Comments on: 30 Seconds of Pure Creative Genius

By: Something For the Literary Voyeur

Something For the Literary Voyeur — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:24:40 +0000

[...] remember that television commercial I was raving about a few weeks ago? The “Does Your Man Smell Like Me” [...]

By: Patrick Sullivan

Patrick Sullivan — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:55:09 +0000

Totally agreeing with Tony, the videos are amazing. Apparantly the ad guys are busting these out in a couple minutes then handing it off to the actor who then busts them out in a couple takes. The results are mostly amazing, the rest simply funny.

MONOCLE SMILE!

By: Tony McFadden

Tony McFadden — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:07:01 +0000

As an addendum to these commercials (and having nothing at all to do with story structure) Old Spice guy has been replying to twitter comments, with video. Some of these are absolutely brilliant.

(There were times the video was uploaded to YouTube within 30 minutes of the Tweet he was replying to.)

Check them out here. My son and I spent a good hour laughing with him

http://twitter.com/oldspice

There was even a wedding proposal by proxy.

By: CCW

CCW — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:13:58 +0000

The Wizard of Ads showed the clip of the first commercial at a seminar – I love this whole campaign (I am a woman – I could not stop laughing, I showed it to my husband, we laughed together).

It is brilliantly poking fun at how the ad world uses symbols to draw people in (by using every symbol possible in a 30 second spot: “I’m on a horse”).

There is a third video that is shorter and happens to feature a moustach that I don’t care for – - but the writing for this series is superb.

By: Sandra S. Richardson

Sandra S. Richardson — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:10:53 +0000

This is a wonderful add! And I agree with the people who are sick of weak males in our TV shows and commercials.

This guy’s delivery was perfect and the script was perfect as well!

*note to self: buy hubby some Old Spice*

Sandra

By: Storytelling Brand Loyalty, Super Hero, Augmented Reality, Corporate, Mark Twain & More

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:51:18 +0000

[...] 30 Seconds of Pure Creative Genius [...]

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:48:09 +0000

Hello, Larry. Kelly here, one more time.
I had**A THOUGHT** as I read your post.

When I have the commercial down just as the script (words only, not the acting/visual), I can see and appreciate the writing much better.
That may be why “Shutter Island” was easier than this commercial for me– the actor aside (which is a matter of taste– I see him as jazz…)
Still reading and enjoying storyfix!
Kelly

By: Larry

Larry — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:51:59 +0000

Ladies — I appreciate your opinion, you like what you like. Hey I don’t like jazz, for example, but it doesn’t stop me from appreciating the craft and the artfulness of the folks who play it well. When it comes to jazz, I just don’t “get it,” which sounds like case for some of you about this commercial.

That’s okay, too. I don’t “get” a lot of genres out there, and I really don’t “get” a lot of the advertising that supposedly works.

This commercial, and the other one referenced here (which I like just as well, by the way), by a couple loyal readers isn’t supposed to be funny, more like clever and edgy. It is going viral, and is being reviewed as one of the freshest and best TV spots in recent memory, including the current run of lousy Superbowl ads.

The reason I covered here is to illustrate a point about storytelling (yes, this tells a story… watch it again, it has a beginning, middle, end, a theme, a character, and a narrative thrust) through a non-fictional medium. Yeah, I wanted you to smile, too, to appreciate, but more importantly to notice the WRITING VOICE and to make the point that, without that guy’s knock-out performance of the script, it wouldn’t work as well. Despite the killer special effects. People notice the performance more than the writing, but the the two factors are totally intertwined.

More importantly, as writers we are responsible for BOTH the “voice” of our stories AND the contextual delivery of it (the performance), which includes characterization elements and story elements.

No big deal. Just trying to share the writerly habit of noticing the world around us, especially the media, that influences trends and becomes a shining example of writing and storytelling craft. It’s amazing that the same set of core competences pertain to almost any form of communications… including the effectiveness (and consequences) of how we disagree.

That said… love ya, thanks for reading Storyfix. Good stuff coming down the pike.

By: C.J. Ellisson

C.J. Ellisson — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 19:52:02 +0000

Chick #5 weighing in – I loved it! Loved the first one and thought this one was good too. Clever, well written, hidden depths and funny to boot.

Incredibly BRILLIANT ad campaign.

By: Yvette Davis

Yvette Davis — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 17:50:13 +0000

I wear Old Spice deodorant daily and so does my husband. (Is that wrong?)

Also, I totally agree with Shane and that’s why Family Guy really grates on my nerves so I don’t watch it. Nor do I care for most commercials or modern movies with the stupid white guy in the lead. Really pathetic stuff, IMO.

What happened to Omar Sharif?