While comedy has clearly been king in recent spot industry competitions, there’s been a departure from that norm as highly creative, poignant approaches to serious subject matter have proven to be prevalent and relevant in our first annual Best of "The Best Work You May Never See" Special Report.
Three of the top five entriesaas selected by SHOOT staff from a field of 88 spots in "The Best Work You May Never See Gallery" thus far in calendar year 2000awere sobering conceptual pieces. There was the stark simplicity of child-like colored drawings in a Safe Storage of Hand Guns PSA. By sharp contrast, an Ad Council PSA used a slow morph toaliterallyashow the face of violence, raising questions about the lessons we impart to our kids. And stitches in human flesh mapped out an articulate case for supporting the Doctors Without Borders organization.
Meanwhile, the remaining two SHOOT picks for The Best of The Best registered on the comedic scale via offbeat premises. A dot-com mortuary service commercial offered a darkly humorous series of tailor-made funerals. Also in the dot-com arena was a mesh of soccer and zombies that underscored how people could link disparate interests in cyberspace.
But whether humorous or movingly serious, all five selections share a common bond. They are spots that are creatively worthwhile, yet haven’t had the benefit of widespread U.S. exposure. For the past three yearsaand countingaThe Best Work You May Never See gallery has spotlighted deserving work that otherwise might be relegated to obscurity: Spec spots, pro bono PSAs, local, regional and foreign commercials, test ads, even work that was produced but never aired. The gallery has helped to uncover new talent and to give recognition to both established and up-and-coming artisans for their creative and filmmaking prowess, often exercised within severe budgetary limitations. SHOOT remains committed to the gallery as a means to showcase the best that advertising has to offer. Even if circumstances have kept work out of sight, that’s no reason for it to be out of mind. So enjoy the Best of "The Best Work You May Never See" for 2000. As always, we welcome your feedback.
