GE claims to look at the world askew, turning it on its head in search of new perspectives that hopefully lead to new solutions. So, its latest commercial from BBDO, titled "Time Upon a Once," does the same.
Much of the spot—from the visuals to the narration—is upside down, backwards and generally topsy-turvy. This approach embodies the ad's claim that GE operates very much that way—innovating through creative thinking. And it makes for a pretty delightful and very rewatchable ad.
"Time upon a once, people approached problems the way same—always start at the starting, and questions the same asking," says our protagonist as he float-walks through a surreal version of GE's offices—and wisely leaving us a few seconds between lines to process what we've heard.
"But that only resulted in improvements small. So we step a took back, and problems turned these inside up down to approach them newly. And that's when we it solved."
It's a pleasantly offbeat journey, and must have been fun to write. And it's getting an inspired media placement, too. It will run break this weekend in cinemas ahead of showings of Tomorrowland—a movie that's also about imagination and surprise—continuing through the end of June. It will also run on TV and online from now until next year.
It's nice to see an inventive spot light this—which doesn't hold the viewer's hand—get green-lighted. But you will notice the sentences about GE solutions (from about 0:33 to 0:47) are the only ones that aren't garbled. Apparently that was the compromise.
CREDITS
Client: GE
Spot: "Time Upon a Once"
Agency: BBDO New York
Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Michael Aimette
Creative Director/Copywriter: Tim Roan
Creative Director/Copywriter: Levi Slavin
Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe
Group Executive Producer: Diane Hill
Executive Producer: George Sholley
Head of Music Production: Rani Vaz
Worldwide Senior Director: Brandon Fowler
Senior Director: Peter McCallum
Account Director: Lindsey Conklin
Assistant Account Executive: Joslyn Dunn
Group Planning Director: Tom Naughton
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Andreas Nilsson
Executive Producer: Shawn Lacy
Executive Producer: Colleen O'Donnell
Executive Producer: Holly Vega
Line Producer: Vincent Landay
Editorial: Rock Paper Scissors
Executive Producer: Eve Kornblum
Post Producer: Jen Milano
Editor: Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
Visual Effects: A52
Executive Producer: Patrick Nugent
Producer: Heather Johann
VFX Supervisor: Andy Rafael Barrios
Mix House: Heard City
Executive Producer: Gloria Pitagorsky
Producer: Sasha Awn
Sound Design/Mixer: Mike Vitacco
Mixer: Keith Reynaud
Music: The Ski Team
Composers: The Ski Team
Animation: Renegade Animation
