Jul 5, 2007

Tadpole Favorite #2

As part of my campaign to present other perspectives on what makes compelling advertising, this commercial for Canon, via Dentsu America, is probably the Tadpoles' second favorite spot ever, after the Gatorade "Big Head" spot. This one, which features tennis ace Maria Sharapova's Italian-accented dog, induces fits of laughter and much mimicry hours after viewing. The not-very-professionally executed imitations of the voice of the dog (Dolce) seem to be instantly recognizable to the majority of their friends.

And while the Tadpoles are in no position to actually go out and buy a digital camera, the spot has made far more of an impact on them than it has on most ad creatives.

Just pointing it out.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Toad,

I like the ad as well. Why? What matters to me in advertising is that 1) I get it and 2) it resonates with me emtionally. This ad does both things: it shows the camera in action, making it look easy to use and giving it the cache of a celebrity. And, two, the dog touches me and makes me think of nearly every dog I have ever known.

Anonymous said...

Makes me wonder just how much clout a secondary audience can wield. Now that you think about your kids when you see this spot, what do you think about when you want to take pictures of your kids.

Alan Wolk said...

Jac: Actually I use a very small Sony camera I got for my birthday last year. It's about the size of a deck of cards and takes pictures and video. Put most importantly, it fits into my pocket quite easily. This is the key factor, as it allows me to have the camera with me but keep my hands free so I can actually participate and not worry about the camera and where it is. As such, I've been able to shed the video camera (I still whip it out for birthdays, but no more schlepping it on airplanes.)

At this point, mobility is more important to me than picture quality. And the picture quality is actually pretty good. Not great, but good.

Anonymous said...

This commercial is the biggest piece of crap I have ever seen. It is laughable that anybody would be motivated to by the product by this ad. You can put any of the competition's camera's in her hand. The commercial tells me nothing about the product. And it is veeerrrrryyyyy hoaky! It is BADVERTISING.

The ad agency who made this must be full of amaturish people or maybe it was done in Japan, where they have different sensibilities to humor than we do.

I much preferred the earlier Canon commercials done with the pretty tennis player. They held my attention and said something about the product.

-YUCH

Alan Wolk said...

Thank you Anonymous. You've proved my point.

To a hip young ad creative like yourself, these ads are the biggest piece of crap you've ever seen.

But my kids and their friends love them. Now, as I said, they're in no position to actually go out and buy a digital camera, but perhaps in 5 years when they are, they will think fondly of Canon.

Point being that we often forget that the people we're selling to don't have the same sophisticated tastes we do. And that one man's "hoaky" is another man's "charming."

Hence the continuing popularity of "America's Funniest Home Videos."

andreea said...

I thought the ad was cute but they were a bit overdoing it sometimes :P It could have done with a slightly better execution. Or better voice over for the dog I think. But that's just me being picky (referring to the 'tennis player' bit)

I think it does say a lot about the product and its features. The swimming pool, the roll over thing, the hat bit. Think of all the functions cameras nowadays have for shooting objects in motion, preset 'seaside'/'fireworks'/'animals' modes that just help your average person that has no idea of how to manually manage a camera.

On the other hand sure, I've had two Canons over time and they both broke down in the same manner which made me quite reluctant to pick the brand again - not because of poor customer service or anything but bloody hell, if first time was bad luck then second time...I don't believe in coincidences anymore!

I think it's important to think of your folks or family and friends when making an ad, 'would they buy it if they saw it?'. If anyone you know has potential of being in the target audience then why not!