Lost Piano Player

I saw the ad above on a DVR recording of the Godfather, I thought it was one of the most heart warming spot I’ve ever seen, it was a spot for The Foundation For a Better Life. A boy gets separated from his parents and finds a piano so he proceeds to play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Little did the boy know that the piano he discovered was the piano for the concert he and his parents were attending. He quickly realizes he was in front of a large audience and panics. The main performer comes up to the stage and helps him play the song he attempted but with more elegance.

The main message of the spot was encouragement. In the case of this lost piano player it was encouragement not to be afraid to play in front of people and trying new things. The spot made people “aww” in affection for the boy and the adult who helped him. It touched people’s hearts.

The spot was very typical of The Foundation For a Better Life, it tried to play on people’s compassion and in this case I think it certainly worked. I written a post about this advertiser before, in a post titled: Team Hoyt Billboard but in that instance the message was believe.

I honestly think that the FLB creates their ads in-house because they are probably a non-profit organization. I’m not saying that being a non-profit means that you can’t use outside agencies, I’m just saying I’m not completely sure.

Best,
A.B.

Team Hoyt Billboard

I saw the Team Hoyt billboard ad driving around town in Los Angeles and began to wonder why the ad was created. First, you should know that Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father and son team that competes in marathons together. The catch is Rick Hoyt is confined to a wheelchair. His dad pushes him in his wheelchair through every marathon or triathlon race they enter. The story inspires just about everyone that hears about it.

The billboard was created on behalf of the Foundation For A Better Life (FLB). The organization’s mission is to “Encourage adherence to a set of quality values through personal accountability and by raising the level of expectations of performance of all individuals.” The statement was taken right off of their Web-site. I wrote a short email to the organization asking who creates their ads but I got no response.

I honestly think that the FLB creates their ads in-house because they are probably a non-profit organization. I’m not saying that being a non-profit means that you can’t use outside agencies, I’m just saying I’m not completely sure. I have to say that I’m not sure you would have chose to create billboard using this tandem.

There are a lot of fathers in this world that would do absolutely anything for their children. Why are these two getting all this attention? The only reason I paid any attention to the ad is because of the wheelchair. The severely disabled aren’t usually featured in national ads because they just don’t look “good” enough. But back to my original point why are these two getting all this attention? I think it simply because it makes other people feel good about themselves.

I guess I just don’t like to see the disabled paraded around the country to be gawked at. As a person in a wheelchair I’m a bit bothered by that. But let me ask you readers out there, do these billboards inspire you to do good works?

Best,
A.B.

Adidas Update

Just a quick update on a post I wrote a while back titled “The NBA Goes Back to College.” I found out through a comment on AdGabber, an advertising social network that those NBA Adidas ads were most likely done in-house. This is probably why the user claims there is an appearent lack of polish to the spots. I thought they were pretty good. But again, all this is just my humble opinion.

Best,
A.B.

Funny or in Poor Taste

The billboard above was put up on behalf of Kenneth Cole, it was congratulating US Airways flight 1549 for landing safely in the Hudson River after its engines failed. It was celebrating the safe landing by using word puns on the billboard. Now, Kenneth Cole has an in-house advertising department. Should they have produced something more creative and out of the box?

From what I've read puns are considered the lowest form of advertising. I've read blogs that condemn KC for using puns for such an accident. I've also read that Kenneth Cole is simply a bad copywriter because he didn't produce something more creative. Is the billboard tasteless, I thought it was rather funny. What do you guys think?

Best,
A.B.