(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/no-more-ads.jpg alt: no more ads)
One of the creative highlights of last year was the (link: http://creativity-online.com/work/volvo-life-paint/40192 text: ‘LifePaint’) piece Grey London did for Volvo. It picked up Grand Prix in two categories at (link: http://www.canneslions.com text: Cannes).
(youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfWzeGlaFvI)
What I like about it is how it isn’t really an ad, not in a traditional sense. It solves a problem, like all good creative work should, but in a fresh and surprising way.
It’s an initiative. A spray-on paint that cyclists can use on their clothing or bikes to make themselves more visible to motorists at night. The paint can’t be seen during the day, but glows brightly in the glare of a car’s headlights.
What makes LifePaint even better is that it wasn’t simply a stunt. It’s an actual (link: http://www.volvocars.com/uk/about/our-innovations/lifepaint# text: product).
I think people can feel quite sceptical about this kind of advertising.(youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ffRXfVOb1k text: Eddie Izzard flagged) it up years and years ago.
Consumers – that’s all of us! – may feel that this kind of non-advertising is all a bit underhanded, a bit like we’re all being subjected to subliminal tricks. But it needn’t be like that, and it very rarely is. Is it?
Agencies all over the world have been making non-ads for years now. Droga5 did something similar with their ‘(link: http://droga5.com/work/help-want-save-life/ text: Help I want to save a life’) which aimed to drastically simplify the bone marrow registry process. There are many, many more examples out there.
(youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwaGgXoHOFY)
The point is that brands can really involve themselves in people’s daily lives in meaningful, helpful ways. Instead of shouting for attention, we can help our clients offer useful solutions to very real problems. Let’s do more of that. Let’s make fewer ‘adverts’ and do work that means something. It can’t always save lives, but it can contribute culturally, even advance society.