Despite watching a lot of Olympics coverage, no I haven’t picked up Russian or another Eastern European language yet. Translation: is going backwards a new ad trend?
I have been noticing a surprising trend towards using backwards video play. Take for instance these examples:
TD Ameritrade ad featuring Olympic speed skater J.R. Celski (Goodby Silverstein & Partners – interestingly TD Ameritrade started a search for a new agency in January prior to the Games)
Toyota ad (Saatchi & Saatchi)
I have to admit, after watching guys ski down a hill at 80 mph or skate in circles from the confines of my couch, an ad in reverse video is a bit nauseating (especially the ones featuring the Olympic athletes).
It’s notable that reverse video is part of the ad creative for a company focused on your financial future like TD Ameritrade and a car company with the slogan “Let’s Go Places”. Conceptually sure it takes a lot of work or activity in your past to get where you are today, and the ads have people like me talking, but what do you think of this trend?
Maybe they’ve all been thinking backwards since listening to Seth Godin’s thinking backwards talk.