Top 5 TV Ads of the 21st Century.

Ok, well, as we are getting into the slow part of our business year I thought I would highlight Imprenta Pronto's TOP 5!
While I was casually surfing YouTube I came across the Cadbury's Gorilla Ad. Being based in Spain, some of my colleagues hadn't seen the ad, so after showing it to them and when we got our breath back after laughing so hard, we started to talk about some of our favourite TV ads. Hence this week's entry!
Working our way up...

No.5 Guinness. Evolution. AMV BBDO.

There are so many great beer advertisements these days, but one of our favorites has to be Guinness' "Good things come to those who wait". Unexpected, fun and puts Guinness at the top of evolution. Fantastic!

No.4 Sony Bravia. Bouncy Balls. Fallon London

It was hard to choose which Sony Bravia advert to use, but in the end we decided to choose the bouncy ball ad! Purely for its simplicity and calming wonder, which engages the audience brilliantly. We'll let the ad speak for itself.

No.3 Honda. Cog "everything works".
Wieden+Kennedy. London

This ad hits the number 3 spot because of its captivating filmography, beautifully told.
It is important that you know there are no computer graphics or digital tricks in the film. Everything you see really happened in real time exactly as you see it.
The film took 606 takes. On the first 605 takes something, usually very minor, didn't work. They would then have to set the whole thing up again.
The crew spent weeks shooting night and day. The film cost six million dollars and took three months to complete including a full engineering of the Cog sequence.
When the ad was pitched to senior executives, they signed off on it immediately without any hesitation — including the costs. When it was shown to Honda executives, they liked it and commented on how amazing computer graphics had got. They couldn't believe it was for real.

No.2 PlayStation. Mental Wealth. TBWA London
This ad has always been a personal favorite of mine. It captivates the audience while at the same time leaving them with so many questions.

Making an alien reality frighteningly believable, this ad was shot on a Sony DV (that's Digital Video, not film) camera. It grabs us, sits us down in an interrogation room and has us watch this charming, pig-tailed girl with eerily human/inhuman facial features advise us about our own destiny.
The girl is thrust upon you by what's around her: a glaring, overhead fluorescent light, white walls with exposed electric piping, and again, the realism of video.
Mental Wealth actually had eight different versions for different countries.
Copy
Let me tell you what bugs me of the human endeavor
I've never been a human in question, have you?
Mankind went to the moon
I don't even know where Grimsby is
Forget progress by proxy
Land on your own moon
It's no longer about what they can achieve, out there on your behalf
But what we can experience
Up here and of our own time
And it's called mental wealth
(Laughter)

Tagline
Do not underestimate the power of Playstation

And if you wondered what she actually looked like...

No.1 Cadbury's Gorrilla Ad. Fallon London

Put simply, this is fantastic! This ad is a great example of utilising today's means of viral communication, with the likes of YouTube and other forums. The ad has spread contagiously, evoking many reactions which people can't help showing. The advert has made the brand awareness grow on a massive level! And for that reason, and the fact that it can't help but make you smile, it's our number one.
The advert has its own dedicated site which is a 'must see'. http://www.aglassandahalffullproductions.com/
The site also shows the advert's best "re-mixes" that people have done and sent in.

Well, we hope you enjoyed the adverts as much as we did. Don't forget to check out imprentapronto.com for all your design, web and print needs.

Keep Creative,

James

Helvetica

"A vehicle for social conformity through consumerism"

Or universal clarity and enduring beauty for the modern business?

I was originally going to discuss SEO for websites as a follow-on from my previous blog, but as I can already sense the yawns and the mouse approaching the "next" button I decided to divert after a discussion with fellow colleagues regarding the Helvetica font. I was surprised at the passion that this simple font can evoke and therefore it had to be mentioned in our blog!

So what comes to mind when you think of Helvetica?
A vehicle for social conformity through consumerism?
Or universal clarity and enduring beauty for the modern business?

