by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki) We’ve all had that moment. When you want to throw your aging computer out the window. Or lob your clunky mobile into the sea. Or fix some explosive to your printer and blow it to smithereens. Fortunately, when frustrating experiences with technology and customer service test our patience, most people manage to summon restraint and not ‘lose it’.
But it is great to fantasise about going all Quentin Tarantino on our old tech, which is why a new insurance ad that does this is so much fun — “Out with the old and in with the new” is the message of Momentum Insurance’s latest commercial, entitled “Goodbye”.
Slo-mo sequences
The TV commercial is a series of slow-motion sequences set to the music of “Time to Say Goodbye” (Con te partirò) — the 1996/7 hit song performed by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. It was one of the few ‘light opera’ pieces to push its way into the pop Top 10 charts around the world, spending 12 weeks at no. 1 in Belgium and becoming that country’s best-selling single of all time.
The montage of sequences features moments in people’s lives when they reach a point of no return with some form of old technology, and destroy it, or simply wave goodbye to it.
At first, the ad is puzzling: a woman is screaming, surrounded by papers. Next, a guy is hurling his steering lock down the driveway. Next, a fax machine is being carted off with an irate manager pointing to the door. This is followed by a young girl trying to get an old-style picture book to open, by swiping, iPad style. A man walks past a teller in an empty bank, waving ‘goodbye’; and a man throws a switchboard phone out of an office building. Finally, the scene cuts to a man in a carpark, smiling wryly as his printer explodes.
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The text that appears on the screen is, “Goodbye old tech. Goodbye paperwork. Goodbye queues. Goodbye stress.” The next shot is of a smartphone app with the Momentum logo, and the text, “Hello to a better way to do insurance”.
Easy-to-use
Momentum provides a variety of apps and online resources that seem to back up this claim. The website provides tools for calculating risk profiles and options for obtaining quotes, all in a very easy-to-use way.
Insurance these days is very much a commoditised game, which means that the differentiator is experience — delivering the best possible experience to clients or potential clients. Getting rid of bureaucracy and paperwork can make this ‘necessary evil’ a little more bearable. Momentum is clearly trying to open up avenues to engage better with its target market, using ‘new technology’ to do so.
The ad is shot with moody lighting and ultra-slow-motion cameras that perfectly capture the expressions on the various subjects’ faces. From frustration and anger to wry self-satisfaction, each person encapsulates an aspect of our relationship with dysfunctional forms of old technology.
This is an original ad with a very strong promise, which — if Momentum can deliver upon — should do very well for the brand.
Credits
Momentum: Goodbye
Advertising agency: Saatchi & Saatchi BrandsRock, South Africa
Executive creative director: Jonathan Beggs
Creative director: Carla Le Roux
Agency producer: Leigh-Ann Harris
Production company: Bouffant Johannesburg
Director: Erik van Wyk
Producer: Jo Barber
Exec producer: Peter Carr
Director of photography: Willie Nel
Production art director: Julie Bonnet
Editor: Kobus Loots/Upstairs
Time to Say Goodbye written by Francesco Sartori (music) and Lucio Quarantotto (lyrics)
Ad of the Week, published on MarkLives every Wednesday, is penned by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki), the CEO of Ornico, a Brand Intelligence® firm that focuses on media, reputation and brand research. If you are involved in making advertising that is smart, funny and/or engaging, please let Oresti know about it at info@ornicogroup.co.za.
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