Over the past 6 months or so, I have been noticing an increasing trend in advertising for both print and television ads. A growing number of companies are joining this trend, and after this blog post, I hope that you will be more aware of it, and recognize it as you go about your life. The trend is minimalist and kinetic typography.
Pepsi
The first example I noticed was from Pepsi. They launched their “Refresh Everything” campaign that was the first major advertising campaign with their newly redesigned logo. They used the 2009 Presidential Inauguration as a vehicle to get their message out there. They launched their campaign and put it EVERYWHERE replacing all ‘O’s with the new Pepsi logo.
[nggallery id=2]
They also launched a television spot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDix0VvrV1g
South Park
Mocking Pepsi, South Park Studios used this same ad format and produced a parody ad, which was played on Comedy Central last Winter.
Ford Motor Company
The trend has now filtered into the automotive industry with Ford Motor Company using it for their F-150 commercials. There have been several so far, and it seems that they are sticking to the style.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqoHrzuut70
****UPDATE****
I recently picked up on another Ford commercial that uses this type of style, the Ford Taurus SHO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xJqzoNVxc8
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company has recently started to use this as well in their national commercials that explain their nightly schedules. These have not yet made it onto the internet yet.
Charlie Moore: The Mad Fisherman
Even local area stations have started employing the trend on ads. Mad Fish is a show on NESN, New England Sports Network, featuring Charlie Moore. Recently they have launched an ad featuring the same kinetic typography style as the Ford commercials. I also could not find any clips of this online.
Zombieland
Another example I noticed was in the film Zombieland. Throughout the film, viewers are reminded of the basic rules of survival in Zombieland by typography creatively placed and animated within the scene.
These are just a few I have noticed. I am sure there are many more. Don’t be scared, share yours, and share your thoughts!
****UPDATE****
In a comment below, past member Ryan Paul pointed out another great example.
Starbucks
Starbucks joined Pepsi encouraging people to vote by offering them a free cup of coffee if they voted in the 2008 election.
[youtubehq a2J8KJDsqqY Starbucks Get Out And Vote Campaign]
They also used this advertising style to raise awareness for their Red fundraising efforts to help fight AIDS.
[youtubehq kkC5qYH0ln0 Starbucks Red Campaign]
Inspiring!
I remember being in gradeschool and going through that Blink-182 phase.. you know the one, and I stumbled across this really amazing kinetic typography video and even though I’m no longer a fan of the music, the video gives me goosebumps. Really inspired me to jump into after effects.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0LIvrxf-R0
However I quickly got frustrated with camera angles and markers and I don’t even know what else.
You can tell that as the movie progresses the techniques get more and more advanced. It’s a sweet learning process.
Good point! Hopefully the trend continues?
Starbucks was doing the same thing for a while, and even their new stuff uses a little of it too. Remember these from last year?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkC5qYH0ln0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2J8KJDsqqY
South Park is a series that much about it because the topics are considered taboo and often turned to derision, but also why we love him so much ^ ^
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I think Zombieland is one of the more recent examples as well as the intro to the show “Fringe”. I love how inventive they were using kinetic typography in Zombieland I think it is something that will get people more interested in what we lowly graphic designers do for a living and how much a role typography plays in our career.