Let's start from the beginning!
Helvetica was created by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas’sche Schriftgiesserei (Haas type foundry) of Münchenstein, Switzerland. Haas set out to design a new sans-serif typeface that could compete with Akzidenz-Grotesk in the Swiss market. Originally called Neue Haas Grotesk, it was created based on Schelter-Grotesk.
In 1960 the typeface's name was changed by Haas' German parent company Stempel to Helvetica — derived from Confoederatio Helvetica, the Latin name for Switzerland — in order to make it more marketable internationally.

Helvetica is without question a comprehensively diverse font and has undoubtedly helped shaped the landscape of twentieth century graphic design. From a branding point of view Helvetica's message is this: you are going to get to your destination on time; your plane will not crash; your money is safe in our vault; we will not break the package; the paperwork has been filled in; everything is going to be OK. Some might say that this is too safe and welcomes no creativity. But it is sans serif, there are no wiggly bits at the end of the letters. It has smooth, clean lines and an unobtrusive geometry that almost suggests it was designed not to stand out.
I would argue that if your brand is strong enough and design concepts are clear, then Helvetica would merely compliment your individual brand with clarity and enduring beauty.
After all, Helvetica is used by so many modern companies; one of the biggest corporate creative companies, Apple, use Helvetica as their standard font for leopard OSX, and few can argue they are not leaders for design within their many industries? So, really, is it all that bad!?

Lars Mueller, author of "Helvetica: Homage to a Typeface "was quoted as saying, "It has a modern attitude which lines up with the aesthetic premises of the 1950s and 60s".
And Frank Wildenberg, managing director of Linotype, the German firm that owns the font says, "It's durable. It comes from natural design forms. It doesn't have an expression of fashion. It has very clear lines and characters, it looks like a very serious typeface,"

Personally I have to agree with them. I think the font can work well in so many different forms; it is simple and beautifully formed, lending itself to many creative solutions. It is just important to use it right!

Famously, Neville Brody, for all his creativity, would not agree, and did indeed say "When people choose Helvetica they want to fit in and look normal. They use Helvetica because they want to be a member of the efficiency club. They want to be a member of modernism. They want to be a member of no personality. It also says bland, unadventurous, unambitious."

Well...
Last year was the 50th anniversary of Helvetica and in celebration the Helvetica Poster Contest was held. Take a look at our selected favourites from the competition, that we think have some personality!


Hey! and maybe go to our website imprentapronto.com to view what we do with and without Helvetica!

Keep creative,

James

Special Thanks to:
Helvetica NOW Poster Contest
BBC
AisleOne

Welcome

Firstly, Imprenta Pronto would like to welcome the internet nation to our blog. We set this up to allow a creative forum for everyone to enjoy and express themselves, be it designers discovering a new font, advertisers loving (or hating) a new advert, printers bragging about their new machine, or to just find some helpful advice!

At Imprenta Pronto we offer a vast amount of services. Printing, design, branding, marketing and web. Today I thought we'd talk about the web and the exciting new developments.
With social networking reaching a peek and blogging making people's lives, interests and work far more accessible, will we see a downfall of the commercial website?
Could you imagine a world run by Facebook, Myspace and Bebo and the numerous blogging sites out there? An advertising dream no doubt! But what would it all mean for us?
Personally I think that the more viable it becomes, the more we will find people wanting to break free for some individuality. There are many fantastic-looking blogging sites but here are a quick few of our favorite individually-designed sites!

A good website should not only look great but function well and, most of all, be as user-friendly as possible.

Sometimes it's a case of the simpler the better; it all depends on your target audience.

www.elstonhardwoodflooring.com/

This site is a perfect example of a creative but unique looking site. Something different.

www.klassiker-in-acryl.de/

This is a fun and creative site. Well done, guys!

www.themattinator.com

Now for the plug! A great example of a website that is creative but still kept clean and simple, even with a large number of categories, making it very user-friendly.
For web services, hosting and registration please go to http://www.imprentapronto.com/. Oh, and while you're there, please view our other services!

www. imprentapronto.com

Keep creative,

James