Arnold’s Roger Baldacci is back with his bi-weekly critiques of new spots. This time around, he offers his view on NTTDocoMo’s advert. Xylophones in band class never seemed as cool as this. Take it away, Roger.
As I watched this epic film shot in the forest to tout NTT DoCoMo’s new wood-encased SH-08C phone, I became concerned about the dwindling of one of our world’s most precious resources we all seem to take for granted. I am, of course, talking about “viral” stunt videos. Every day across the globe hundreds, if not thousands, of creatives are out there scouring YouTube, Vimeo and the work of obscure artists for inspiration for their next stunts. All without considering the impact this will have on future generations of entitled young creatives. New research shows that by 2016 (if we make it past 2012), all of our nation’s viral films will be so depleted, experts predict that the “non-traditional” categories in international award shows will die off leading to an unpleasant resurgence of the pro-bono poster category.
Look, this was ingeniously engineered and the piece was beautifully shot, directed and edited. The case is made out of wood. The xylophone is made out of wood and it was shot in the woods. Got it. Apparently the song is Bach’s Cantala 147, but to me it sounded like “Freebird.” This was way too long for my liking. In fact, I thought they were going to run out of wood by the end of it and we would see the ball hitting PVC keys. If the folks at Drill, Inc really want this to go viral, I have a few suggestions for them. Cut the song in half, add some Centaurs trotting about the forest–some playing wooden flutes while others capturing all the action on their wooden camera phones, then have the Honda Civic from the rumble strip spot ride over the xylophone.