I asked around the office to see what our choices were for favorite ad of 2009. Here are a few of the responses.

Darren chose:

Anna picked a few: “It’s kinda recent, but I’ve really enjoyed Target’s holiday campaign. They’re funny and entertaining, while actually conveying the point – gifts (toys, electronics, etc) from target come at surprisingly low prices.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8QUBs3NSsc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4OuBGCNsMI&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hatJ_2ZuoEE

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Usually we like to use our blog to comment on industry trends, or significant campaigns in the advertising world. Today though, I’d like to keep it personal, and show you one of my favorite advertisements of all time. And I encourage you to do the same; please post your favorite ads in the comments section.

Hopefully you agree that this ad gives the viewer an incredibly intense emotional connection with the brand. The ending literally makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Here’s why I think this ad is so great:

• Music – The music is an excellent choice, one of those songs that perfectly matches the visual portion. If I ever am driving really fast in the rain to break up a wedding, that’s definitely going to be the song I listen to. The song is named “One Million Miles Away” by J. Ralph.
• Filming – The production value of this piece is obvious. Volkswagon put money into the ad, and it paid off with quality that rivals major motion pictures.
• Meaning – Volkswagon is saying that their owners are passionate and unafraid to rock the status quo (or disrupt a wedding). The life of a VW owner is intense and exciting, sometimes scary. They geniously use a tagline (“fasten your seatbelts”) that holds two meanings. First of all, they want you to fasten your seatbelt. But the second meaning is more evocative: when you get a VW, things get so intense that it’s a good idea to fasten your metaphorical seatbelt. Of course some don’t necessarily think that is a good image to portray, but those aren’t the people that Volkswagon is targeting.

So what are your favorite ads and why?

I wanted to share the completed brand image commercial for American Insurance I told you about:



The American Insurance brand is all about being the local, neighborly company you can count on for proper coverage. Through an intense search by our team, we successfully found the right neighborhood and talent to represent the brand and their audience. So another big thanks to Darren Easton and his team for bringing this project to life. We’re all thrilled with the end result, and so are the folks at American Insurance!

American Insurance provides home, auto, life and business insurance. To learn more about them, visit www.YourNeighborlyInsurance.com.

On Monday we completed filming a new brand image spot for American Insurance. For all of you Marylanders who can relate to how cold it’s been this week, it was a very cold and then rainy day for this outdoor shoot. And for those of you like me who aren’t morning people, 5AM came really early but there was a lot of coffee on hand. But in the end we pulled it out and the shoot progressed on schedule. We finished on time at 4:30PM which was impressive in itself given the meticulous nature of our Creative Director, Darren Easton.

Many thanks to the Cyphers team, production company and talent who endured the cold temperatures and wet conditions. Stay tuned for the finished spot in the next few days.