In a world where the vast majority of ads get watched for less than 2 seconds, I challenge you to take your eyes off this 5-minute masterpiece from Tag and DDB.
Fronted by the megastar Ryan Gosling, who is amazed by the output, he is cited as saying he will likely never do anything like this again!
It’s an ad within an ad, within a movie within a movie set. Whattttt on earth is that you may ask?! You would be right to question this fantastic piece of film; oops, I mean ad-making.
The advertising world often suffers from its desire to be Hollywood. Create a piece of art, without considering the actual commercial goal, yet win lots of kudos and awards from the industry (never mind the lacklustre sales!).
As Dave Trott famously said, “If you love an advert, try taking the product out. If you still love it, it’s a lousy ad!”
Well, in this case, this Tag ad will go down in history as an example of getting it so freaking spot on. It balances Hollywood with adland so beautifully that you wouldn’t have a story if you took the product out.
It’s opening act is Gosling on a film set as he shows off his TAG Heuer Carrera. Before getting into a high speed chase with the props manager, who wants the watch back.
It’s comical; it’s intensive, it’s light-hearted; it’s a roller coaster for the eyes and 10 on 10 for the imagination.
Now, it comes at a time when you would think that high end fashion would be under pressure. High inflation, high costs and consumers feeling a pinch. Likely, the costs of producing this timeless watch have only gone one way.
Now, according to Les Binet, who at a recent talk revealed some new insights on the link between brand building and pricing, said that the way to resilient pricing was to invest in long-term brand building.
He even revised his famous 60:40 ratio to more like 70:30 (still favouring brand advertising over performance). I think this advert really embodies Binet’s framework. Let’s take a closer look.
3 elements to build long-lasting brands
1. Reach
In his talk, Binet summarised the three key strategies for brands looking at firmer pricing. Let’s see how they apply to this advert;
The first is reach. “Campaigns that reach wide audiences are more beneficial than tightly targeted messages when tackling this (pricing) challenge”, he said.
There is no doubt that this is one to entertain just about everyone. It’s like a micro-movie with all its twists and turns.
2. Emotion
The second is emotion. He said, “The key to pricing power is to get people to feel strongly about your brand, to disengage the rational and make people want the thing at any price.”
This advert will make you feel just about every emotion in your body. It goes beyond the rational benefit (by the way, they mention it’s a watch for the pros). It makes you want to be a bit like Gosling, super cool, calm and have a swag quite like no other.
After watching this mini adventure, consider adding this watch to your repertoire.
3. Fame
The third ingredient is fame: “Campaigns that consciously aim to make the brand and its marketing famous are much better at reducing price sensitivity and supporting premium prices than any other kind of marketing.”
When it comes to fame, well, it doesn’t get much better than featuring Ryan, boasting the Tag. It just zings premium, yet quite relatable and reachable.
The whole set up, the story and the videography will all make this an ad to share, an ad to re-call, and an ad to be acclaimed.
Summary
So, all in all, Tag and DDB have knocked it out of the park across 3 of the most critical dimensions for marketers today and, importantly, do so in a wildly entertaining way, likely to win awards and increase Tag’s topline.
This has got to be one of my favs for the year, and well done, Tag, for this piece of sheer gold.
