I found this video on Youtube. It’s a fan-made homage to the band Dashboard Confessional and their song So Long, So Long.
There’s nothing special about it. It’s a simple piece of video, made with Windows Movie Maker then put up on Youtube for the creator’s friends to see. And yet…
Its simplicity is also its strength. The mood and pace of the video complement the song perfectly, and doesn’t take away from the song itself. There are no garish images, no fast edits, no multiple screen tricks – just a simple video for a simple song.
Creative agencies often try to come up with elaborate advertising, PR or marketing messages. The feeling is the more elaborate the message is, the more mystique (and therefore interest) around the brand. And it can work, if done properly. But you know what? Sometimes it’s the simplest things that are the most elaborate of all.
The comments below this video on Youtube show that many people thought it was the official Dashboard Confessional video for the song. That has to tell us something about simplicity, no?
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Is simple better for ad and marketing agencies? What do you think? http://bit.ly/iSJtL
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Honest, simple. Always best. RT @DannyBrown: Is simple better for ad and marketing agencies? What do you think? http://bit.ly/iSJtL
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Is simple better for ad and marketing agencies? What do you think? http://bit.ly/iSJtL
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Honest, simple. Always best. RT @DannyBrown: Is simple better for ad and marketing agencies? What do you think? http://bit.ly/iSJtL
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RT @DannyBrown The New Storytellers http://bit.ly/1592qc
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RT @jimconnolly: RT @DannyBrown The New Storytellers http://bit.ly/1592qc
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Reading:- RT @jimconnolly: RT @DannyBrown The New Storytellers http://bit.ly/1592qc
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RT @DannyBrown The New Storytellers http://bit.ly/1592qc
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RT @jimconnolly: RT @DannyBrown The New Storytellers http://bit.ly/1592qc
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Reading:- RT @jimconnolly: RT @DannyBrown The New Storytellers http://bit.ly/1592qc
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I can dig it. Video was deceptively complex near the end though. It can be very difficult to make something come off simple, you know?
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I can dig it. Video was deceptively complex near the end though. It can be very difficult to make something come off simple, you know?
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RT @DannyBrown: Is simple better for ad & marketing agencies? What do you think? http://bit.ly/iSJtL -> Agree. Also works with PR
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RT @DannyBrown: Is simple better for ad & marketing agencies? What do you think? http://bit.ly/iSJtL -> Agree. Also works with PR
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“Failure is better than money. The best teacher of all if a person is willing to learn.”
Oops, I mean in so far as “failure” teaches and helps a person get better and achieve success so they can get the $$$… Or something like that ;=} Oops -EPIC FAIL!
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“Failure is better than money. The best teacher of all if a person is willing to learn.”
Oops, I mean in so far as “failure” teaches and helps a person get better and achieve success so they can get the $$$… Or something like that ;=} Oops -EPIC FAIL!
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New @dannybrown: The New Storytellers http://bit.ly/hcgtG
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New @dannybrown: The New Storytellers http://bit.ly/hcgtG
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RT @startabuzz Honest, simple. Always best. RT @DannyBrown: Is simple better for ad and marketing agencies? http://bit.ly/iSJtL
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RT @startabuzz Honest, simple. Always best. RT @DannyBrown: Is simple better for ad and marketing agencies? http://bit.ly/iSJtL
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I can dig it. Video was deceptively complex near the end though. It can be very difficult to make something come off simple, you know?
Good day, Danny! I wish that people, on the whole, would embrace simplicity. In marketing, the message tends to get lost when things are made too complicated, too complex. I would so much rather have a powerful, simple message than one that is overly cluttered and replete with bells and whistles. Interestingly, this rule holds true in life, as well. It's the simple things, the little things that carry the most weight.
I hear you, fella. It's often said that the simplest of things can be the most difficult to make – I seem to recall the video for Sinead O'Connor's “Nothing Compares 2 U” as being very simple, yet the shoots were a nightmare. I guess we never quite know what's going on behind the scenes.
Nice avatar, man!
I'm gonna have to watch that video now, Danny, my interest is piqued. A propos: I remember slaving for like 4 hours making that avatar. Yikes.
I once worked at an agency where the boss would insist on a minimum of 15 changes to a plan. Didn't matter if the original idea was so good that it didn't need any changing, or if it did just minimal ones. His stance: “The more we mess, the more we bless.” Don't know quite what he meant, mad as a hatter. But the gist is that a lot of his clients left because they were disappointed and confused.
So yes – just because you can be elaborate doesn't mean you need to. Cheers, Melissa
Well done! I love simplicity and agree with you that simplicity is a complex thing…wait, I think you said that. I'm a true believer of not letting lack of money stop you from doing what you want to do! Downsize and go for it.
I really enjoy the still photography zooms near the end.
This all reminds me of wanting to be a filmmaker back in my teens, so I'd work on anyone's “director's reel” doing their made-up commercials or “short films”… everyone there got paid poorly or no pay at all and no one cared because we were giving our time to help someone get to where they hoped to be in the industry and we all hoped to be there too. And once you offered your own services to help another it eventually landed real paying gigs when the people you helped got hired.
It was a beautiful thing that I've only experienced in NY. In California? Hell no, flake central, people show up one day, talk about how great THEY are (pass out business cards, beg the crew to work FOR THEM) then blow off the initial project the next day. Not always, no, no, no, I should make such a sweeping generalization. I'm going only from my experience.
I'm sure generosity of time happens somewhere in LA and happens elsewhere, but it's long gone in my memory.
Bravo on the video. It's not the money that makes a project great.
It's the focus and drive to make it happen… and plus, even if these people had failed and the above video had wound up a turd…the next one might have been the good one…
Failure is better than money. The best teacher of all if a person is willing to learn.
I don't think there are very many successful people in the world who haven't been, at one time, a miserable failure. Takes guts to be one and move on.
I'm failing right now :=} I see SUCCESS ahead! ha!
“Failure is better than money. The best teacher of all if a person is willing to learn.”
Oops, I mean in so far as “failure” teaches and helps a person get better and achieve success so they can get the $$$… Or something like that ;=} Oops -EPIC FAIL!
Couldn't agree more, CT – I've seen projects splash hundreds of thousands at the creative teams and their opus, only for it to fall heavily because the hearts weren't in it, just the wallet thickness. Then I've seen a nobody from the street, if you like, strip away the fizz and just do a simple message and blow everyone away.
If there's no passion, can it truly be creative?
It's pretty simple. We humans like to muck it up. It can't be as simple as it appears. We feel like we need to make it more complicated, harder, sophisticated. Often, we are wrong.
SWANKY! and dig the blog and the video too!
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SWANKY! and dig the blog and the video too!
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I have to admit, this could certainly have passed for an official video. Simplicity can be wonderful, but I think something this simple, is so effective, because so much we see is complex and involved. If everything we saw or viewed was simple, this would not stand out as much. Sort of like a magazine full of advertisements and color, and then you see the black and white ad with just a touch of color, possibly a ring on the finger, or an orange in the hand. That simple ad now jumps. The exec who takes advantage of these 'simple' moments, can reap big rewards.
But forget the video, Hey Danny, nice new pic. Looks like you are now ready for the red carpet!
Good point, Barry – we do need the elaborate at times. As long as it's through need and not choice – and it does enhance the simplicity effect of others, which can help to no end as you say.
And thanks – I'm booking the limo for next year's Oscars later this week
SWANKY! and dig the blog and the video too!
RT @tweetmeme The New Storytellers http://bit.ly/1592qc @dannybrown does another great one!
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RT @tweetmeme The New Storytellers http://bit.ly/1592qc @dannybrown does another great one!
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