If you like sci-fi at all, you HAVE TO watch this six-minute film.
If you work in the fields of marketing, advertising, design and/or animation, you’d better watch this film.
It was created in seven months by Kaleb Lechowski, a 22-year-old college student in Germany, using software tools like Maya and After Effects. And if a single student can produce something like this film in roughly 210 days, imagine what an entire agency or department could do in the same time frame.
Wow! Very well done and inspiring.
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NOTE: Thanks to Fast Company for the story that turned me on to Lechowski and his film.
Super Bowl Commercials — the game within the game — are almost always as much fun as the actual contest on the field.
As a lifelong 49ers fan, I’m not sure that I’ve recovered yet from yesterday’s 34-31 win by the Baltimore Ravens. But I do know that as good as the game played on the field, there were also some really good commercials that aired during yesterday’s football extravaganza.
Here then is my take on the Top Seven Commercials that played during Super Bowl XLVII.
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The 7th Best Super Bowl Commercial of 2013: “Leon Sandcastle” by the NFL Network
I couldn’t even find this commercial online last night during the game, but it sure was clever.
Having Deion Sanders come out of retirement to participate in the NFL Combine, outshining the rookie participants, and then land the No. 1 draft pick in this mythical scenario? Priceless.
And a great way for the National Football League to pimp the broadcast of its upcoming combine coverage. Great execution on a great idea.
The 6th Best Super Bowl Commercial of 2013: “Creme or Cookie” by Oreo
Oreo cookies are some of my favorites. I’ve even got a box hidden in my office credenza.
The age old question about Oreos still remains, however: What’s the best part of an Oreo? The creme or the cookie?
Oreo turns this dilemma on its head by having a debate erupt between two friends in a public library. In whispers.
The resulting fracas turns disastrous and farcical all at the same time, without resolving the underlying question, making the ad even more memorable.
All I know is that I still love my Oreos.
The 5th Best Super Bowl Commercial 2013: “Superstitious” by Bud Light
What isn’t to like about Stevie Wonder?
Exactly. Absolutely nothing.
But cast him as a witch doctor handing out voodoo dolls to fans of the opposing teams in Super Bowl XLVII? Bwahahahahaha! Absolutely brilliant.
As is playing Wonder’s smash hit, Superstition, as the underlying track for the spot.
Nicely done, Bud Light. Nicely done.
The 4th Best Super Bowl Commercial of 2013: “Soul” by Mercedes Benz
Moving from a witch doctor to the Son of Darkness himself, we land at my choice for the fourth best Super Bowl ad of 2013.
In this instance, Mercedes Benz tapped a winner by selecting Willem Dafoe to play the role of Satan in this updated slant on the Faustian legend.
And yet, wouldn’t you know it, just as the unsuspecting modern-day Faust is preparing to sign over his soul, the workers posting the billboard across the street reveal the very reasonable price for the new Mercedes Benz CLA. LOL
Nice touch using pop star Usher and supermodel/actress Kate Upton in the commercial too.
Makes me want to test drive the CLA.
The 3rd Best Super Bowl Commercial of 2013: “Hut Hut Hut” by Pizza Hut
Any time in the future I hear a quarterback bark out the signals, “Hut Hut Hut,” I will think of Pizza Hut.
NO. DOUBT. ABOUT. IT.
This was a fabulous way to make a permanent connection between something so simple yet pervasive as a QB snap count and a fast food chain like Pizza Hut.
Very, very well done!
The 2nd Best Super Bowl Commercial of 2013: “Whole Again” by Jeep
I love Jeeps. Always have, always will.
And there’s an awful lot to love about this commercial from Jeep talking about missing the American men and women who serve our country and protect freedom around the world. And the goal of getting them back home to make us, our families and America, “whole again.”
Oprah’s selection as the voice talent for this commercial is also spot-on, and matches (while not exceeding) the images or underlying musical fabric of this tribute to the USO and Jeep.
That said, it was just a touch shy of perfect in my mind, and that’s a bit surprising to me, because I really, really like this commercial (and the underlying message).
Perhaps it’s because not everyone serves (or has served) in the military. Or because I wanted them (Jeep) to close the deal for me, to tell me why the service of these wonderful men and women in uniform means so much — to me, you, us, them, and to those they serve thousands of miles away from here.
Yes, that’s it. That was the missing piece: the “why.” Not just the “what” — that they’re missed while they are away from home. That would have nailed it. That would have driven the message home, and thereby would have linked Jeep with the why in greatness forever.
Instead, we end up with a very good ad, but not a great one. And that’s too bad.
Almost like turning the ball over on downs inside the 10-yard-line after four attempts to get the pigskin into the end zone. Yeah, kind of like the 49ers’ last possession in last night’s game.
The Best Super Bowl Commercial of 2013: “Farmer” by Dodge Ram Trucks
For anyone older than, say, 20, Paul Harvey has/had one of the most recognizable and memorable voices to ever grace the airwaves.
The voice track for the spot apparently comes from a recording of a speech Harvey gave in 1978 during the National FFA Convention, a speech aptly known today for the recurrent theme, “So God made a farmer.”
Using only still photos and the occasional text on screen, the combination of Harvey’s text delivered in his inimitable style tied to the evocatively powerful images make this the best ad of the bunch.
Long after I have forgotten the exact score of Super Bowl XLVII, I will still remember the feelings that stirred within my heart as I watched this commercial.
For when it was done, not only did I mentally tip my hat to the farmers of our great land, people of great worth who helped shape and form and build and support this place called America, but I also found myself thinking, “Yeah, right now, I wish I was a farmer too.”
Yet through it all, as little unpresupposing photographic snippets of Dodge Ram Trucks fit so ably within the images shown on screen, I also thought, “Yeah, this is a Dodge commercial. But that’s okay. A Dodge belongs on a farm, it fits there, it connects. A Dodge makes the farmer a better farmer.”
And so at the end, there was no disconnect, no wanting more, no waiting to close the deal.
In fact, as I heard Paul Harvey utter for the last time — “So God made a farmer” — my mind completed sentence with the words “And gave him a Dodge Ram Truck to help him do his job.”
Fantastic job, Dodge. Absolutely stupendous!
Thank you for showing that it’s still possible to make moving and powerful advertising that connects the viewer/listener with a brand, even if the person watching/listening is not part of the intended demographic (because I am about as far away from being a farmer as anyone on this planet).
Very, very, very well done!
The Number One commercial of Super Bowl 2013 is from Dodge Ram Trucks!
