La pub mécanique

17/11/2011

Hard though it is to believe, once again it's the time of year when I trek to Suresnes to take my place on the pre-selection jury of the Epica Awards. For me, it's an annual opportunity to top up my advertising culture and identify a few trends.
And this time, I noticed that digital culture is affecting creative folk in a strange way. It seems to be encouraging them to rediscover the joys of analogue. During the hundreds of spots we waded through, I was surprised how many of them featured old-fashion stop-motion animation. Clockwork toys were popular too; even entire clockwork worlds of the kind you might see at an antiquated fairground. Pop a coin in and the little clockwork people waddle through a miniature landscape. Martin Scorsese will soon explore a similar universe in his film Hugo, based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Now entertainment has been dematerialised, we have a strange nostalgia for toys that work with wheels, cogs and ratchets.
An even more bizarre trend was for cars in swimming pools. I don't know where that came from - although opening with a shot of somebody climbing out of a pool fully clothed and looking back to see their car underwater is reminiscent of the pre-credits sequence of a great TV drama. Whatever advertising is doing, it certainly isn't becoming less entertaining.