DDB Melbourne takes Origin Energy into NSW
March 1 2011, 7:01 am | | 45 Comments
Energy’s a serious topic in Australia right now. The Government is talking about a carbon tax, bills are on the way up and just about everybody’s looking for ways to save money and the planet. In other words, it’s an interesting time to launch an energy company into the nation’s biggest and most competitive market, New South Wales.
DDB Melbourne tapped into the truth that Australians were already changing their behaviour to save energy, gave it a humorous twist and proved that switching to Origin could achieve your goal with minimum impact on your life. Or, indeed, your looks.
45 Comments
funniest ad I’ve seen in years….LOVE IT
Using electric clippers saves electricity? Yeah fair enough.
Hey, I’ll bet the guys who did the long-running “there’s an easier way to save money” campaign for ANZ… with people doing dumb stuff like colouring-in their legs where they had a hole in their stocking, would be looking at this feeling quite flattered.
Assuming imitation is still the sincerest form of flattery, that is.
Well, I guess neither was the first “there’s a better/easier/faster/cheaper/ way” campaign and fuck knows they won’t be the last either. It’s the swiss army knife of campaign lines.
PLEASE. It’s the oldest cop out in the game – “There’s an easier way”
Fuck me, terrible.
Using an electric razor to shave your head to look like your father is a way of saving electricity? I’m in the top 1% in terms of intelligence and I don’t get it.
If the kid was trying to replicate the haircut in the photo, why did he shave his head down the middle?
The guy in the photo had more of a faux mullet.
There’s an easier, cheaper, different, fresher, tastier, sharper, smarter way to get better ads done, Origin Energy. Just dump DDB Melbourne.
fucking funny.
Very funny, but I also dont get it. How is he saving energy?
I’ve seen this ad a number of times and I simply dont get it. Sure it looks nice. it seems kind of funny. But the idea is totally lost on me – and most of the other punters as well.
9.10 your MENSA membership is rescinded.
I don’t like the ad, but I realise that it was the father who was trying to save electricity by turning off the electric clippers, thus, hilariously (?), leaving his son looking like him.
clearly the idea is old hat, but the execution is awesome. makes a rubbish ad a funny one.
@everyone
This spot has a lot of problems. The main issue is that it is not clear that the person switching off the clippers is actually the father – most people think it’s the kid.
This leaves us thinking that the child is shaving his head in order to look like his father.
really forced, unclear = fail.
This is okay. Look at the category. You got to give it to Origin for at least trying to have a sense of humour.
I think it’s heart’s in the right place and I applaud them for doing something different, but 10:38 is right – you just don’t get the most important part. I’d be re-editing.
Looks great. Certainly interesting. But I don’t understand it. Sorry.
And the gingers cop it again. They’re the most hilarious race of people on the planet.
Formulaic rubbish.
I just don’t understand why ?
Rubbish
awesome.
Yep, it’s funny to see a kid looking like an old guy. But unfortunately there’s no insight here. It’s way too much of a stretch to believe anyone, anywhere would turn off a set of clippers mid-haircut to save power. The thing that makes gags funny is that they have an element of truth in them. This doesn’t. That’s why every time I see it on TV I think: Nope. And then I tell whoever’s nearby why it’s a shit ad.
I think I got it the first time. Kid wants to look like bloke in pic. Starts to shave head. Father wants to save electricity so cuts off shaver. Result is kid accidentally looks like Dad.
Problem is while the execution is quite well done and got a smile out of me, the notion that a father would cut off a shaver mid-haircut doesn’t ring true even in a dramatised made for ad-world sense. Your focus as a viewer is more ‘why the fuck did he do that?’
don’t get it. no apologies.
He could always turn the shaver back on and finish off his haircut.
That’s what I’d have done, the thick twat.
Oh dear…
Muddled idea, lazy line and quite frankly, not very good at all.
Fucking hell.
How many dumb cunts out there don’t get it?
What’s not to get you top 1% can’t get a job fuck heads?
Awesome execution, wonderful comic timing and casting.
Obviously the line is contentious, which is a shame, but I’d have it on my reel.
Thank you, 1:47, I think you’re right. Either the commercial needs to be re-cut to make clear it’s the father turning off the clippers, or Origin needs to letterbox all Victorian consumers with an explanatory leaflet.
Clearly a few folks from DDB have had to wade in to explain the idea to the rest of us dullards. Thing is, most of us dont get it and we live and breathe this stuff everyday. What chance does the poor consumer have???
made me laugh, which is more than can be said for most of the ads on TV or gracing award shows at the moment. At what point in time did all us advertising folk shove our heads up our own arses? We’re sales people not scientists; we’re spruikers with computers, tarts with laptops. Anyone would think that we’re in the same leagues as Doctors, nurses, and teachers! Secondhand car salesmen, maybe.
@4:38
Are you Charlie Sheen?
You’re right @4:38, you would have it on your reel.
I laughed pretty hard. However the dad’s just downright nasty, not frugal.
clippers don’t ‘shave’. His head is pure bald – never happen with clippers…best you get is a No1.
Booooooooom
Really? People laughed watching this?
The biggest laugh is that we’ve just elected a liar as PM who will totally stuff up our economy by introducing the carbon tax she promised not too.
More hilariously, her policy, by exporting our manufacturing industry (and the jobs with it) to economies with less efficient energy generation, will actually increase the amount of carbon dioxide emitted.
would have been funny if I understood it.
makes no sense. no story. poorly directed
Yep – a portly teenage ranga with a haircut like dad’s is a laugh-inducing image. A TVC set to launch an energy company into a large, new market in “serious times” that really does nothing more is not funny – it’s a waste of effort and money. Surely there’s gotta be more to this launch even at brand level that goes beyond “there’s a cheaper way to save electricity” – ever tried turning off the lights as you leave the room?
Origin, you’ve been sold a pup.
You should demand a ‘make-good’ free of charge. Seriously.
Insist that DDB Auckland develop the idea for you.
They actually do know what they’re doing.
Could someone from DDB Melbourne please explain to me what this fucking is?
Honestly, come on here and give me a rationale. I want to get it.
Dear Anonymous March 1, 2011 4:38 PM
Calling people dumb c***s and f*** heads does not sound like you are the brightest person yourself.
I have spoken to a number of perfectly intelligence people and none of us understood the advert without needing explanation. I would suggest that anyone outside the advertising industry simply blanked it from their memory. This is an advert aimed at the mass market, so it needs to have a clear message. In that respect, it fails in its purpose.
Origin does not have a well known brand in NSW, so this advert should have introduced them as an energy company then rammed home their brand and reinforced it with positive connotations. Instead, this is a slow, dull, grey advert featuring two odd characters. It is fairly confusing and for anyone unfamiliar with the brand it is not immediately clear that Origin is an energy company.
Sorry, but this is one of the worst adverts I have ever seen. It sounds like others agree.
As much as we all love to over-think our ads, sometimes the job is as simple as creating an impression (whether it be by humour, fear, a sharp idea, or insightful proposition) and finishing it off with a logo. I, myself, had never heard of Origin energy. I saw the ad, it made me laugh, and now Origin will be on my shopping list the next time I have to consider the many faceless, personality-less energy companies. Job done.
5.56 – could not agree more.
who is in the photo?