Also "clichéd!" But, you know, haters gonna hate.
The World Surf League has made its first ever advertisement and what a day or us all to live. First epic Jaws, now this! The spot is called Chaos Theory and explores the relationship between surfing and the unpredictability of nature. Like, sometimes a whole 30 minute heat goes by and the ocean goes completely flat. Unpredictable!
Where will it air? The WSL’s chief marketing officer Scott Hargrove says, “We’re focusing our 2015 media spend where our target audiences consume the sport—digital and social…” Soooooooo maybe BeachGrit? Maybe? But wait there’s more!
“As we continue to expand our message and recruit new fans into competitive surfing in 2016, we will rely more heavily on traditional channels. The goal is to establish an authentic connection with existing surf fans and then carefully expand our message to new fans beyond surfing’s core.”
If there is one thing I love it is an authentic connection. The piece speaks to me! But how does it feel to a more professional eye?
Leading trade publication AdWeek says, “Hmmmmmmmmm” and also:
The mix of stock, custom and athlete footage includes surging seas, shifting sands and surfboard shaping—along with moody shots of billowing drapes, flickering video screens and a tornado funnel—accompanied by a breathless voiceover: “Isn’t it something that a single breath has the power to spawn an entire storm a thousand miles away? We cannot predict it. We can only bear witness to the wonder.”
That last bit is so leaden, it nearly sinks the whole enterprise. Yet the use of such hyper-saturated prose makes sense when you consider the level of passion and reverence serious surfers have for the sport.
The commercial—breaking today, ahead of this month’s Billabong Pipe Masters competition in Hawaii—could have used a tighter focus. For example, 72andSunny’s epic ads for Samsung explored the spiritual interconnectedness of the surfing community and put a human face on the sport, while capturing the intensity of training and competing in snarling wind and swirling waves.
While not a total wipeout, it’s a shame “Chaos Theory” relies so heavily on clichéd “dramatic” imagery and language. The underlying metaphor rocks, but despite its quest to portray surfing as a constant surprise, the ad feels a tad predictable.
Soooooooo maybe it is time for Graham Stapelberg and da boyz to fly to New York and serve up some slaps in the AdWeek offices?
What do you think? Watch here!
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Did you know there are people who grade advertisements like this? Nor did I… http://www.adweek.com/adfre…
To sum up, not bad but very cliche’.
somewhere al gore is smiling… not because of global warming knock-off video, but because he’s banging larry davids wife.
Easy to understand its origin. I was watching the Jaws final yesterday, which went for around 70 minutes (including restart), and was thinking” “How bored would non-surfers be watching 4 waves in 70 minutes?”. W$L is really into brainwashing. At the Surferpoll awards, the W$L surfers were mostly saying the same thing, like robots.
In other news, what’s with the flipping betting ads all over the site all of a sudden?!
I have lost over a hundred dollars already today! And the day is still young!
Sold!
Unquestionably the best thing the WSL have produced to date.
haven’t watched the ad but they should totally dish out slaps for those koooks accusing them of hyper-saturated prose and then saying snarling winds and swirling waves in the very next breath. Is it chaos theory though? We fucking predicted Jaws to the minute two weeks out using modern forecasting algorithms.
For what it is worth, I thought it was pretty damn good, but not quite as good as that KFC South African ad!
I read the review on AdWeek first and thought, “Oh no. This is going to be painful…” but I liked it too. Slaps all around!