It took me a while to realize that this image [click on the image for larger view] was an ad for the Sony Playstation 2.
Evidently TBWA/Paris [knowledge of the French language will aid you should you choose to click this link] created a series of ads for Sony for the Playstation 2 earlier this year that as you can see are highly detailed and very abstract and "artistic" in their visuals. I enjoy creativity, I like to think I am a creative person myself, but I sure would not have come up with anything like these ads in my longest days. I guess in my mind I'm just too linear. 
I sure wouldn't have come up with the idea to have a dude sniffing panties in the shapes of the Playstation buttons. Yeah, it took me a moment to realize that the panties in the ads were in the shapes of the action buttons of the Playstation controller. It was only after about the fourth viewing of the ad in a larger size that I recognized it myself, so don't feel bad if you didn't see it yourself the first time that you saw the image. The expression on the guys' face while sniffing the panties is *kinda* distracting from anything else going on in the ad. Go ahead, click on the image to see a larger version of it. Examine it well, because it is well done, but man that's "creative" thinking going on right there.
Then there was this ad, called "Head" which won Print/Outdoor Single Grand Clio award in May. [The "Panties" ad above one the Bronze award]It's difficult to see in the small size version of this ad, but in the larger version you can see the extent to which the interior of the head is detailed. The detail in the appearance of each eyeball is amazing, and the paddle that repetitively slaps the ass is funny. I don't think I even have to mention the small, "captured" brain there in the back, nor do I have to mention that I think it's noting that this male character has a tiny brain. [Women have been saying for years that guys have tiny brains, this ad merely confirms that Sony agrees with that]
As a designer I have to admit that I am envious that I have never come up with any work on this level, or even had an idea close to those utilized in this ad campaign. At the same time as a gamer I have to ask, "What the fuck?!" Those ads to me aren't remotely a reminder of Playstation 2, or gaming, or fun in anyway shape or form. The kind of people that these ads would make an impression on are not the same audience that would run out and buy a copy of Dance Dance Revolution. So I am struggling to understand why Sony would pay to have these ads created if they were not going to be used in a global ad campaign. That kind of work can't be cheap or all that "affordable" to begin with. I know what I charge per hour to just "design" a website [costs you more if you want me to implement it] and know that it can't come close to what TBWA/Paris gouged Sony for. I just don't see anything that makes me tie these images in my mind first to gaming or playing video games or secondly to Sony.
Isn't the purpose of advertising to come up with audio and visuals that create an instant bond in the public's mind [or ears] that will make them constantly tie that imagery or audio with your product or company? If that doesn't happen, isn't the ad a failure?
Makes me wonder WTF dood? Ok pervs, you may go back and look at the guy sniffin' the panties again...I'm done.
Labels: Advertising, Games, Ninjasistah, Sony, Videogames
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