When heroes come to Life
Advertiser: ING
Ad Title: Our Heroes are Back
Agency: JWT
4Ps B&M Take: The global agency JWT may have got into a bit of trouble in India with those naughty Ford Figo ads (this Indian ad, incidentally, had an international star cast!), but seems to be going places in global markets. The work we are talking about is for the insurance and financial services behemoth ING to mark its sponsorship of the reopening of the historic Rijksmuseum, host to Rembrandt’s ‘The Night Watch’ – arguably the world’s most popular painting. JWT Amsterdam brought to life the museum’s most famous work, in a 17th-century style reenactment in the first week of April. Fantastic and painstaking work by the JWT team to dress thirty gentlemen as members of ‘The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq’ was visible when the 30 men in fancy dress chased a robber at an unsuspecting shopping center in the Dutch province of Brabant in the first week of April. Captured on camera by the JWT team, the ambient ad marked the opening of the Rijksmuseum to the public once again on April 13, 2013 after undergoing almost a decade of renovation. Since the financial meltdown of 2008 and the subsequent double dip recession, banking and financial services companies have seen their reputation and credibility torn to shreds amongst investors and citizens. And yet, this JWT event did a more than good job of effectively communicating to investors that ING does take care of your financial security with the campaign’s slogan ‘Our Heroes are Back’. The entire event not only smacked of a perfectionist’s attention to detail (compare the striking similarity between original characters in the painting and the ones in the flash mob), but since it played out live in a mall… real and potential museum patrons saw the drama unfold right before their eyes. Despite his best efforts, including disturbing a hen that makes a sudden appearance in the shopping mall, the thief is eventually caught and taken away. The flash mob eventually assembles in one place cheering with an ING banner and message in Dutch (the ad was released in Netherlands). A very good job of painting a tainted industry in a positive light! Not wanting to miss the action on social media, JWT Amsterdam has ensured that the YouTube video of the flashmob in action has already gone viral. It has garnered millions of hits already. What’s more, Huffington Post and The Telegraph have even gone on to describe it as the “the most cultured flash mob ever.” So what if our dear Rembrandt must be turning in his grave at the thought of his poetry on canvas suddenly coming to life in the 21st century… chasing a humble robber and catching him too.
