CR Blog

Facebook runs first ad as it reaches 1 billion users

Advertising

Posted by Creative Review, 4 October 2012, 14:47    Permalink    Comments (23)

To coincide with reaching its billionth user, Facebook has released its first commercial - or 'brand film' - created by Wieden + Kennedy Portland and directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu

 

 

The spot, called The Things That Connect Us, was written by Erin Swanson and Brad Trost and filmed in Portland, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Buenos Aires. Original music was scored by Austin-based band Explosions In The Sky. This is the first work W+K has done for Facebook since being appointed as the company's agency of record.

To accompany the film, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg released the following written statement:

"Celebrating a billion people is very special to me. It's a moment to honor the people we serve.

For the first time in our history, we've made a brand video to express what our place is on this earth.

We believe that the need to open up and connect is what makes us human. It's what brings us together. It's what brings meaning to our lives. Facebook isn't the first thing people have made to help us connect. We belong to a rich tradition of people making things that bring us together.

Today, we honor this tradition.

We honor the humanity of the people we serve.

We honor the everyday things people have always made to bring us together:

Chairs, doorbells, airplanes, bridges, games. These are all things that connect us.

And now Facebook is a part of this tradition of things that connect us too.

I hope you enjoy this video as much as we do.

Thanks for helping connect a billion people."

 

More soon.

 

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here


CR in Print
In our October print issue we have a major feature on the rise of Riso printing, celebrate the art of signwriting, examine the credentials of 'Goodvertising' and look back at the birth of D&AD. Rebecca Lynch reviews the Book of Books, a survey of 500 years of book design, Jeremy Leslie explains how the daily London 2012 magazine delivered all the news and stories of the Games and Michael Evamy explores website emblemetric.com, offering "data-driven insights into logo design". In addition to the issue this month, subscribers will receive a special 36-page supplement sponsored by Tag celebrating D&AD's 50th with details of all those honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards plus pieces on this year's Black Pencil and President's Award-winners Derek Birdsall and Dan Wieden. And subscribers also receive Monograph which this month features Rian Hughes' photographs of the unique lettering and illustration styles of British fairgrounds

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878 to buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

23 Comments

Boring ad perfectly fits that dull website.
Zed
2012-10-04 15:08:43

Indulgent. How do they afford it? LOL
Tone-S
2012-10-04 15:10:29

Awesome commercial !
vijilal
2012-10-04 15:48:01

Utter bilge.
Twinkly, twankly branding biliousness.
pixelfibre
2012-10-04 15:48:38

[deleted by moderator]

Olly
2012-10-04 15:55:00

Who is the music by, anyone? Sounds like Godspeed You! Black Emperor (Skinny Fists?), but I don't think it quite is. Is it original for the ad, or can anybody place it?
David Somerville
2012-10-04 16:38:11

how boring. fake world, fake people, bullshit narrative with stock images. change it in sport stock images and same bullshit story about sports and you have a boring W+K nike commercial.
john
2012-10-04 16:42:11

Hey David Somerville, I guess you watched the ad but didn't read the copy. A sure way to always get half the picture!
Dave
2012-10-04 17:07:31

http://www.arechairslikefacebook.com

...
Rob
2012-10-05 09:17:26

Everything that needs to be said about the new campaign in one image:

http://imgur.com/ILPQi
Johan
2012-10-05 09:38:53

I like the campaign, though it feels a bit corporate and not perhaps underground as Facebook should try and stay?
Ben
2012-10-05 13:26:53

Pretentious rubbish. Not one person in that advert was looking at their phone or a computer, so none of them were using facebook. Kids climbing trees? Hell No! Because they are inside on their computers. Get over yourself facebook
RetroGirl42
2012-10-05 13:29:07

The chair is a useful tool (stand on it) for spying on ex-wives and school friends. As is Facebook. So for me this analogy is right on the money.
Mick
2012-10-05 14:07:35

Sigh,

While this commercial isn't the second coming, judging by the criticisms, it's another case of jealous critics trying (in vein) to bring the world's best agency down a peg.

Sigh.
Reality Check
2012-10-05 17:10:50

We decided facebook was more like a bed than a chair http://youtu.be/5i32fJ7-4-4
chris
2012-10-06 03:07:48

No, 'Reality Check', its not. It really is just a terribly bad advert with hackneyed imagery, an undercooked script that sounds like the unedited notes from their initial brainstorm for a theme, all chucked together over one of those oh-so-inspirational soundtracks. Oh, and its 'in vain', not 'in vein'.
Ed
2012-10-06 10:26:38

The sort of cheese you'd expect from Facebook really, as false as the life we all pretend to lead on it.

Another video response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiKSNtdwhCI
El
2012-10-08 12:06:44

Chairs? Planes? Basketball? All I see on my Facebook feed is crap that people have decided to share:
"Click like if you h8 animal croolty lulz"
"This girl has cancer, she needs you to click like"
James
2012-10-09 11:45:58

I like the concept, things we all use, can share but it is terribly overworked.

Let's not forget this is an advert...that is probably why they are not selling the fact that lots of stuff on FB is crap, and probably why McDonald's and Coca-cola don't show obese people in there ads.

Chris - I did enjoy the parody though!
Ben Champion Stevenson
2012-10-10 12:02:17

and this is real life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJbgt-1FiYs
john
2012-10-14 20:57:10

Frankly a doorbell is the ultimate facebook metaphor - annoying, noisy interruptions often by attention seeking others, most of whom are not friends in the true sense. What self gratifying schlock.
La
2012-10-15 11:00:06

Interesting analogy, 'Chairs are like Facebook'...?

Yup, they have lots of arses on them.
Curator
2012-10-15 14:22:27

Mind blowing revelation. People sit in chairs. How do Weieden keep coming up with these razor sharp insights?

BTW W&K all the analogies you've used in this corporate hand-job involve face-to-face, personal contact where as FB is just a series of sorry brain sneezes into a vacuum pleading for a response.
Johnny
2013-01-02 14:07:56

Tell us what you think

What happens with my feedback?

What happens with my feedback?

We no longer require you to register and have a password in order to comment, simply fill in the form below. All comments are moderated so you may experience a short delay before your comment appears. CR encourages comments to be short and to the point. As a general rule, they should not run longer than the original post. Comments should show a courteous regard for the presence of other voices in the discussion. We reserve the right to edit or delete comments that do not adhere to this standard.

Get the RSS Feed
Related subjects and keywords

Subject:

Advertising

Keywords:

Awards, Wieden + Kennedy, Jeremy Leslie, Music, , London 2012

More like this

Articles:

AWARDS.WIEDEN+%2B+KENNEDY.JEREMY+LESLIE.MUSIC..LONDON+2012

55168

The CR iPad app
The Creative Review iPad app The Creative Review iPad app is here, with exclusive content and updates throughout each month for your viewing and reading pleasure...
NULL