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Eye candy and insurance
In the past few months, my TV commercial bullsh*t detector has been working overtime. Some commercials have been like the “little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good she was very good, and when she was bad she was horrid.” So, here are some good, or at least inoffensive, commercials. Amongst those companies that got it right ❤are:
- Van Cleef & Arpels
- Trivago.ca
- Tangerine Bank
- Belair Direct Insurance
- Canada Pension Plan
- Smartburner
In the case of all commercials, high production values do not a good commercial make. Remember that. You can spend any amount of money on filming it and still have a dud product. And if you are, you’d better ensure they are good in all respects (concept, design, actors, voice overs, music, etc.), otherwise you will regret the expenditure.
Good




Apparently, Québécois(e) can’t take the girly French version anymore because “…the television buy’s frequency is just too much. Kingstar Direct Media is reported to have planned and bought the media for this carpet bombing campaign.” I’m still OK with the repeats so long as Trivago alternates the TV spots. I need my dose of Tim!
Good


Tangerine, I forgive you for completely messing up a long-standing and respectable Dutch banking brand, ING, in Canada. If there is one thing I have always associated with the Dutch, is that they are great at making money and being parsimonious. You haven’t lately heard of the Netherlands having a Spanish-style financial crisis have you? In November 2012, Scotiabank completed its acquisition of ING Bank of Canada from Netherlands-based “ING Groep”. (ING stands for “Internationale Nederlanden Groep”, meaning International Netherlands Group”. So, “ING Groep” as per their press release, actually meant “International Netherlands Group Group”. Silly, that. Like saying “please RSVP”. That meant the logo with the Dutch lion and orange colours had to go. The name and the lion, which had always seemed to me intrinsically Dutch and reminiscent of old money, went. The orange stayed, at least. Oranje boven! Hieperdepiep!
Almost bearable


Well done PHD for the media buy on the spot, and Martine Bouthillier, marketing manager at Belairdirect, for the bright idea. And Sid Lee, Belairdirect’s knight, who is so dry and laid-back he is almost comical.
Bearable (would’ya believe it?!)


Canada Protection Plan’s in-house agency, called The Media Cottage, produces the ads. Good job, guys. I wonder what the thinking was behind this approach? And are those real families, or actors?
Good – Yes, it’s a kitchen thing


The ad was part of a Canadian Home Hardware product placement spot, since, in 2014, Pioneering Technology Corp., a cooking fire prevention technology company, announced that it signed a deal with Home Hardware Stores Limited for the retail sale of Safe-T-element cooking fire prevention technology, rebranded for the home consumer as the Smart Burner. Go check it out. This thing has legs as they say in the industry.
Now for the most beautiful eye candy; Van Cleef & Arpels’s Fée Ondine


The campaign is a quantum leap ahead of any other type of commercial product. Can you call something like this “commercial”? The Fée Ondine video was published on Jan 16, 2017 on YouTube. So far, 30,969 views and numerous re-posts. “On the occasion of the SIHH 2017 [Salon International De La Haute Horlogerie 2017], Van Cleef & Arpels is delighted to unveil its first Extraordinary Object: the Automate Fée Ondine. The fruit of long years’ work and an intense collaboration with automaton maker François Junod, the project also owes its existence to the savoir-faire of the numerous craftsmen who have taken part in its creation.” It is so beautiful, it can actually sell itself, much like all of Van Cleef & Arpels’ jewellery on their exquisitely refined and aesthetically pleasing website. If this thing doesn’t blow your mind you must have a soul of stone. But it’s all oh, soooooo expensive. Not for poor folk like me to buy, only to look at and drool over.
Van Cleef & Arpels’s website is also impressive. Every consideration has been given to present the jewellery in the most soul-stirring, visually appealing manner, drawing on music, photography, poetry, mythology and of course, Mineralogy. There is hardly a mineral or metal that isn’t, in itself, twinkly and pretty. But Van Cleef & Arpels takes it to the max with skill and artistry.