High Five: The Art of 'Pushing It'
Top five favourite ads? OMG, how do you choose!? Honestly, if I had thought about it too much, I’d never have finished. So, I just told myself to write down the first five that come to mind. Don’t think, just write. After I did, I quickly noticed a theme. Everything that I love - the ones that stuck out in my mind the most - was work that 'pushed it'. Ahh yes, push it - two seemingly hollow words creatives have begrudgingly heard over and over throughout their careers. But what does 'pushing it' really mean, and why do it? To me, it means going beyond the obvious and safe to get to something more challenging and ultimately more rewarding. Work that makes the audience feel something that stays with them long after. So, here are five of my all-time favourite ads that push right up to the edge and dare us to look away (spoiler alert: you won’t be able to.) Hopefully they get stuck in your mind too...
E*Trade - 'Monkey'
Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners
Production: Hungry Man US
Director: Bryan Buckley
Go on advertising’s biggest stage, the Super Bowl, and challenge all previous conventions of going as big as possible and purposely waste your time and their money all to make a damn good point. Genius.
Outpost.com - 'Gerbils'
Agency: Cliff Freeman & Partners
How do you get people to talk about your brand? Do something worth talking about. An ad that literally asks you to send complaints (and I’m sure I’ll get complaints just for sharing it) is the very definition of pushing it. 30 seconds of pure tongue-in-cheek brilliance.
Liquid Death - 'Blind Taste Test'
Agency: In-house at Liquid Death
A modern example that proves the art of pushing it is still alive and well. Daring those that doubted your product to take the ultimate test that literally adds injury to insult. A brilliant stunt that stays true to the brand, forces you to watch, and is just plain fun - for us, not so much for them...
Marmite - 'Love It Or You Hate It'
Agency: adam&eveDDB
No matter your feeling on Marmite, you gotta love a brand that’s willing to take the worst thing about its product and make it a benefit. There have been so many great executions off this brilliant platform, here’s just a taste.
Tango - 'St George'
Agency: HHCL & Partners
Challenge your customers to a fight? Sure. I mean, if they're wrong they’re wrong, right? A campaign that sees the brand willing to take on negative reviews - and the world. It’s pure absurd brilliance. The actor, the copy and the craft are all perfect. Just when you think it’s peaked in absurdity, it pushes even further and tops itself.
