Michel Gondry Versus Motorola
October 9, 2007
AdWeek wrote a piece about the flair up between agency Cutwater’s hiring of Michel Gondry for a Motorola TV spot. The agency actually shot the ad, but it never aired. Apparently, Cutwater is now in some sort of purgatory with Motorola over the $800,000 spot. The client believed it was too “artistic.” Huh. We liked it actually. What do you think? Watch it above.
Cutwater wanted to keep Gondry’s vision intact during the editing phase, but the client wanted to remove the more “fanciful elements” that basically make Michel Gondry, Michel Gondry and not some other guy. The Adweek article goes on to report that: ‘After production had been completed in June, an agency meeting with Motorola CEO Ed Zander made it clear that in Asia—where Motorola is handled by Ogilvy & Mather in Beijing—focusing on the slimness of the phone was gaining favor. The client asked Cutwater to incorporate that strategy into the print executions, but the results were ads that one source called “Frankensteinish.”‘
In the end, a commercial emphasizing the phone’s slimness began running globally from Ogilvy. It features a couple dueling on a subway platform with their phones. Watch it below.
Here’s the thing - if you’re Motorola and you agree with Cutwater to hire Michel Gondry then surely you have some expectation of what you’re going to get. Have they never seen the Science of Sleep? It seems odd to us that if as a brand, you wanted simplicity then above all - you don’t hire Gondry. We feel for Cutwater on that one.
October 9, 2007 at 8:25 pm
why feel for cutwater? they bedded a behemoth client like motorola. they might as well have gone for kraft or p&g.
you want to make those huge corporate dollars, you know you are in for some pain with the massive client structures and their predictability/stupidity/fear bs.
yes, they tries to do something cool. I credit them for that. but they took this client because of massive billings, nothing else.
October 9, 2007 at 9:32 pm
The video as an artistic piece is well done, but off brand for Motorola. Too abstract, and i can see where the print ads would take on a “Frankensteinish” quality. There should have been at least a solid selling point for the product. Had he integrated the phone more into the imagery and interaction he might have sold it, i think part of the issue here is that Cutwater/Gondry most likely didn’t want to hear anything about edits or changes and were not flexible on any of the creative.
Granted, they should have done their research beforehand as it would have saved both parties some headache and money. Nonetheless, the dueling piece is also quite good and echoes a particular feature of the product as well as staying consistent with the Motorola brand. However, there needs to be some small kudos given to Motorola for trying a different venue…it’s more than most can say.
October 10, 2007 at 12:22 am
I agree with required - what did Cutwater expect? Also, Brad is quoted in the Adweek article as saying there was “”an inordinate amount of tension between the agency and Motorola.”
What will that tell other behemoth clients about Cutwater? Why would any agency executive talk to the press about inordinate tension with a client?
Without a clue. Without a clue.
October 10, 2007 at 1:03 am
This is old and very stale & actors poor.
October 10, 2007 at 1:20 am
Is everyone on this site a client? Why hate on Cutwater when they are the creative agency trying to get their clients to run great work. Motorola went with this pile of crap from Ogilvy with a man and woman slicing themselves with a phone when they could have ran a fun, artistic translation of the phone experience. What agency would want to work with Motorola if they just switch to another agency when they don’t like the work. Also it doesnt look like Cutwater is the AOR. What agency hasn’t touched motorola lately, draftfcb, goodby, mccann, 180, etc.
October 10, 2007 at 10:40 am
I hate to say it, but Gondry’s ad - while technically and aesthetically brilliant - is not a good ad for the phone. The other one is.
Hate to say it part 2… is Gondry’s style starting to look just a tad familiar? probably because so many other people have ripped him off…
October 10, 2007 at 1:22 pm
The Cutwater ad looks like it was shot in 2007. The Ogilvy ad looks like 1987. Which makes Motorola look cooler?
October 10, 2007 at 2:20 pm
this spot is mesmerizing and memorable and they scrap it? sounds like a non creative creative had to put there 5 cents in. scrapping a gondry spot is like some record exec. deciding not to release a new beatles song. are they nuts? yes. they will end up looking for work soon enough and gondry and the beatles go on forever. gondry wins.
October 10, 2007 at 5:18 pm
This is exactly why Motorola will never be considered a brand that people love and appreciate. They have so much potential to be such a great brand. Unfortunately their phones fall a little short, but advertising could definitely fix that.
The Gondry spot makes MOTO look hip and cool. When I first saw it, I felt like Motorola was finally on to something. The spot from Ogilvy is just like any other product focused commercial - BORING.
I just saw this excerpt from the adweek article by the MOTO client, Elena Panizza, worldwide cd at Motorola. “I don’t think it would fit nicely with an advertising block with a Burger King ad. It’s far more sophisticated.”
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? She is going to base the work on if it would look good running against a BK ad? Why didn’t she just say the MOTO target is stupid men that like fighting scenes, so that’s what I want the ad to be.
This industry needs more agencies like Cutwater who want to push the boundries instead of caving in to client demands.
October 10, 2007 at 6:29 pm
That Michael Gondry ad was terrific! I thought one of the whole points of the whole Hello Moto campaign was to be abstract and technological. The Cutwater ad hits the nail on the head.
The Ogilvy ad looks cool too, but the Cutwater ad is much cooler.
October 10, 2007 at 8:01 pm
i’d buy the phone from the people who created the first spot. i’d buy the competitive phone to the people who created the second one.
October 11, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I feel like the MOTO ads have always tried to be a tad different from their competition, but the thing about the Gondry ad is that it’s almost too organic, and too whimsical. I think they could have kept the visuals and the concept had the actress been holding the phone while she was “transported” all those places, rather than it being purely conceptual.
But all that aside, the agency exec shouldn’t have been talking about tension in an article.
The Ogilvy ad is a different kind of cool, but even there I don’t see thin automatically translating to slicing like a knife- and what does that have to do with the user experience and what went on between the actors in the commercial? The Gondry ad at least made it clear that I have options with this phone.
That reminds me. I am due for an upgrade. Must see if I can get that new RAZR I’ve been hearing so much about.
October 14, 2007 at 1:56 pm
pity for such an arty spot but Gondry’s world is bigger then Motorola. Goodbey Moto
October 15, 2007 at 1:13 pm
The Gondry ad is wonderful. The other, stiff, predictable and hopelessly dated. I love how the Gondry ad manages to go beyond the usual “Axe user” appeal and manages to put someone’s personality into a phone that does the same things as any other phone - a woman’s personality no less, good God!
Yes, it doesn’t really mention the slimness of the phone, but so what? It’s called a Razor. I get that. I guess the best thing about the Gondry ad is that it gives the audience a little credit for being able to possess the imagination to enjoy the ad itself - something the Moto clients clearly didn’t have…
October 16, 2007 at 2:53 am
Saying that, there’s not a whiff of Motorola in it though!
October 17, 2007 at 5:15 pm
It doesn’t need to have motorola in it to be successful. Thats the problem that most clients have. For them It’s all about the logo and the product being front and center all of the time. For moto, the public opinion is not so great. They make kinda cool phones that always seem to fall a little short of greatness. Who cares how slim or solid it is, no one cares, it’s the same peice of crap that nokia, samsung and lg are putting out there. What will sell the phone is experience moto offers, through advertising and marketing.
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March 7, 2008 at 5:29 pm
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