All outrage, no action: A Russian ad that perfectly depicts #socialmedia

We see a man drowning. Of course, we'll do everything within our power to discuss the sorry state of lifeguard operations, what a drowning man should and should not do, blame the government, share stats, debate and argue amongst ourselves and stop only when interrupted by a contextual advertiser trying to sell us a rubber duck-shaped floating device. Where's the drowning man, you ask? Well, at the bottom of the lake, silly.
That's pretty much the state of affairs in the social media world. All outrage, no action. But there's an alternate ending, one facilitated by Mainpeople, a Russian app that makes charity seamless and suited to social media activism. That's how the ad goes, we ask two ad film makers what they made of this 135-second metaphorical film
Idea

Nilima Eriyat: Brilliant idea. Very relevant to today's times and much needed too.

Pushkaraj Shirke: I love the Idea. It's apt. It connects. And it makes you think.

Creative execution

NE: The realistic premise which symbolises the social media environment is a neat creative metaphor. The dig at keyboard activism, vanity of selfie culture etc are brought out very interestingly. It makes one sit back and think about this wall that one has created around oneself which forbids individuals from being in touch with people in a real space.

PS: The creative execution, as a film, is flawless. You can relate to every character in the film in a way that it represents characters from your personal social media universe. It's perfect black humour. Shot cinematically with perfectly suggestive camera movement, very cinematic color grading, subtle dramatic undertoned music with flawless shifts in mood, great casting of characters and most importantly, it conveys its message so clearly that it can be understood even if you don't understand the language or watch it on mute.

Brand connect and brand recall

NE: The brand connect is reasonably good. It would've been nice if we could've seen subtitles or understood the language to get the gist of the spoken content. Maybe one could get better connect to the brand that way. As far as the brand recall is concerned, it is very effective I must say. Even if one remembers the ad as a spoof on FB and Twitter, it connects with the brand well.

PS: The only problem with this ad-film is pretty much the standard problem with most ads — I love the ad, love the story it tells, the story is pertinent to the brand, but I can't remember the brand even 10 seconds after watching the film. So the brand connect, though 100 per cent, is not transferred to the viewer in terms of brand recall. Maybe a convincing call to action would have solved that issue instead of a message that just lingers to suggests the brand.

Effectiveness of the commercial

NE: As mentioned earlier, I find the metaphor very catchy and hence makes one introspect and as long as it makes one think I feel it is effective as a trigger.

PS: The film is Cannes material, surely, but won't cut it at the Effies. This version of the ad is perfect for the director's cut, but what should be aired is a version with a more prominent end. I don't mean to be a preacher of advertising, but at least that's what I would do.

If you had to, how would you do it differently?

NE: If I had to think of an idea of execution I need to understand the brief and the product perfectly. Without understanding the film's language (in this case Russian!) I don't think it will be just for one to suggest an alternative treatment idea.

PS: I would keep the gorgeous film as is, but maybe blending in a convincing call to action would solve the issue instead of a message that just lingers in to hint at the brand. The end frames of the ad literally blended rest of it so smoothly that it makes it less of an ad and more of a film, unfortunately. It's the perfect advertising filmmaking Catch 22 situation. And sometimes, you have to find that fine balance between advertising and great filmmaking to make a great ad film. P.s: I've been trying, as I write this, but I still can't recollect the brand.