New online ad
13.03.08 by Buffalo Bill
As part of a commendable push to increase driver awareness of cyclists, TfL have released this ad. For those of you that can’t be bothered to watch it, it’s a film which asks you to count the number of times a ball is thrown, but then turns out to be a wild-life programme. Or something. I wasn’t paying attention.
Seriously, the slogan is: it’s easy to miss something you’re not looking out for. This refers to cyclists. The ad is obviously aimed at drivers.
Updated
And guess what? It turns out that the oh, so clever ad is a rip-off. According to Carlton Reid over at bikebiz (required reading for serious students of cycling, by the way), it’s really the work of a Professor at the University of Illinois. Shamelessly plagiarised by WCRS for the TfL campaign.
It’s this kind of invention and ingenuity that has made British advertising the envy of the world.
< Rollapaluza world domination! · Messenger charity rides raise £500+ >
if I saw a moon walking bear i’d probably hit it and take out the ball at the same time.
I am such a klutz
— yogi Mar 13, 08:51 AM #
All I saw was the bear, I have no idea how many passes the white team made. What does that mean?
— westcoastmess Mar 13, 10:28 AM #
Hmmm. very clever, it really shocked me, no doubt the creatives are slapping each others backs, the agency which produced the ad is keenly working away on the stats of how it’s changed public opinion, so that they can sell more stuff like that, but can someone tell me how this relates to motorists hitting cyclists?….after watching it I just thought about dancing bears and basketball…it won’t change anyones behaviour…money wasted.
— winston Mar 13, 11:12 AM #
“All I saw was the bear, I have no idea how many passes the white team made. What does that mean?”
That you can’t follow simple instruction?????
— deadpet Mar 13, 11:56 AM #
Nobody saw the cycle-courier stealing the bears handbag?
— overdrive Mar 13, 12:29 PM #
It means I don’t blindly follow orders. FTW!
— westcoastmess Mar 13, 03:26 PM #
utter toss…
is this some media studies student project or a real advert?
— slipstream Mar 13, 10:00 PM #
it’s awesome. end of.
— sleepy Mar 13, 10:48 PM #
It’s this kind of awareness training that give the coppers such acute visual powers when dishing out on-the-spot fines to cyclists. Any upstanding citizen knows this is a good thing.
— BringMeMyFix Mar 14, 12:00 PM #
like sleepy, i think it’s pretty good.
since it is aimed at precisely those motorists that don’t take an active stance of consideration towards cyclists, it seems logical to try to capture their attention in another way.
i think that had they used the cycling theme more obviously from the beginning, they most likely would have been preaching to the converted: as in, those segments of society (motorists, peds & cyclists) who already care about the safety of cyclists and are aware of, and interested in, cycling related issues.
this way they can potentially attract a wider range of people through the medium of humour.
having said that though, the plagiarism aspect is not cool at all. :/
— lurkette Mar 15, 07:03 PM #
According to the Carlton Reid article this episode of plagiarism has led to advertising professionals “Debating ethics”. Maybe they should video the conversation and see if their ethics are any easier to spot than a dancing bear.
— will Mar 15, 09:28 PM #
Didn’t an Irish ad-agency working for Guinness completely rip-off someone who came in for an interview’s show reel?…copied his ideas but didn’t give him the job…now that’s Creative.
— winston Mar 16, 11:42 AM #
Leave the bears alone.
— Goldilocks Mar 24, 02:48 AM #
A few ads on at the moment are rip-offs from internet phenomenons. Like the dancing cats for the milkshake stuff and the drumming cook using some sauce.. “creative” agencies my arse.
— hippy Apr 6, 10:56 PM #