Ideally, if it's a commercial, the answer should be "concept," right? That's the point of a commercial, after all... to inform or promote a brand by sparking the viewer's interest in some way.
A lot of creative agencies are great at both parts -- linking the name and the image seamlessly (TBWA\Chiat\Day, for one, have done wonderful advertisements for Apple, Pedigree and other clients)... but I'd argue that more often than not, ideas get lost in translation.
For me, this commercial gets the concept across after a couple of views (need time to absorb everything), but my mind just doesn't connect it to "Target." I register all the colors -- which is what the commercial is getting at -- but I think I'm too accustomed to Target's distinctive red-and-white, "sans serif," etc. etc. branding initiative, so this commercial reflects a different style, different brains behind the whole thing and so forth. (I guess that's why they show the Target logo at both the beginning and end of the commercial... to reinforce the brand.) "Different" is not necessarily bad, but it certainly requires more precision on the ad agency's part to make sure viewers are able to link everything together.
Would love to hear your thoughts!
Some more of my favorite stop-motion videos...
This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.
(via Thinking Aloud, Love Letter to the Universe, hagebutten and emails from my friend Lydia)
I was going to say that the Target video was very much like the "Her Morning Elegance" video, but I see you posted that. I feel like that music video has been ripped off so many times! But I think that's the mark of doing something right or sensational; everyone tries to copy you.
ReplyDeleteyeah, definitely--at first i thought oren lavie was the one who made it, but no dice.
ReplyDeletecomcast made a similar commercial (http://adsoftheworld.com/media/tv/comcast_dreams) a while back, but they at least credited oren lavie as the inspiration for it...target should've done the same, because it's not as though the use of stop motion is the only similarity between "her morning elegance" and their commercial. i think they're just far too alike to skimp on attribution...
in other news, some people think oren lavie got his inspiration from this faux case study on sleeping disorders: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ygvt7G1DLs