18/100: Agencies need to make ads for people again

Because right now, agencies are only making ads for their peers.

I lived in the same dorm as the guys who made this. One of them was a co-RA with me.

You’ve likely seen this commercial, either because you were one of the 127 million who tuned into the Super Bowl, one of the 79 million people who watched it on YouTube, or both.

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I’m stating the obvious when I say it’s great. Funny story, great FX, minimal dialogue, simple premise—Doritos are so good, even extraterrestrials want them. It does one thing and one thing really well: it makes you laugh.

Compare that to this Genesis commercial.

Compare a car commercial to a chip commercial?

Yes.

Let’s start with it’s strengths: The spider-bulbs are a great visual metaphor for the tendency of old ideas to suffocate and hold back progress, the shots of the dog barking at the spider-bulbs and falling down the waterspout (itsy-bitsy spider, anyone?) are unique, and the script is solid.

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But nothing the commercial says is very memorable. “Genesis has new ideas.” That’s like every car commercial ever. The past 20 years? 30? Every luxury car commercial says something along the lines of:

• “We reinvented how you drive.”
• “Redefining luxury.”
• “ Success, embodied.”

Admittedly, I don’t know who the audience was, what the restrictions and limitations were, if the creative team had better ideas that Genesis shot down—there’s a lot I don’t know. But I do know that Genesis didn’t say anything new because they played it safe. It took itself too seriously.

Granted, I realize it’s a luxury car commercial so it likely has to take itself seriously so the rich people who take themselves seriously will see the ad on their 85 inch OLED 4K Smart TV and think, “Yes, that car realizes how I would like to portray myself to the world. I think tomorrow I’ll leave the kids with the nanny and take this for a test drive.”

So, it makes sense why Genesis would do make a commercial like this. But the entire commercial is a manifesto. It talks at the audience, telling them who they are and that’s it. It’s like showing up to a date, talking about how sophisticated you are and then dipping. You told me what to think, but didn’t make me feel anything .When I walk away from that commercial, I guess I’m supposed to feel a sense of wonder, but I can’t because like I said, it’s safe. Nothing safe inspires awe. Nothing safe impresses people.