Power Story Consulting, Inc.

NO BOUNDARIES ANYMORE

8/8/2014

Well, I'm not sure if you are a fan or hater of U-verse, but I gotta give the agency people at BBDO and the U-Verse brand some credit for this new campaign which seamlessly incorporates a strong brief into a great little narrative.

The key to engaging drama is to "ENGAGE" and create an immersive experience. So, this film below takes that theme to heart and visually plays it out in a fun little story. We get caught up in it and only at the end, do we realize how they've successfully manipulated us -- the exact way all good stories should. Suck them in so that the audience is in a state of aesthetic arrest and the boundaries between narrative and so-called reality are erased.

I love it!

11 Comments

Coke's New Twist on Brand Narratives

6/2/2014

71 Comments

Coke's at it again.

Their new viral ad is racking up the views, but hey, what's the twist?

Well, they've concocted a wicked bottle cap that can only be opened by having college freshmen talk to each other and twist their bottle caps together.

Oh how devious!

Watch in horror as these poor, thirsty youngsters are forced to rip themselves away from their smart phones and communicate with other human beings on their first day of freshman year.

And is it possible to imagine anything even more horrific than the first day of freshmen year?

Well, maybe, it's the realization that the unlikely hero bringing these alienated young people together to laugh and drink is none other than Coke!

I have to say that I wished they spent more time in this spot allowing us to connect to one or two specific young people, but I would guess that the marketing execs behind this spot wanted to make sure that they hit all the multi-ethnic buttons here and so they intentionally didn't want to allow us, the audience, to connect to a single individual.

This spot leaves my yearning for an earlier favorite, "Happiness Machine" below, which made the Coke Vending Machine into the hero of the story, but did so in such a charming way that I still have feelings for that big old red metal hulk of a machine. :)

And for me to still care about a Coke Machine after having viewed this spot so many years ago, well, that's an example of good storytelling...

71 Comments

A Beautiful Thing to See... Or Not?

5/19/2014

39 Comments

Well, Dove's at it again.

In their newest BEAUTY PATCH spot, Dove subjects a series of women to an experiment where they wear a special "Beauty" patch for two weeks. They are not told what chemicals are in the patch.

At the end of the two weeks, they are told that even though they felt much more beautiful, the patch was a fake, it had nothing in it...

In other words, beauty is all in your mind...

Or as Dove says, "BEAUTY IS A STATE OF MIND."

So what's up here besides making these sweet, ordinary ladies look a bit silly.

Well, when one digs a bit deeper into this ad, one is struck be how bold and daring this ad is-- as much of Dove's work has been in the past. Bold and daring because at its core level, this video is deconstructing the whole multi billion dollars beauty business.

In essence, Dove has paid for an ad that says that all beauty products are essentially worthless...

So Dove is making a commercial and funding a huge ad campaign which in essence undermines all of its products.

The subtext is this -- Don't buy Dove, don't buy any beauty products. They are all BS. All you need is to think of yourself as beautiful, and you will be...

That's bold and daring... And so now, I await the ramifications... The ad is at 5 million views and counting... Will the anti-beauty product narrative hurt Dove sales or will its bold and daring nature supercede its meaning and lead to a bump in Dove sales?

The answer will be a beautiful thing to see.

39 Comments

A DRAMATIC NEED FOR HBO

5/19/2014

7 Comments

HBO's at it again.

They've created a series of ads for HBO GO that use narrative in a fascinating way. Instead of focusing on the content, they focus on the consumer of the content in a humorous and engaging series of spots.

For example, below, a scene from Larry David's wonderful show, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is seen through the lens of a family watching the show. Humiliation for the children abounds as their parents practically make love on the sofa...

For me, what is so clever here is that these spots sell not only great programming, but also create scenarios in which a need for HBO GO is presented. In other words, if you had the choice of being able to watch embarrassing moments onscreen alone or with your parents, what would you choose?

Bravo to HBO for making narrative spots that are as engaging as their programming.

7 Comments

NO BOUNDARIES ANYMORE

Coke's New Twist on Brand Narratives

A Beautiful Thing to See... Or Not?

A DRAMATIC NEED FOR HBO

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