the nicer side of the divide

So now over this Easter that dint happen, I decided to study ads again, this time looking for the good ones. Two went straight to the heart. First is the KCB ad for S&L, where they say "want to live in a thriving community," [and show a hive of bees] "or somewhere a little less crowded?" [show a hermit crab living alone] "Want to move away from nosy neighbors" [show three humming birds squeezing in one nest] etc. That is just the most creative ad I have ever seen. I never tire of watching it! And the best part is: It's by Kenyans. That's the reason I dont buy any of that "Our industry is still young and growing..." mumbo jumbo they hide behind whenever they make substandard stuff [surprisingly very often!].

The other one are actually many different ads, but all for UUnet. Eg. two guys talking in a restaurant then it suddenly becomes full and they cant hear each other, then the commentator says "Want to communicate in an environment with less interference? Come to UUnet" or something to that effect. Or the one where the other guy suddenly starts breaking up and rewinding and fading away, then they [UUnet] ask about reliability. Or the one where a guy goes into another's office and clears away with everything while the owner is busy looking for docs everywhere else, then UUnet ask about security. Those people are just good. Again, a Kenyan company did those ads. As in, the advertiser doesnt have to say a lot, the ad speaks for itself. For me that is just the hallmark of advertising that hits home.

Then there's Fair and Lovely. The one about their 10/- sachets [BTW I noticed that all of a sudden every company was introducing sachets costing between 1 and 15 shillings. My God! Are we really that poor?] So anyways, this lady cant make a sale, then she tries the new Fair and Lovely. The next day [mind you they say the sachet takes four weeks to work its magic :) ] when she comes to work she's glowing. Her colleague [the guy] looks at her first time like "Oh, its just her" and then looks again, stunned. There's something different about her! There's nothing really striking about this ad, but the look on his face right at that time - wide-eyed, astonished - that look is just priceless! I think he really nailed it. And, of course, he's Kenyan.

On the international scene, Oh! Here there are so many class ads. But the one company I have got to mention has to be Closeup [Ok, the company is actually Unilever, but they are a divisionalised bureaucracy - many unrelated products - so there is nothing on the market actually called Unilever]. First that Ultrawhitening ad for back in the day where a guy smiles, chick gets dazzled by his white teeth and knocks her head on a wall, then the sequel where she's now wised up so when he smiles she puts on sunglasses but blows fresh breath his way and he's so captivated he doesnt see the hydrant right in front of him. Needless to say there's a situation. So shiny white teeth and fresh breath, enuff said. Whoever heard of ads with sequels. Those two just rocked, they were so thorough, in the sequel she even had BandAid where she'd knocked herself in the first one. Then there's the recent one for RedHot where a tooth is taking good care of itself. Cracked me up.

Nokia ads arent that bad as well. They're usually pretty deep. It took me a while to realize that the matchstick that lights up in a dark room towards the end of the 6111 ad actually means the 6111's camera has a flash. Neat.

When we return, it's gonna be ads on radio, then ads in print. One is all sound and the other is all visual, so at least in those ones there's less room to mess up as compared to TV which is audiovisual.
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