Always a tear jerker for me - my all time favourite commercial :) Thanks to Saatchi & Saatchi.

:(

Paul Arden, came back to life in Cannes.

High quality production which makes many wonder, "how on earth...??".

But in terms of the script and storyline, I thought it would have been a 'warmer' event if he cracked a few jokes to make the situation a little more light-hearted. As many of you advertising people know, Paul Arden is an award winning Creative Director and best-selling author who passed away in 2008. Which makes this a little... spooky? Sad? Freaky? With him appearing in such a sombre mood. Best is how he went *poof* (complete with dropping of the microphone and all) at the end of the presentation. It's strange because it leaves audience in an awkward mood, not knowing whether to cheer or be silent. Knowing that he is gone forever (and it doesn't help with the last line which he was scripted to say). I think seriously, if it was less serious, it could have been better :) Nevertheless, it's awesome how technology can now make us immortals.

One of the most heart wrenching TVC... then.

In 2006, Saatchi & Saatchi created this tear-jerker ad for Buenos Aires Zoo. Watch them get separated... and back together again, at where else but the zoo? :)

Social media: Toyota and Saatchis' recipe for disaster.

No this is not a sabotage post. Sorry, I don't do that sort of things. It's just really interesting to see what Toyota and Saatchi & Saatchi Australia had cooked up for their recent Yaris campaign. And oh boy, did it land them in hot soup! (no pun intended!)

And to further understand why it didn't work. Honestly, what Mumbrella's writer said was true. It was such a tired idea. And then I realised that, most of the stuff we're producing from this side of the tired world is a tired idea too! Hmm. But RULE above all rules - never lie to an online social community. EVER.

Watch this then read on:

(crickets chirping as everyone in Toyota's boardroom looked uncomfortably at everyone else. uh oh, someone's head is gonna roll...)

*** start of article ***

Toyota’s now disastrous foray into social media offers a demonstration of what skills an agency needs to play in that space.

It’s now obvious that PR expertise is not an optional extra that ad agencies having a bit of a dabble in social media can do without. Although advertising has always had the potential to be controversial, for social media that possibility grows exponentially and that risk needs to be controlled.

And as Saatchi & Saatchi has demonstrated, it now goes without saying that you actually need to understand social media before you start. You can’t start learning on the client’s time.
For Toyota, I still think that running a live social media pitch with the five competing campaigns was a good thing. Even without this week’s events, it will have learned a lot. And by doing it in the public arena, the entire marketing industry got to learn too.

Read more here.