Proof that the most creative advertising happens when committees aren't involved.

It may have taken 10 writers and 3 producers to come up with Jennifer Lopez's hit, "Jenny from the Block", but I've long been convinced that when you look under the hood of really fantastic, creative advertising - the kind that can't help but go viral - you'll find that it was the brainchild of one, or maybe two, people who didn't have to cater to a whole boardroom full of 'stakeholders'.

Behold:

This ad originally appeared on Craigslist (where it is, inexplicably, currently flagged for removal), but has gone viral simply because of its unadulterated creativity.

Turns out the ad is the brainchild of a couple of 23-year-old friends, Joe (the owner of the car, and an aerospace engineer) and Kyle (a designer who works in marketing).  Actually, according to the interview with Jalopnik, I'm pretty sure the ad is almost entirely Kyle's brainchild.

I don't know where Kyle works, but I sure hope he just got a big raise and a promotion. I myself would be happy if I'd just written the copy for this piece, let alone been able to do the copy and the design. But the word 'Jesus' alone would have had this piece kicked out of contention in an 'agency' setting.

BONUS OPINION: While my kneejerk response is to wonder why 'big brands' can't do this kind of creativity, I do wonder whether one of the reasons this ad works is precisely because it's not for a big brand, and you know it was done by 'some guy' on his home computer, just for fun.  I suspect that if a mainstream brand tried to do this, and tried to push it through broadcast media channels, it might come off as trying too hard - even if the copy and graphics were exactly the same.  Hhmmm.

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