Fantastic Scrabble commercials

The music, design, and wildness of this commercial for Scrabble are all first rate. So much fun! More here. (via Drawn!)

[#1 posted by hohum, April 24, 2009 9:22 AM]

I love it... but how does that say 'Scrabble?' I see no connection between the product and the animation really... Which I expect with the ads for some products, but not so much with a board game.

Whatever, it's a spectacular animation anyway..!

[#2 posted by nanner, April 24, 2009 9:27 AM]

yeah, i agree. i would never remember what the ad was for but it was super cool lol

[#3 posted by jimh, April 24, 2009 9:28 AM]

The connection is the random words that are generated by a game of scrabble and how they might interact. And I love it too!

It's obvs for a European market, however. I doubt they could get away with the bare breasts, even the cartoon version.

[#4 posted by Anonymous, April 24, 2009 9:29 AM]

Anybody know who the animators were? I'd love to know.

[#5 posted by Anonymous, April 24, 2009 9:47 AM]

I immediately understood the connection between the game and the animation, but only because i was told it was a scrabble ad first. It was totally rockin though.

[#6 posted by Manooshi, April 24, 2009 10:11 AM]

Cute animation. Hum... reminds me that I need to get back my Scrabble game.

[#7 posted by joelfreeman, April 24, 2009 10:12 AM]

Awesome. Freeze at 0:55 in high quality and you can see all the words and how they link to both the animation and the custom (?) soundtrack that incidentally rocks in its own right. nice find!

[#8 posted by Zac, April 24, 2009 10:12 AM]

I loved it, but I wish the words in the song were just a little more intelligible. Scrabble is a game about the words after all.

Also, if you wanted to tie in the product better, I would start it out with someone spelling the first word on a scrabble board, and zooming in to the nuttiness. That would be a really effective and cool commercial I think.

Oh, and LOL AWESUM!!!!!!!!111one1

[#9 posted by Teller, April 24, 2009 10:14 AM]

JIMH: Exactly.
A lovely approach to Scrabble advertising. Really fresh idea.

[#10 posted by yerbamatte, April 24, 2009 10:27 AM]

Wow! Great song! I want it! Anybody have any idea who sings it?

[#11 posted by Razzle Bathbone, April 24, 2009 10:40 AM]

Fun commercial, but Upwords is a better game.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1515

[#12 posted by ill lich, April 24, 2009 10:50 AM]

Somewhere between Gary Panter and early Disney (Steamboat Willie-era).

[#13 posted by Anonymous, April 24, 2009 10:50 AM]

It had boobies in it. Boobies make baby jesus cry.

[#14 posted by Jake Bullet, April 24, 2009 10:52 AM]

Much better than the Argentinian bank commercial! :)

[#15 posted by GregLondon, April 24, 2009 10:53 AM]

I... what just happened?

Cool song. Surreal commercial. I'm freaking out here a bit.

[#16 posted by Anonymous, April 24, 2009 10:54 AM]

Am I the only one who thinks this looks like Gary Baseman's work? He's done other board games before - I wonder if he had anything to do with this?

[#17 posted by Mark Frauenfelder, April 24, 2009 11:03 AM]

I would like to know the name of the band, too. I will immediately by their music.

[#18 posted by Johnny Cat, April 24, 2009 11:09 AM]

So cool, and reminds me of a fun way to extend your gameplay. During the game, write down a list of the words used. Afterwards, each player writes a short story using those words throughout. Geeky fun!

[#19 posted by joelfreeman, April 24, 2009 11:33 AM]

Found credits here:
http://motionographer.com/2009/04/24/scrabble-the-beautiful-word/

Ad agency: Ogilvy&Mather, Paris, France

Animated by: Wizz http://www.wizz.fr/

[#20 posted by rogerg, April 24, 2009 11:39 AM]

working way to hard to be cool. looks like decades old Walt Disney animation. music is derivative, too.

[#21 posted by Anonymous, April 24, 2009 11:50 AM]

Reminds me of Slug Signorino's illustrations.

[#22 posted by GregLondon, April 24, 2009 11:51 AM]

Kind of reminds me of non-instrumental version of Hands Upon Black Earth". Slightly. Just a little bit.

[#23 posted by Anonymous, April 24, 2009 12:29 PM]

Why can't our tv be this cool?

[#24 posted by Ratdog, April 24, 2009 12:29 PM]

That was amazing. I wish more commercials were like this. Everything about it is amazing.

[#25 posted by Anonymous, April 24, 2009 12:47 PM]

It's got a freakin' Golliwog in ... since when is Scrabble racist?

[#26 posted by druranium, April 24, 2009 12:48 PM]

it reminds me of superjail a little, with less implosion of violence on the end and a scrabble box instead

[#27 posted by wrybread, April 24, 2009 1:03 PM]

Holy crap that's a great song. There's a couple more vids from these guys on this page:

http://motionographer.com/2009/04/24/scrabble-the-beautiful-word/

The 3rd one is pretty good too.

