CP+B found a clever way to work with Facebook’s autoplay video ads playing on mute, releasing a pair of ads for Hotels.com which make use of the lack of sound.
In one of the ads, the brand’s spokesman Captain Obvious bangs away at a piano. Text relays the message “Ads autoplay silently on Facebook…which is good for you…because I don’t know how to play the piano” before letting users know they can get 10 percent off their first stay when they download the Hotels.com app. Another spot sees Captain Obvious paired with a sign language interpreter, despite the fact that the ad also has subtitles. He admits that the interpreter is technically unnecessary, but vouches for her awesomeness. The approach works a lot better with the first spot, where the silence is not only part of the gag, it actually makes it more watchable (since you don’t have to hear Captain Obvious’s painful attempts at piano music).