Every year, Dan Bragg and I look at thousands of spots when putting together the annual PromaxBDA Hot Spots Showcase. It’s always inspiring for us to see how people solve creative problems to market their brands and content.

Here are a few spots that caught my attention this year, plus a few ideas to jump-start the creative process for your next marketing campaign.

VH1 Dating Naked

Naked people in slow motion. What’s not to love, right? Like any effective spot, it’s hard to look away from this one. Times have sure changed - I remember when a spot like this would have been considered controversial and never aired. The underpants with the VH1 logo makes the perfect ending.


WGN Manhattan Season 2 Launch

Less is more. A minimal piano track and subtle sound design serve to rise above the noise to promote the next season of WGN’s Manhattan. The particle effects are beautifully done to visually convey the clever “fallout” messaging.

France 3 “The Marmots” IDs

France 3 is France’s second largest public television channel. What do musical Marmots have to do with public TV? I have no idea. But who cares! These guys have my attention, which is all that matters for audience retention. Rock on, rodents!

NBC Sports “Sunday Night Football – All Better”

A continuous, unbroken camera shot never fails to mesmerize. NBC takes an unexpected approach to promote Sunday Night Football. As a father of two boys, the crying baby really got my attention. And the music box theme was a beautiful touch.

Channel 4 Humans - Personal Synthetics TV Commercial

This subversive ad was released in the U.K. was part of an elaborate campaign to promote Humans on Channel 4. In addition to the TV commercial, the marketing effort included a store front, website, Twitter account and eBay auctions that allowed people to bid on a fake human, or “Synth.” It generated a lot of buzz without overtly promoting the series in a traditional way. (Humans also aired on AMC in the U.S.).

Here are a few things to keep in mind when dreaming up creative ideas for your next project.

Less is More

It’s true. Sometimes less is more. Minimal soundtracks and provocative visuals can cut through the clutter to deliver your message with greater impact. But don’t confuse simplicity with easy. It’s often just the opposite requiring a great deal of time and effort to make it work.

Slow It Down

Instead of a flurry of shots, try expressing your message with a single shot to draw people in and keep them engaged. Slow motion footage and continuous shots are always compelling. And just about everything seems magical when photographed at 1,000 frames per second.

Single Focus

The best creative has a sole purpose. Don’t muddy the waters with multiple messages. Stick to a single idea and express it with emotion and clarity.

Dare To Be Different

Your biggest risk may be not taking a risk. Trust your crazy ideas. They might not be so crazy after all. Get into the habit of jotting them down as soon as they strike you. I carry around old-fashioned notebook plus use Evernote to capture my thoughts. I have it installed on all my devices to keep my notes all in one place.

Mark Valentine is the creative director and co-owner of ANATOMY, a creative agency based in NYC. Valentine and Dan Bragg, SVP of marketing at Science, will be back in June to present another round of PromaxBDA’s “Hot Spots Showcase” of the year’s best marketing spots.

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