My YouTube ad of the week: David Prideaux, Publicis Chemistry

Campaign YouTube, Thursday, 12 April 2012 05:18PM

David Prideaux reviews Vitaminwater

David Prideaux, executive creative director, Publicis Chemistry

Why I like this

While most YouTube ads use interactivity or connectivity to get you engaged, this one tries to win you over by throwing in a load of references to memes and other irritating internet phenomena. The idea being that, with Vitaminwater coursing through your bloodstream, you can rise above anything - even Nyan Cat. So we see a guy making his way down the street surrounded by the Sexy Sax Man, LOLcats, attacking antelopes and BMX wipeouts. I only picked up a few of the references; if you're the target, I imagine you'll get a whole heap more.

The only trouble is that just showing that you watch the same stuff as your audience isn't enough - you need to be funny too. The attacking antelope is good, but the Sexy Sax Man is just plain irritating. And this audience is not easily fooled. As always, the comments tell their own story and, in some cases - "Only the dead can know peace from this evil" - are funnier than the ad.

Net result? It's well-intentioned but ends up looking too much like Auntie doing the twist. Better to lob in one clever reference as T-Mobile did with Fenton.

This article was first published on Campaign YouTube