There was a quote that my Google-Fu failed to find that I used to see every day at my old job. Something to the effect of, “Great advertising, when done properly, approaches art.” Because I couldn’t find it I went with the one above, and while I don’t agree with as much, the sentiments remains. Advertising is business’s take on art and that’s one reason I like it. Sometimes I am blown away by the beauty in an ad or the story it tells. Some ads, to me, are mini-films. It’s best not to talk to me when advertisements are on TV, because I will be paying attention to the more important thing in the room (the ads).

It is a kind of business that touches many people’s lives (whether they want it to or not!). With advertising, you can actually point to a campaign on the street or while watching TV with a friend and say, “See that? I worked on that” and they can instantly relate to what you do. It is the kind of industry that you could be minding your own business on the bus and overhear someone talking about the campaign you’ve just spent a couple months pulling together. You can get instant feedback on whether someone liked the strategy you went with or didn’t at all.

Advertisers likes to push the envelope sometimes and are encouraged to do so. Ad agencies have gone to some extraordinary lengths to get their brand in front of the public, to create discussion, impressions and interest in the product. Remember when T-Mobile took over Trafalgar Square with a public sing-along to “Hey Jude”? Or the viral Bridezilla Hair Freakout for Sunsilk? These are the kind of ads that are trying something new – throwing the idea against the wall and see what sticks. I like that there is that room for experiments in the industry. And that some brands are willing to take a chance on an idea. The status quo is always challenged in advertising and it keeps the industry fresh, young, and on top of new ways to get information across.

I’m going to end this post with one of my absolute favourite ads for a brand I very much like: Volkswagen. This is “Big Day” for the Volkswagen Jetta VR6.

This is an ad that I find to have stunning depth for a 60 second spot. The music not only compliments the feel and the visuals, but takes it to a whole other level. The editing helps build the climax to a point where the story we believe we are being told changes in a split second and then everything: perceptions, expectations, notions, shifts in that moment. The watcher is left with a wonderment of, “what happens next?” and you realize that life is full of unpredictable changes. Then the tagline, Fasten Your Seatbelts comes in to connect your life with the Volkswagen brand at the exactly right moment.

This is the kind of advertising that I hope to help make one day.