The final curtain has dropped, the closing ceremony is over and the flame has been extinguished. That is it for the 2016 Rio Olympics. No more watching doped up Russians try to dominate sports, no more crazy leg breaking injuries happen and good-bye to the weird and (likely) disgusting green pools. Even better, it is time to go back to our regularly scheduled programming and go on with our lives. There is one thing that we just might miss though – Olympic commercials! Or more accurately, commercials featuring the Olympics. We love us some lists here at talonX, so we decided to count the Top 5 commercials for the Rio Olympics.
Visa Carpool to Rio
We like it, we just don’t love it. It is entertaining, it is shot well, it has a cute premise. Hell, this commercial even features the velvet voice of Morgan Freeman, so why do we feel a little bit less than inspired by it? There are tons of reasons but here I’ll just give you a few. It is too long. The shorter versions that were edited down for television were wayyyy better. The story was a little bit convoluted. Did you clearly understand why the visa was even somewhat relevant to this story? It was too ambitious. Maybe this point goes hand in hand with it being too long, but they tried to cram too many people into the commercial and the commercial turned into the carpool van. Over stuffed and irrelevant. But, again, bonus points for Morgan Freeman’s voice. Probably the easiest $100,000 he ever made.
Always #LikeaGirl
This video is from a whole series of commercials that Always, makers of feminine products, put out for the Rio Olympics. These commercials may not be earth shattering or feature a new groundbreaking concept, but they are strong storytelling examples that work for one main reason. Always knows their audience. This commercial was tailor made for women, and what is more inspiring than seeing a woman from your Country telling her story of overcoming challenges and stereotypes? Very few things are more inspiring than that, except the same commercial 39 seconds shorter. At 1:39 that commercial is too long, the maker could have used the same story with less detail and held our interest a little bit longer.
Under Armour Rule Yourself (Gymnastics)
Alright UnderArmour, you win this round. This commercial is pretty killer. The story of sacrifice of an Olympians time, energy and body are spot on. This video, and the others in the series, are long for commercial standards, but we didn’t mind, because of a few reasons. You get to see powerhouse Olympic gymnasts do what they do best, push their bodies past all physical limitations and past the laws of gravity in some cases. The music choice in this video was phenomenal. Seriously, spot on. This video is a prime example of how the right song choice can make or break video (any video.) It also really helps that no one talked, or acted, in these commercials. Olympians are elite athletes, for sure, but actors they are not, it’s great to just see these athletes do what they do best…perform.
Canadian Olympic Team Campaign – The Outsider
We heart this commercial so hard! This commercial was kind of a perfect homage to the movie the Sandlot, only they updated the story for what is going on in Canada, and the world right now. It may not have made us cry, but it sure made us proud to be Canadian. The Olympics reference wasn’t blatant and it had a decidedly Canadian spin. Love this commercial!
P&G – Thank you, mom – strong
No lie, this made ¾ of the talonX crew cry, apparently the ¼ of us that didn’t is cold and dead inside. Proctor and Gamble always have the best commercials, but this one is incredible. It uses all of the most crucial elements of storytelling. Right off the bat it lured people in with impending doom of a tornado, it clearly defined the hero of the story (or in this case, the multiple heroes), the story itself was simple and one that most people could identify with (mom saves the day, you love mom) and it connected with the audience right away. We dare you not to weep watching this vid!
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