The creative world has been treated to a number of ‘ad remixes’ in recent months, and the trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Are we witnessing a new thread being woven into the marketing tapestry, or is this just a fad?
Re-edits have always been commonplace in the ad world, as campaigns from other climes and different tongues were introduced with a simple (but horribly obvious) audio dub. This involved the original native audio track being replaced with another, resulting in a Hong Kong-cinema- style English dub where the lip synch was murdered and the voices were horribly overacted.
This cheap and quick method allowed agencies to stretch their budgets that little bit further, and could quickly localize ads for another market further afield. These crude cut 'n’ paste audio edits of ads resulted in playground emulation and sparked cult following of the overdub ads themselves.
However, the Re-edit has, like many things in the neo-digital ad world, mutated again into something completely different. No longer are the agencies themselves forking out the time, money and effort to re-interpret their content. Indeed, this time its Joe Public who has grabbed the bull by the horns.
Machinated by the practice of modern DJ culture and catalysed by the advent of cheaper and freer digital technology, like a funky drum break to a music producer, the modern TV ad has become the base component for video artists and creatives all over the world.
This growing trend has been quickly jumped upon by agency Fallon, who were keen to send the mighty ‘Gorilla’ (and not so mighty ‘Trucks’) out to the wild and fertile land of the internet, where producers and video artists could ‘remix’ the ad to their hearts content. The resultant victors were then to be broadcast on national TV as ‘re-launches’ of the original ads.
This was interesting in a number of ways for our humble TV ad; The agency had let the public ‘remix’ an ad and then released the content officially, inadvertently giving birth to another rare breed of ad broadcasting: a piece of user generated content (usually the exclusive domain of 'takeover TV' or a cheap Channel 4 countdown show hosted by talentless hairdressers). But more importantly, Fallon showcased the notion of remixing TV ads on a national scale and gave it a prime time slot. This wasn’t during the ad break of ‘obscure Japanese Plant Hour’ oh no, Fallon dropped the Gorilla remix during The Big Brother Final.
This was the wedding DJ equivalent of playing Bill Medley and Jennifer Waymes' ‘Time of my life’, This was daft punk at the O2 festival, Marty McFly playing guitar at the Fish Under the Sea Dance. It was pretty big and pretty brave. Fallon gave the people the green light to go have fun, and fun they had.
The new versions will pay homage to the internet mash-up artists who remixed the original with Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart. Other bangers used in the remixes included EastEnders theme tune, 50 Cent's In Da Club and Europe's The Final Countdown.
In addition to these cheeky aural tweaks, Fallon has also tinkered with the 'Gorilla' ad in the visual department. During the Rugby World Cup last autumn (which saw the England team defy all expectation, ruin a cocky Ozzie side and reach the final against South Africa) Fallon edited an English ‘remix’ with a St George's cross mapped onto the drum kit as well as boasting the line 'Come on Lads'.
Laurence Green, chairman of Fallon tells how the remix aesthetic is now almost essential in modern advertising, 'We always had half an eye on doing something with it around the anniversary. We have taken inspiration from the way people have played with it online.' Green continues, 'We were always going to run the ads again. We could have been lazy and run the same versions, as a lot of old-fashioned advertisers would have, or we could live in the modern world.'
Other ads that had an intelligent remix tweak recently included the classic Apple spot 1984, which featured the subtle insertion of an I-pod on the protagonist’s waist.
Hopefully, these playful reworks will become the norm and we can all avoid monotonous replaying of old content. If the great unwashed are doing it for fun, they will most certainly switch off when they witness ad campaigns that can't be bothered to do something new…
…Lazier agencies take note…
Re-edits have always been commonplace in the ad world, as campaigns from other climes and different tongues were introduced with a simple (but horribly obvious) audio dub. This involved the original native audio track being replaced with another, resulting in a Hong Kong-cinema- style English dub where the lip synch was murdered and the voices were horribly overacted.
This cheap and quick method allowed agencies to stretch their budgets that little bit further, and could quickly localize ads for another market further afield. These crude cut 'n’ paste audio edits of ads resulted in playground emulation and sparked cult following of the overdub ads themselves.
However, the Re-edit has, like many things in the neo-digital ad world, mutated again into something completely different. No longer are the agencies themselves forking out the time, money and effort to re-interpret their content. Indeed, this time its Joe Public who has grabbed the bull by the horns.
Machinated by the practice of modern DJ culture and catalysed by the advent of cheaper and freer digital technology, like a funky drum break to a music producer, the modern TV ad has become the base component for video artists and creatives all over the world.
This growing trend has been quickly jumped upon by agency Fallon, who were keen to send the mighty ‘Gorilla’ (and not so mighty ‘Trucks’) out to the wild and fertile land of the internet, where producers and video artists could ‘remix’ the ad to their hearts content. The resultant victors were then to be broadcast on national TV as ‘re-launches’ of the original ads.
This was interesting in a number of ways for our humble TV ad; The agency had let the public ‘remix’ an ad and then released the content officially, inadvertently giving birth to another rare breed of ad broadcasting: a piece of user generated content (usually the exclusive domain of 'takeover TV' or a cheap Channel 4 countdown show hosted by talentless hairdressers). But more importantly, Fallon showcased the notion of remixing TV ads on a national scale and gave it a prime time slot. This wasn’t during the ad break of ‘obscure Japanese Plant Hour’ oh no, Fallon dropped the Gorilla remix during The Big Brother Final.
This was the wedding DJ equivalent of playing Bill Medley and Jennifer Waymes' ‘Time of my life’, This was daft punk at the O2 festival, Marty McFly playing guitar at the Fish Under the Sea Dance. It was pretty big and pretty brave. Fallon gave the people the green light to go have fun, and fun they had.
The new versions will pay homage to the internet mash-up artists who remixed the original with Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart. Other bangers used in the remixes included EastEnders theme tune, 50 Cent's In Da Club and Europe's The Final Countdown.
In addition to these cheeky aural tweaks, Fallon has also tinkered with the 'Gorilla' ad in the visual department. During the Rugby World Cup last autumn (which saw the England team defy all expectation, ruin a cocky Ozzie side and reach the final against South Africa) Fallon edited an English ‘remix’ with a St George's cross mapped onto the drum kit as well as boasting the line 'Come on Lads'.
Laurence Green, chairman of Fallon tells how the remix aesthetic is now almost essential in modern advertising, 'We always had half an eye on doing something with it around the anniversary. We have taken inspiration from the way people have played with it online.' Green continues, 'We were always going to run the ads again. We could have been lazy and run the same versions, as a lot of old-fashioned advertisers would have, or we could live in the modern world.'
Other ads that had an intelligent remix tweak recently included the classic Apple spot 1984, which featured the subtle insertion of an I-pod on the protagonist’s waist.
Hopefully, these playful reworks will become the norm and we can all avoid monotonous replaying of old content. If the great unwashed are doing it for fun, they will most certainly switch off when they witness ad campaigns that can't be bothered to do something new…
…Lazier agencies take note…
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