Clever Creative: Fixing Faults

Posted Wednesday August 24^th, 2016 by Caitlin Artigliere in Creativity + Art.

Still using duct tape to fix your broken items? After today’s Clever Creative, you’ll be thinking, “Why did I ever think that would work?” In a five-minute ad produced for FiberFix, we not only learn about how this tape that’s “strong as steel” can fix your pipes and broken lawn tools, but also that it can fix your marriage and save you enough money to invest in a diversified stock portfolio. This whacky infomercial created by the Harmon Brothers has no limits.

We’ve all experienced the “joy” of sitting through an infomercial while watching our favorite shows on TV. However, this one is hilarious, outlandish and convincing enough to make you wonder where you can buy FiberFix. The creative minds behind the ad left out all the cheesy acting, the speed-talking voice-overs and 1-800 numbers, and replaced them with action, comedy and a puppy (sounds like every great movie we’ve ever seen). Just when you think this fast-talking “redneck” has nothing more to say about the product, he springs yet another hilarious simile on you. This ad is fun and enjoyable to watch, but all joking aside, it harbors the all-important message of why you should buy FiberFix. The infomercial shows you that FiberFix not only fixes your broken things, it’s also fixing your faults.

Why our GEMites liked this clever creative:

This ad captures your attention in the very first second. If a man jumping a car with a roll cage, held together only by duct tape, off a 140-foot vertical drop doesn’t pique your interest, then we don’t know what could. We love that the creatives behind the ad are not only using the action to grab the audience's attention, but to also show how unstable and unreliable of a product duct tape is. Right off the bat they are showing people that their main competitors in the industrial adhesive tape industry have nothing remotely comparable to their product. Besides this ingenious way of setting yourself apart from the competition, we love the idea of what the process must have been like to create this ad. We appreciate all aspects of the ad creation process, and would have loved to be in the brainstorming session for this infomercial. Just think about it for a second; someone in that group of people probably just said, “Hey, what if we jump two identical cars with roll cages off a cliff, except one is held together by duct tape and the other by FiberFix?” Now as crazy as it must’ve seemed coming out of that person’s mouth, what’s even crazier is that people agreed that it’d be a good idea and made it happen! Finally we love that, for its length, the ad keeps the audience's attention, which is a struggle for all advertisers and usually why they go short. We love that this ad is full of silly concepts, hilarious similes and endless amounts of jokes.

Why our fellow creatives should like this:

Of course, there are a handful of people in this world that actually get enjoyment out of watching infomercials. We all know they aren’t the most exciting type of ad to work on, but they need ads just like most products. What the Harmon Brothers managed to do was what most creatives struggle with when it comes to infomercials, which was make them entertaining. We believe one reason our fellow creatives should like this ad is because they successfully made an infomercial funny and engaging. We also think you should like this ad because they were also able to deliver an eye-opening message, amongst the jokes, that challenges you to think about your past purchases. The infomercial clearly shows consumers that duct tape doesn’t always work, which will make them think, “Why do I buy this stuff if it doesn’t even work?” We all know that every man’s, and woman’s, best tool is duct tape, but this ad causes you to question why? FiberFix makes people rethink their purchasing patterns and whether or not duct tape should be the staple adhesive item they buy. The final reason we think our fellow creatives should love this ad is because they personify the product. The company describes FiberFix as a manly tool that can help you win back your wife from your sexy plumber. They give it personality, and although a lot of companies have done this successfully, we just love how FiberFix went about it. This ad shows how this product not only fixes the faults of your broken items, but also the faults of your past purchases, which is just one reason why we love this ad, and why our fellow creatives should.

Let us know what you think, and look out for next week’s installment of Clever Creatives!

If you’re looking for some clever creative of your own, feel free to contact us.

Clever Creative: Fixing Faults

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