Comparative Fantasy

The IKEA Beds commercial was released earlier this morning, and it reminded me of an amazing commercial I posted a while back. The styles were very similar to me.

This new spot, Directed by Juan Cabral, shows a woman in a dream sequence falling through the sky. Images are epic and somewhat ethereal as we watch her through her journey to the surface.

Very similar is Pelephone’s “Wedding” spot directed by Eli Sverdlov. This shows a woman in a dream sequence going through a fantastical, somewhat nonsensical journey as well. Though I much prefer this commercial because there’s actually some meat of a narrative. Cute and quirky. Definitely more fitting to my palate.

Though my overall observation with both these spots is that, again, visual appeal trumps all manner of sense. What do these outrageous scenarios have to do with either beds or cell phones? Such grand and majestic direction for the payoff of such mundane products. Seems a bit too lofty to me. I don’t buy it. Sure, I understand the value of pairing the unexpected, and the viewers seem to resonate. But all of this seems to be exactly against the grain of what I’ve been taught in ad school.

The advertising world is conflicting. Always conflicting. It’s hard to tell what sells and what won’t. I suppose the trick is to keep producing regardless of what you foresee as the result. Or that if your idea sucks, just make it pretty enough and pray for the vindication.