So.

My neighbor, who has a great mutt named Josie, was telling me about a Pedigree commercial she thought I would like.

Oh.

I typically dislike pet food advertising because I think most of it is fairly unoriginal and “cute” <I CANNOT believe I just typed that word> and rarely actually gives me a reason to buy their stuff.

I do think IAMS does a nice job talking about some of the functional reasons to purchase, and I loved the Snausages execution <the one where the dog yells “snausages”> because I could just envision my dog doing the same <note: it didn’t really compel me to buy Snausages but I thought the commercial was hysterical>.

Anyway.

The Pedigree ads.

I cruised onto Youtube and checked them out (because apparently I don’t watch TV shows with high dog viewership because I haven’t seen any of this crap). Before I get to the ones that she told me about I do want to point out one Australia version of a Pedigree ad which I really liked. I think it is an older campaign and the use of an Aussie voice (which could calmly tell you that you were fat, dumb and ugly … and you would still smile) may bias me but I thought it was nice.

I thought it was simple with a straightforward message and a little twist that made it clear they understood dogs:

Ok.

Onto the ‘slow mo’ Pedigree campaign. Beautifully shot and produced. Well crafted. Not sure it will sell one damn bag of dog food.

Oops.

That was the cynical-advertising-business-side of me speaking.

Ok. Ok.

With one exception.

The introductory “now available” version I thought clearly made me want to pay attention to the words and the footage is really nice:

This next version I am sure is the one TBWA has on their agency reel and probably has never aired on one television show (its 2 minutes long). And it seems to go too long, but once again fun to watch and it has beautiful footage and I hope they never pay to air it because I don’t think it will sell one bag of dog food.

So.

I figured after pounding on the 2 minute version I should probably share the one that is probably on television right now. I don’t really have anything new to say other than the fact I have been on a production where we had a dog jump and grab something and it is a pain to shoot and shoot well but if you get it right (like TBWA did) it is a really cool little vignette in the bigger scheme of the commercial.

Lastly.

Now.

I love the filming of the commercials and I absolutely love the introductory commercial (mostly because it is well done and unabashedly an introductory message).  I would also like to note I am an admirer of TBWA who did this campaign (Toronto office I believe), however, the campaign is kind of a rip off of a video done by Pleix films in about 2006. But, hey, great ideas can happen everywhere and copying is the truest form of flattery (although I seriously doubt they knew they were copying).

Now, that is just a short film done for creativity’s sake and isn’t selling anything but the production capabilities of the group who created it, but it is a fun very well done video particularly if you like dogs.

That’s it.

My neighbor got me thinking about it and I love dogs so I thought what the heck…write about it.

Plus. Everyone likes to look at commercials.