Smartphone manufacturers always try to do something good, but in order to sell it, it is not enough just to have high quality equipment. To help customers bring more money to the checkout, companies hire marketers and ad specialists who sometimes turn out to be out of this world and often go overboard in their quest to create unique ads. However, it often works, but even more often it simply remains in the memory as something very wild and ridiculous. In this article, I propose to recall (or find out) the strangest commercials that have been in the smartphone industry. Here's how they tried to sell them.
Marketers sometimes go overboard, but are satisfied with themselves.
Examples of “creative” advertising
You cannot blame or blame those who are trying to shoot, if I may say so, creative advertising. Such advertising is often remembered and becomes a symbol of the era. Recall at least the hits of Russian television in the 90s, when “marketers from God” were just beginning to practice this difficult task. They gave us a lot of things that can now be watched on YouTube like a comedy show. And some of it went to quotes.
Below are selected seven videos from global creatives, to which the largest manufacturers at that time turned to create non-trivial advertising. You may have seen some of this, but most likely, most will be new to you.
Oppo N1 – strange operator
In this article, we are spared the need to rank videos, so let's just watch them without reference to which one is crazier, and start with the operator who is spying on the actress.
A commercial for the Oppo N1 smartphone shows a young man who, as an operator, secretly takes pictures of her on a smartphone with a good camera. As a result, the storyline unfolds, he begins to communicate with her, and then also shows her photographs, and it turns out that she likes them. Or not?
LG Dual Screen – sneaky grandfather
As skeptical as I am about smartphones with a folding design, but without a folding screen (in other words, consisting of two halves), advertising for such smartphones is even wilder.
An ad for LG Dual Screen shows a grandfather trying to take a picture of a girl climbing stairs. She notices this, runs up to him and sees that he was not taking a photo, but a selfie. So everything is entangled in this construction. But when she starts to rise again, the grandfather takes a couple more photos and leaves, pleased with himself. I just want to quote one of the characters in the movie “Home Alone 2”: “Little sneaky pervert.”
Interestingly, such an ad LG was posted on TikTok, but quickly removed. However, the Internet remembers everything.
LG G Flex – mutation or madness
The next phone is advertised by two guys sitting in a restaurant.
Back in 2014 LG tried to convince everyone that the G Flex display's curvature is much more natural than none. However, such a demonstration turned out to be a little (a lot) strange when it took the shape of a commercial. As a result, we see a mutated hand with a beard, feeding the mouth on the palm and the normal attitude of the person with whose hand it happened. I don't even know which of them is the crazier.
HTC – rap
HTC has had its fair share of bad commercials and one of them is undoubtedly the one that features a rap called 'Hold The Crown'.
Not only is this video strange in itself, but it is also periodically thrown at the fan. As soon as you get used to what is happening on the screen, a ridiculous sports battle unfolds in front of you between two people dressed in suits iPhone 5S and HTC One M8.
HTC, which is not enough
HTC shows that she is still going on. The famous actor Robert Downey Jr. even took part in one of her videos.
Everything would be fine, but the action takes place in an atmosphere of some kind of confusion, carnival and other lawlessness. But it is bright and there is a star – the budget has been used, but we have something to talk about.
Lenovo P90 and grizzly bear
The next ad can be called almost a miniseries. He has a second part. In both, we are shown an anthropomorphized bear who tries to live the life of an ordinary person and even has a relationship with a girl who for some reason is not a bear.
The idea turned out to be too complicated, but if you watch the videos to the end, something from the secret becomes apparent.
HTC Cellami is psychosis, not advertising
HTC has one more ad that deserves to be included in our selection. She does not really show anything, but emphasizes the psychological disorder of a person who has no taste. Next, let's do it yourself.
While bad advertising is the exception rather than the rule nowadays, and smartphone makers seem to be more aware of acceptable ways to market their product, it's interesting to look back and see how terrible phone advertising was 5-10 years ago, and how many silly tricks they had use to grab the attention of buyers.