Raising couch potatoes is a guarantee of future business growth.
I know this commercial originally aired during this year’s Super Bowl, but I keep thinking about it. And isn’t that the sign of a truly successful campaign? It just keeps coming back to your mind. The spot did get a lot of notice at the time, so I decided to wait for a few months before talking about it, just so my comments didn’t get lost in the sea of articles about it.
I think now is the right time to bring it back to your mind.
Since Pluto TV is all about serving-up programs and movies that hold our attention, that keep us in front of the TV and hardly moving, I really think this commercial took a brilliant approach to the concept of “couch potatoes”. By simply asking the question “where do couch potatoes come from?”, a concept came out that is engaging, well executed and really amusing.
This commercial is everything we love about great advertising. Take a well known phrase, in this case one that is not new, interpret it in a way that gives it new life, puts a fresh spin on it and makes us connect with that old phrase all over again. There have been other iterations of the couch potato concept but this one has the script and production to take it to a level that outshines any of the past attempts.
The commercial begins like an all-American story of the family farm. Striving to produce the best crops possible with the greatest, most abundant harvest. Then the reveal of the potato fields lined with couches and flat screen monitors is the surprise twist that makes you miss the rest of the VO because you’re laughing and studying the visuals. These rows of happy human-faced potatoes with their own bowls of snacks, like pretzels and popcorn, make couch potatoes friendly and fun, not bored and lonely as we might think they should be. It’s truly an amazing production as the fields seem to go on for acres and acres.
Like I said, I could watch this Pluto TV commercial again and again and still find myself laughing on the inside while finally trying to seriously watch the rest of the action and listen to the VO pitch. I give this commercial two thumbs-up.
I hope you have a similar reaction when you see advertising at its best!