Creative Class with Copyranter: Be Unexpected
New British beer campaign gets that right, at least.
Creative Class with Copyranter will be an ongoing thing. This is Part One.
I’ve written about the creative power of the Unexpected Visual several times in the past 20 years.
More broadly, an unexpected concept often makes for a pretty good campaign. The more unexpected, the better. But it’s harder to come up with an unexpected idea because our brains are naturally lazy assholes; they’ll barf up expected shit nonstop all day long because they only care about their survival, not yours. You have to train your head mush to work harder. And the only way to do that is to tell it “NO” every time it presents expected shit, and then keep thinking, keep working out its lazy-ass.
These two :20 spots for Ice Breaker Pale Ale were created a few months ago but we’re released to the public this week. They’re quick and to the point and end with an unexpected “joke”. Jokes that play off “ice-breaker” moments.
Now: the brain’s first “expected” idea would have been to show the beer assisting in “breaking the ice” which the client would have instantly and enthusiastically approved because marketers love boring product hero ads (think of every beer ad you’ve seen recently). Instead, the agency creatives (Agency: Engine Creative, London) made the product the anti-hero; IT’S JUST A NAME.
Are these great ads? No they are not. But Christ, these days, I have to write about whatever positive creative example I can find. Otherwise, it’d be all negative reviews with just an occasional trip back to good ads from the distant past.
The execution lifts these ads. Which is also welcome. In this age of overdone overlit overcolourcorrected tripe, this campaign makes you want to watch the next one in the series.