Most product videos are forgotten by the time the next one starts. A few are still talked about ten or twenty years later. Put those side by side and a pattern shows up fast: none of them read out a feature list. Each one showed one thing, in a way you couldn't forget.
The pictures in this article are our own AI illustrations of each idea, not stills from the original ads.
Honda "Cog" (2003): the product, taken apart
Wieden+Kennedy built a chain reaction out of parts from a Honda Accord. Gears, valves and wipers roll, tip and knock into each other, and at the end the finished car rolls away. There's no claim about engineering anywhere in it. The film is the claim.
Take from it: if your story is precision, show the parts doing something precise.
Sony Bravia "Balls" (2005): one image for one feeling
For the Bravia TV, Fallon sent about 250,000 coloured bouncy balls down a hilly street in San Francisco. The ad is about colour, and it never shows a spec.
Take from it: find the single image that feels like your main benefit, then commit to it completely.
Dyson and the 5,127 prototypes: failure as the story
James Dyson made 5,127 prototypes before his vacuum worked, and the company tells that story openly. The failures prove the obsession better than any claim about suction could.
Take from it: the shelf of dead prototypes in your office might be your best material.
IKEA "BookBook" (2014): the joke is the format
BBH Singapore launched IKEA's paper catalogue in the style of a big tech product launch, presenting a printed book as if it were a new device. It works because everyone watching already knows the format being borrowed.
Take from it: a format your audience already knows gives you half the film for free.
Red Bull Stratos (2012): an event, not an ad
Red Bull backed Felix Baumgartner's jump from the edge of space and streamed it live. About 8 million people watched on YouTube at the same time, which Guinness World Records listed as the most for a live event. The can barely appears.
Take from it: most brands can't jump from space, but the idea scales down. Make something worth watching even if the logo weren't in it.
What they have in common
- One idea per film.
- The product does something. It doesn't just stand there.
- No feature list on screen.
- You can describe each one in a single sentence, which is why people still retell them.
That last one is a good test for any product film before it gets made. If you can't describe it in one sentence, nobody else will be able to either.
