A creative thread across a couple of decades strings into Gucci’s latest with Kate Moss (or should I say their latest with Chris Issak, featuring Kate Moss?). I had a look. Some welcome reincarnated Thai humour makes another appearance, while Stanley Tucci decides not to make one.
I also ponder how the intent behind brands’ content might be reshaped, as they are tempted away from audience building and brand affinity (and SEO!) to court those great, all-pervasive LLMS.
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Cheers,
Shakey
Primavera: Lip sync goodness
Curated/Cuts: Thai Reincarnation + Where’s Tucci?
Gifts for LLMs: Why will brands make shows?
Fake Tech: Some funny ads in the NYC Subway
➕ · BCCI sponsors · Tiktok in SG’s museums · Apple’s photo authenticity ·
1. Primavera, not Pasta
Its called And We Shall Dance Again, and its a new short film from Gucci Primavera.
Kate Moss. Lush art. Lush wardrobe.
Strangely beautiful and beautifully strange people.
But it’s Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game that, in wrapping itself around this vintage hotel lounge with desire and emotion charm and raw sex appeal, refuses to age. The strangers in this room with no apparent objective in life all seem to feed off it, or are lifted by it, or fall into it helplessly.
Gucci is undergoing a reinvention of sorts under a new Creative Director, so they call this a continuation of that process, “a rebirth, a renaissance—and nothing is reborn quite like we are when we fall in love.”
The internet is sharp in its way. So in not very much time, I could watch two other pieces of note related to this. I would bring your kind attention to the back of the gallery for these.
Exhibit A.
A music video for the song Pass This On, by Swedish band the Knife, circa 2003.
Making it to a ‘Best MVs of the Aughts’ list, this video sees “a flaxen haired, spider-limbed female impersonator takes the mic in a rustic chalet. A woman in the small audience gets up out of her seat. Is she leaving? A glaring thug approaches the stage. Is he going to end her song by force? No, they’re both moved by the music, and soon everyone is dancing.”
If you had clicked on the Kate Moss-Chris Isaak ‘duet’, you’ll know this passage could almost have described the Gucci short that has gathered us here today. Lip sync, single mike, bored crowd coaxed into movement. But all upgraded with Gucci style & budgets.
Exhibit B.
Blue Velvet from H&M and Lana del Rey, circa 2012. A Lana del Rey vinyl is played, as Lana del Rey stands at a vintage microphone and starts to lip sync to the Lana del Rey song. Mildly interested but uninspired individuals, scattered about in their American mid-century retro glamour, slowly start to be enamoured by the singer, the song, the atmosphere. Till an inconvenient dwarf grumpily yanks the plug.
Renck.
The connective tissue here is director Johan Renck, who helmed all three of these. So no– this is not about a director ripping someone else off. It’s the same guy, repeating the devices that have worked for him before. Whether that leaves you with an “Ahhh, I get it” understanding reaction or an “Aw, come on” sort of underwhelmed take, is something you must tell me.
2. Curated/Cuts
· Past Life ·
‘Aod’ is a European (?) man who one fine morning has an epiphany at breakfast. As his wide eye baby (win!) and shell-shocked wife look on, he rattles off Thai words and claims to remember his past life.
Watch his heart-warming story here.
No, it has nothing to do with food and definitely has no trademark wild Thai advertising humour. Not at all.
· BBDO Bangkok · ECD Warunyoo Sorasetsakoon ·
· Production House: Suneta House · Director: Teerapol Suneta
· MIA with the simple things ·
Who needs to make good ads when the good life beckons?
I smiled at this unfussy, clever but not too clever spot for Birra Moretti. You know it is an ad, you know its for a beer, you know which beer, but it still keeps you curious for a few seconds before cutting to real life.
“Enjoy life’s simple pleasures (like Tucci is doing)”- simple and smart.
Lucky Generals · Shelley Smoler · Dir: Tom Speers · Brand Veronica Sica · Eric Halgand ·
3. Gift List for LLMs
The British retailer John Lewis announced a new Youtube show. So far, so 2020s. A retail chain has a show streamed for free? Seems par for the course because remember- everyone needs a content strategy now.
The idea of ‘Gift List’ (trailer) is guests revealing the good and bad presents they’ve given and received. Six episodes will run through Christmas, with more planned if the series takes off. ‘If the series takes off’ may, by the sound of it, not be judged by engagement or follower count or comments or reshares. Because the aim behind Gift List is not to really to build an audience or cultivate a following, but to “help make itself and its products more visible to chatbots and more prominent in AI search results.” (from ^)
Sure, that bit might be one of the many things that pop out the most in that report, as brands grapple with the fact that LLMs “prioritise third party advice and live content when formulating their responses” ; and the team might well have entirely more expected objectives in mind- good content, word of mouth, brand trust and affinity. But it’s a sign of the times- we’re going to have to make more decisions around balance- do we optimise our marketing content for human taste, or LLMs?
(The retailer recently formed a creation hub at their flagship store, called The Box Studio. This and other shows /content initiatives will be made here).
* I literally just spoke about the shortlived moniker for video podcasts. But I guess– like Vlogs– you can’t really get rid of some internet terms that make-sense-but-not-really. John Lewis is calling this a vodcast.
4. Fake Tech
Last month, a couple of funny guys decided there were too many tech ads in NYC, and too much of sloppy (and slop?) writing and creative in them. So they pulled a little stunt where they briefly put up fake tech ads in the subway, then posted about them on social.
A bunch of completely fake tech companies, real-looking (kinda) subway ads printed on vinyl banners and hung at two Brooklyn stations, and voila we have “ads (that) look convincing because (they) copied the vague, jargon-heavy language that has become nearly impossible to avoid in tech advertising.”
“I feel like it does connect you to other people to be like, look, we’re all going crazy,” said Harris Alterman, who did this with Dave Ross.
➕Quick Hits
The National Gallery Singapore is piloting a Tiktoker Residency programme, looking for someone who has a unique and fresh “perspective on art, culture, storytelling… with authenticity, with and enthusiasm”.
Campa, SBI Life and ChatGPT were on Tuesday announced as BCCI’s associate partners by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for a period of two home seasons. The main sponsor is awaited, reportedly paused by the high asking price.
Apple announced in-built authentication at the time of recodign a photo on iPhones, in an effort to fight fake images. Hany Farid said “when one of the largest companies in the world decides this problem is worth solving at the hardware level, it is an acknowledgment that our collective loss of trust in the visual record is no longer a niche concern.“
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Till next week, go find your past life and reincarnate… or something.