Mmmmm, cranberries

Thanksgiving is about three weeks away so let's talk about cranberries.

This year, thanks to my overly documented widowhood (my apologies), I'll be handling the cooking duties on my own. With some assistance from my two daughters. And none from my brother, who will be dutifully watching the Detroit Lions lose another Thursday football game.

It will not be easy. As milestones go, this might be the most difficult as it was Deb's favorite holiday. Nevertheless, we will make the best of it and express gratitude that we have each other.

But back to the cranberries. Not the berries themselves, but the gelatinous goo that is made from them, as seen in the picture above. And seen quite a bit in the ad world last week thanks to the work of the in-house team at Orchard, makers of Ocean Spray Canned Cranberry Sauce.

If you haven't seen the spot, relax, you are about to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpJ7mcm8MnY

Pretty amazing huh? Apologies to Mark Reed of Ogilvy fame, but this spot harkens back to the 90's, when absurdist theater was in vogue. And when advertising was, in my humble opinion, at its height.

I love everything about this spot and was surprised it only had about 15,000 hits on Youtube. I thought with all the free press and buzz it generated it would be closer to 15 million.

I love how the spot pivots not on the taste of canned cranberry sauce (which I prefer to the homemade stuff which we won't be having this year) but on the jelly-like texture and its tendency to wobble. Which some would argue is the least appealing aspect of this maroon coagulate.

In other words the data people were sent from the room.

"The wobbling scored a 73 in negativity in our quant testing."

"Yeah, leave."

I love how the tension builds. And especially how the metronome in the soundtrack gets us there.

I love the casting. The blended family is de rigueur these days, but this one feels more authentic and not so forced. Kudos to the art director who went with the subtle pale brown color palette in the decor and the costuming, all of which make the three purplish stars of the spot pop and do their thing.

I love the odd haircut on the Asian American man hosting this soiree. And know from experience that many clients would shudder and squeal about his less than normal look.

"The host's haircut registered many eyerolls in focus groups and scored an 81 in negativity among our female respondents."

"Didn't we tell you to Go!?"

And I love how this spot pokes fun at the consumer-dancing-for-joy motif that is ridiculously found in so many other lame spots that pollute our airwaves. 

Man bites cheeseburger, breaks into dance. 

Woman brushes teeth, breaks into dance. 

Kid gets a new backpack, breaks into dance. 

Dog gets a treat, breaks into dance.

Mostly what I love about this spot is that it was a spot and not an email or a banner or a landing page or some other micro-communication piece that has gone through 23 rounds of revisions, only to be seen by 22 people.