Superbowl commercials are some of my favorite things to watch in the world. I don't really care enough about football to watch the superbowl, but the next day you can bet I'll be watching all the ads on the internet.
This one is from last year's superbowl. It's one of my favorite commercials ever. Probably because I love cats. And the concept of herding cats is just ridiculous...
Product: EDS [Electronic Data Systems], an HP Company. Information Technology Outsourcing. (Unless you're really into Business Management it probably means nothing to you)
Lenth: 1 minute.
Underlying Message: HDS gathers information and sends it where you want it to go, and even gets the difficult jobs done, like herding cats.
Why it Works: The cat herding grabs your attention. It is done in the style of reality documentary that you see often on the History and Discovery channels. And who doesn't love cowboys? It's an American tradition. However, the advertisement is specifically aimed toward business management and business owners, so there's a lot of us out there that think it's a funny ad, but don't really get it.
Commentary: I love this commercial. I'm not a business owner, nor in business management, nor do I know anything about Information Technology. But I know about cats. And I've watched many a Western in my day. I love the style this ad was shot in. Like I said, very reminiscent of History Channel or Discovery documentary/reality shows like Dirty Jobs. Their choice of wording is amazing. "Anyone can herd cattle. Holding together 10,000 half-wild short hairs... that's another thing." The actors do a great job of making it seem like they really live for herding cats. The only thing that is a drawback to this commercial is that it's aimed at such a limited audience. But for that audience, they did an outstanding job.
I give this advertisement a 3 out of 5 rating.
