Ad Eaters ⋅ EV #016

It was an intense week in EV. Heavy on words and strategy, with nothing to fuel your aesthetic senses. So let me entertain you today. As promised, on Fridays we go to a “museum” or…

Today, I’m taking you to the “cinema”.

Imagine we are walking to a cinema. Let’s head somewhere fancy, like Zoo Palast in Berlin — the home of Berlinale ceremonies.

As we walk, I’m asking you:
“Hey, do you like video ads?”
What do you reply?

Everyone finds ads annoying. For known reasons.

Now, can you imagine that thousands of people line up for blocks at the cinema doors to watch video commercials all night long? And the tickets are crazy expensive.

It's real. It's called the Night of Ad Eaters. Always on tour, this event has been gathering lovers of quality commercials for 44 years.

When I worked in-house, I hosted a couple of ad-eater-style after-hours for my teams with 15-20 commercials per evening.

That’s where I’m "taking" you today: we will watch a few mini-movies. Of course, not 15. Just 5.

Let’s start the show:

1. WoMens Football “A very powerful take on a much-ignored topic”. (VFX stands for visual effects, or imagery manipulation in video.)
2. If you, like me, think that “spreadsheets kill innovation”, watch Spreadbeats by Spotify: You’ll never look at spreadsheets in the same way again.
3. This one by German Railroads is for your next Zoom or Discord call.
   It also reminds us that there are edge cases in UI design.
4. Since we mentioned Germany, the next topic is paperwork, law and families. In a simple story told well.
5. And the last one is my long-time favourite. It sells a commercial product, and doesn't promote a good cause like the video above. I’m sharing it with you because of its arthouse-y aesthetics.

I hope you enjoyed my selection today.

See you next week,
Ira