Admittedly, I might have a bit of an obsession with animation.
I almost always try to work it into the creative for pitches and into ideas for existing clients. I do so not only because it is artful but also because it’s very ownable and memorable from a branding standpoint.
“Dumb Ways to Die,” a safety campaign for the Sydney subway system and the Only Slightly Exaggerated campaign for Travel Oregon are awesome examples of animation that I bet you remember. These fantastical worlds—artfully executed and so different and unexpected—will without a doubt draw many people in.
But making a case for animation isn’t why I’m lauding these types of campaigns. What struck me is what W+K’s art director behind the Travel Oregon campaign said of the work: “We thought Oregon deserved better than just another travel ad.”
That’s an ethic that should be applied to all work delivered to clients. We should never just do more of the same. We should never just stick to a category’s “style.” All clients deserve better. And it is our very job to do so.
Creative must be special to be unmistakable and, therefore, remembered—what better way than to do so artfully.
“We should never just do more of the same. We should never just stick to a category’s ‘style.’ ”
