Our friends at draftFCB in Canada have produced a really compelling, somewhat controversial ad campaign for worker's safety or more commonly WSIB, the provincially run Government Ministry here in Ontario. It's very graphic. And very realistic. And very compelling. It's a story well told and very honest/unbridled/realistic so it really gets your attention.
Let's face it, humor is a very effective way of 'entertaining' someone. Doing drama and making it real in :30 is much more difficult. 'Compelling' is a term often used in a creative brief and seldom achieved. They get full marks here for it. Some will think it goes too far; you may not be able to watch it more than once. I understand that. But the fact of the matter is, unless you take it to this extreme, people will not notice. The message will not sink in. Behaviours will not change.
And anyone who says Government advertising is predictable and boring should have a look. Good on them to approve this kind of work. I spoke to the writer. There have been letters galore. And milliions of hits on YouTube. There's also a great debate about it on metafilter.com which you can read as well. Good stuff and nicely done.