[#28 posted by daverowley, April 24, 2009 1:23 PM]

The connection between the animation and the brand *are* a little subtle, until the end of course. My first reaction was "wow--those guys at Scrabble sure do smoke a lot of dope!" So I guess there is some brand awareness generated as a result. I'm guessing this is an internet-only campaign.

[#29 posted by Dewi Morgan, April 24, 2009 1:54 PM]

I remember busting into my dad-and-his-girlfriend's bedroom one day, and finding them naked in bed together.

That was fine.

What blew my tiny little childmind was that they were playing scrabble.

[#30 posted by Mark Frauenfelder, April 24, 2009 2:05 PM]

rogerg@20: It looks almost *nothing* like old Disney animation. If anything, it's closer to Fleischer.

Do you care to support your claim that the "music is derivative?"

[#31 posted by bwana dork, April 24, 2009 2:32 PM]

The song sounds like old Ween.
Which reminds me: I miss old Ween.

[#32 posted by MarkM, April 24, 2009 3:40 PM]

Jesus CHRIST.
This isn't a commercial: its a work of art.
No way it could have been produced
or shown (omg-- breastses! hide the kids!) on US tv.

[#33 posted by Anonymous, April 24, 2009 4:08 PM]

One obvious antecedent: Tom Tom Club, Wordy Rappinghood.

[#34 posted by Anonymous, April 24, 2009 5:42 PM]

is that the brothers Ween singing?

[#35 posted by sciencebzzt, April 24, 2009 5:45 PM]

That has to be gener singing. I sense a great disturbance in the boognish. The brothers Ween were involved here.

[#36 posted by Anonymous, April 24, 2009 6:31 PM]

It's a scam ad, produced with the intention of winning awards. Scrabble seems to be a popular client for this purpose. It probably screened once at 4am on a tuesday morning in order to qualify for competition.

Pretty fun though.

[#37 posted by latent_ravening_ferocity, April 24, 2009 7:08 PM]

"It's got a freakin' Golliwog in ... since when is Scrabble racist?"

Uh, yeah, the official Scrabble dictionary allowed a number of racist terms until at least 1993:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v23/n20/jone01_.html

And, apparently, Nintendo DS Scrabble didn't get the memo:

http://fragglet.livejournal.com/12800.html

[#38 posted by Jason Olshefsky, April 24, 2009 9:53 PM]

I don't know if I want to play Scrabble or have sex with it.

[#39 posted by shecky, April 24, 2009 11:30 PM]

I wish Scrabble were as cool as it's commercial.

[#40 posted by Takuan, April 24, 2009 11:42 PM]

Scrabble is as cool as your company. I recommend sultry young maidens, apple breasted on the shimmering sands and bearing salvers of coconut liquor as the warm ripples lap your toes... either that or Saturday winter nights at the CYO with a mickey of vodka and eager supplicants.

[#41 posted by Takuan, April 24, 2009 11:43 PM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERfW_TWoEkU&feature=related

[#42 posted by Browncoat, April 25, 2009 5:26 AM]

somehow the music really reminded me of Izabo... (http://www.myspace.com/izaboband)

[#43 posted by ridl, April 25, 2009 11:13 PM]

There... may be hope for the future yet...

And I miss old ween too.

[#44 posted by seth matthew, April 26, 2009 6:35 AM]

I enjoy the music and animation, but the connection to the brand is too indirect. I'm sorry, but board games trade largely on familiarity. There are ways to appeal to the generation's interest in Scrabble without a complete psychotic break.

[#45 posted by Sam, April 26, 2009 10:45 AM]

I think the commercials are great and see the connection - it's a bunch of random things growing out of each other, just like the game. Awesome.

Did anyone figure out the song to the Yoga one yet?

[#46 posted by Sam, April 26, 2009 11:01 AM]

I sent a note to the ad agency who did the ads to find out where the song is from.

The song on the Hulu ad was commissioned just for the ad and is by a band called C4. It's possible the Yoga song is an original too.

Anyway, I'll post here when and if they write back, if nobody else figures it out first.

[#47 posted by sciencebzzt, April 27, 2009 11:54 AM]

If someone gave me 100 dollars, I'd bet 90 of it that the music is by Ween. They've done commercials in the past, like the "Where'd the Cheese Go?" song for the Pizza Hut commercial that never was used. It sounds exactly like them, and it's right up their alley, something they'd do. My money is on Ween.

Post it when you find out, Sam.

[#48 posted by djmonstermo, April 27, 2009 4:47 PM]

Didier "C4" Tovel site

His entry regarding Hula Dancer

teh MP3!!!11

If you can find the other tunes, please post the info here.

[#49 posted by Anonymous, May 7, 2009 10:24 PM]

Still haven't heard back from the agency, which means I probably won't. Too bad, I'm sitting here still thinking about it almost two weeks later. :(

[#50 posted by Sam, May 7, 2009 10:36 PM]

Someone on youtube claims that this song is called "king for a day" and is by a band called "yogaman."

This information is next to useless because there is no information about them online.