For those working in the industry, it isn’t often that an ad really strikes us in the feels; however, Channel 4’s spot for the Paralympics does that and more. It’s a high-budget celebration of the ability of humans to overcome unfathomable disabilities to achieve what, to some, might seem impossible. And it’s bloody brilliant.
It used to be so simple. Find an audience (usually from someone or something with enough money to own mass media), put an ad in front of that audience and roll around on a bed laden with cash, laughing maniacally. These days, there is huge media fragmentation, constant distraction (AKA ‘obesity of the mind’), more good content on offer than ever before and numerous ways for consumers to dodge ads. That makes reaching audiences much more difficult, but the rise of digital technology and the rapid changes in the way people are consuming media has meant broadcasters and advertisers have had to embrace more creative methods of storytelling to maintain the audience’s attention, something Blacksand’s senior digital producer Amie Mills discussed recently at the first TVNZ Outtakes event.
Despite the fact that Samsung has morphed from a relatively small player in the consumer electronics market into a globally respected brand in ultra quick time, it isn’t really renowned for the quality of its advertising and, in many cases, there’s a whiff of naffness about a lot of it. But as part of its Olympics sponsorship and to markt the opening of the Paralympics, it’s released a pretty amazing new campaign called ‘Sport doesn’t care who you are’—and it’s right up there in the spine-tingling stakes with Channel 4’s ‘Meet the Superhumans’.