Last night on CBS, there was a show called: Clash of the
Commercials: U.S.A. vs. the World, and on
this program they showed what were supposedly the best commercials from America
and around the world. Some of them were great, and some I wondered why they
were included. But the best one for the world category I couldn’t argue with,
and that’s the subject of this post. (Although it losing to yet another version
of an E-Trade baby ad I could complain about all night. However, I will not
waste my or your time doing it here.)
I love this commercial for Canal Digital, and I was frankly
surprised when it didn’t win. And while I do love it, I have one small
criticism of it, which might not even be relevant to most viewers, and that is
this: The guy in this ad is constantly living out negative, horrifying
experiences in movies, apparently due to Canal Digital’s service. So I hate to
say it, but this kind of shows this service in a negative light, as though you
might live a tortured existence if you get their movie service. I know it might
seem like a lame criticism, and like I said before, I do ever so love this ad,
but it looks rather like this guy is miserable because he has Canal Digital,
and that might make some people see this spot and say: “I don’t want to have
the hell-on-Earth experiences of this poor guy, so I won’t get Canal Digital.”
It could happen, especially for people who hate horror movies.
So how do you fix it? Well, this doesn’t need any fixing,
but rather, it needs a companion piece (maybe there already is one in Norway?).
In this companion ad, we’d see someone else (a woman, I’d suggest) living her
life as a series of wonderful scenes from movies she loves, and all thanks to
Canal Digital. But it’s just a suggestion.
(BTW: They said on the show last night that this ad is from
a small agency in Norway. Well, I must say it has just about the best
combination of production value, design, concept, special effects, and taste
I’ve seen in a while. A great job all around! I hope to see more from these
guys in days and years to come!)
Here’s the frighteningly funny spot:
