Hats off and Hoovers bowed to Red Devil's new viral ad:
There comes a time when you tell a joke- a really really long joke- that you've passed your P.N.R. (Point of No Return), and you realize that you've put some serious pressure on the punchline to pay it all off.
For most people, this Dirt Devil spot probably falls in the no-man's land- clever enough to merit some viral play, but short of holding a place on anyone's desert island reel. (Hats off to copywriter/art director Andre Price and director Andreas Roth, whose work is striking, even when crammed onto a 19" monitor.)
This is a sample of the ways broadcast advertising is mutating and evolving online, where they can enjoy a fuller, richer, life-cycle online, where filling 90-seconds doesn't require a mortgage-the-villa media buy, where the lines of irreverence are drawn in chalk, and moreover, the viewer can take ownership, sharing and distributing favourites.
Compare the 'Exorcist' ad above to this DNA ancestor:
With some stick-with-it-ness, the comic device could spin out into a campaign with many legs, and significant longevity, in an age where ad campaigns rarely live more than 18 months.
