I don’t often watch TV (which is surprising being in the advertising world) but when I do, I scrutinize everything. But it’s easier to knock things over than to pick things up. So when I saw a commercial that was surprisingly good for Nissan, I thought about some of my favorite car commercials from the past.
Saturn “Sheet Metal”
An ad that doesn’t show the product until the last few seconds would be unheard of for most of our clients. But when you are building a brand and meaning first, you can create a powerful spot then close it with the product.
Nissan “Toys”
I remember seeing this spot originally and thinking how great it was. It made me want to create commercials. Good song, great use of nostalgic toys to tell the story and great editing. It broke through the mold of other car commercials at the time.
VW “The Force”
I think every parent has done something similar, fooling their kids into thinking they performed some magic trick – from three-way light switches to remote control fire places – but VW turned that into a fun commercial that hit their core family audience.
Now if I can only get a car brand to let me make a commercial…
