Uplift of Enlightenment

Normally I avoid posting advertisements, but this time I believe I have to. A video ad for Honda Civic called “The Other Side”. At first I thought I am watching a normal clip for yet another car I won’t buy, but you can hold down the “R” key any time to switch to the other side… and suddenly you are being told a rather interesting story: this guy at night turns out to live a second life… very well done!

Click to play video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zOrV-5vh1A

I know: it is old. I know: everyone has probably seen it. Get off my case! Somehow it came up at work today – i guess it was because of the second hack but i am not sure. In any case, I realized that i haven’t honored this piece by posting it on my blog yet (and I can’t stop asking myself why i haven’t done so before). Why do I? Because I also know: it is awesome! There are three things about it that make it worth watching over and over again:

1. It is not one of those obvious mind manipulating advertisement for some crappy product nobody wants but an emotional short clip that has nothing to do with the product in the first place.

2. It was NOT computer generated, to my surprise – because when I first saw it, I thought it was.

3. The song is just pure gold, thanks to José González and even without the clip worth listening to.

Overall, I might even go so far as to claim this to be the best advertisement I have ever seen. Sure there are some pretty funny heineken spots out there. But without being funny, good ads are rare and therefor ads are to be avoided altogether… Well, except like I said: this piece of art! Check out the making of, to see the idea behind it and most importantly: the firing of the ball cannons yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KPjWZQ1lp0

PS: Did I mention that I find the song just beau-ti-ful?!