A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. Commercials are also used in political campaigns. Advertisements of this type have promoted a wide variety of goods, services, and ideas ever since the early days of the history of television. Television viewership has increased steadily over time and commercials are now common on just about all radio and television stations. Statistics have shown that ads effectively influence consumers to purchase goods and services. Because of this, business leaders in all industries include advertising expenses in their company budgets because they know ads are necessary for the company to become and remain profitable.
Commercials like the ones included in these lessons are usually created, developed, and designed by business executives and employees who are educated and trained in marketing, retail sales, and business management. However, some also work for advertising agencies and even as freelance graphic arts designers. A basic knowledge of the elements of art and animation along with a sense of humor, an awareness of contemporary trends, and the right kind of software can make it possible for an aspiring animator to try their hand at commercials.
As you view and read about the commercials in this post, remember to take note of what I am calling some of the common elements of motion graphics animation. These are image and text graphics, videos, audio as music, voice-over narrations, and animated characters.
Arm & Hammer Slide Clumping Cat Litter
Arm & Hammer is a brand of baking soda-based products marketed by Church & Dwight, a major American manufacturer of household products. Originally associated mostly with baking soda, the company began to expand the brand to other products in the 1970s by using baking soda as a deodorizing ingredient. The new products included toothpaste, laundry detergent, underarm deodorant, and cat litter. This commercial promotes the use of the brand’s Slide Clumping Cat Litter with partially animated characters as actors. It begins with a video in which we see a dancing cat sliding gracefully across a dance floor while interested women and other club goers look on. Viewers then see a comparison of two different kinds of cat litter as they are emptied out of containers. The Slide Clumping Cat Litter easily empties out of the container on the left while residue from another brand of cat litter does not fully or easily empty out of its container shown on the right. The commercial comes to an end as we see the smooth dancer on the dance floor now holding a box of the Cat Litter for viewers to see. In the last frame, there is a dramatic transitional zoom to the center of the screen where we see the logo for the brand and a slogan on a solid yellow background. The animated characters appear to be the bodies of actual people with CGI animated cat-animal heads. The mixture of real and CGI animation would make this a live-action/animated hybrid commercial. It is a short ad that is only 15 seconds long and includes audio as music, videos, text graphics, and dialogue between characters.
Bounty Paper Towels
Bounty is an American brand of paper towel that is manufactured by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in the United States. The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered and incorporated in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. P&G specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer health, personal care and hygiene products.
This Bounty paper towels commercial is made up of mostly videos. We can hear the audio as music and then we see the dramatic spill as the drink is accidentally knocked over in a slow-motion video. The movement of the man on the tablet placed on the counter as the spill inches towards it also appears to be an example of the creative use of videos. After the comparison videos of Bounty with a competitor’s paper towl, what appears to be a png photo of a roll of Bounty paper towels “flies in” from above to settle on the countertop. The last frame is where we find most of the motion graphics animation in this ad. The roll of Bounty paper towels seems to soak up a green spill that becomes the artwork and the logo on the front of the product. Then, the slogan for the product “flies in” in two parts and the Bounty logo dramatically pulses towards the viewer. Neat, huh?
Mr. Clean Multi-Purpose Cleaner
This live-action/animated hybrid commercial isn’t an ad for a particular product so much as it promotes the sale of any cleaning item that has the name Mr. Clean attached to it. Mr. Clean is a brand name and mascot owned by The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G). According to P&G, the original model for the image of Mr. Clean was a United States Navy sailor from Pensacola, Florida, although some people may think he is a genie based on his earring, folded arms, and tendency to appear magically at the appropriate time. In this very sexually suggestive ad, a muscular, physically fit Mr. Clean is shown as a CGI-animated character who is helping a woman to clean in different areas of her house. Although his behavior is arguably appropriate but possibly (to some) inappropriately done, the spot is mostly made up of videos. There is audio as music, and an image of the product logo and text of the slogan appears in the last frame. By the way, in the research I conducted about this commercial, I found out that it was made as a Super Bowl ad and the portion of a song that you hear was made specifically for the commercial and is not available to purchase or download online. Too bad.
Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaner
This is another live-action/animated hybrid commercial. In this one, the CGI-animated Scrubbing Bubble is the main character and the narrator. Scrubbing Bubbles is the brand name of a bathroom cleaner produced by S. C. Johnson & Son. S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, privately held manufacturer of household cleaning supplies and other consumer chemicals based in Racine, Wisconsin. The toilet cleaning product is named for its mascots, who are smiling anthropomorphic soap bubbles with brush bristles on their undersides that create a mass of suds. With music in the background, there are videos in which the Scrubbing Bubbles are also shown removing dirt and stains. In the last frame, we see the company logo on a bright green background, one of the Scrubbing Bubbles, and we hear a voice-over narration of the name of the company.
Snuggle Fabric Softener
This commercial begins with a dramatic zoom-in to a bottle of Snuggle Fabric Softener on which an animated Snuggle Bear introduces himself to the viewers. That first frame appears to be a CGI-drawn background and Snuggle Bear character. However, at the very last second just before he begins to talk, the Snuggle Bear seems to change from a picture to a CGI-animated character. Next, there is a video in which we see the bear fall onto a pile of folded towels. Then, the animated Snuggle Bear is wrapped in a “cuddly” blanket, and then, he is seen holding up fresh clothing. In those two frames, it could have been a puppet bear as we see his mouth moving while he talks about the fabric softener! Next, there are image graphics of bubbles of freshness, or “scent droplets” as he calls them, in which you can see little images of the Snuggle Bear coming from the fabric items along with an image graphic of a small, circular timer to visually show that the freshness is released over a period of 14 days. Wow! That seems like a lot of work for a 30-second fabric softener ad! Now we see what looks more like a puppet bear than before as he encourages viewers to use this product. In the last frame, we hear the music louder than we did before and we see the image and text graphics while the animated Snuggle Bear invites us to “snuggle.”
Snuggle is a brand of fabric softener sold by Henkel North American Consumer Goods in the United States and Canada. The Snuggle Bear is in fact a teddy bear puppet that was created by Kermit Love for the product in 1986.