn’t for SEO or anything.)

And share your own comments on these vids and your own favorites by commenting below.  Bloggers get so excited about comments and likes it’s almost disgusting.  Okay, sometimes it’s really disgusting.

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Watch other great ads on our "Great Videos" Pinterest board.

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