Skip to main content

This inventive ad is how all smartphones should be advertised

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Most TV commercials for smartphones, and many other pieces of modern technology, concentrate on pushing the “features and benefits” in an established, easy to understand way. Throw in a celebrity or two, an upbeat piece of music, and some monolithic shots of the device itself, and another day is complete at Cookie Cutter Media, the ad agency everyone seems to use. Not so for Chinese phone brand AGM. A mystery ad executive somewhere was tasked with bringing attention to its AGM X2 rugged phone, and decided not to do so with some people enjoying a day on the mountain, or out sailing, but in a wonderfully silly, slightly sci-fi way. It’s the way all phones should be advertised.

AGM X2 Floating phone || Funny Ad || Chinese -English || ஏஜிம் எக்ஸ்2 || சீன நகைசுவை விளம்பரம்

The advert was released at the beginning of the year and has recently gained attention internationally, thanks to several helpful translations posted on YouTube and elsewhere. It follows a woman whose husband tragically dies young, but doctors are able to seemingly place his consciousness inside a phone — the AGM X2 — that she can carry around and interact with her departed husband as if he was still alive. Because this is a phone ad, the X2’s rugged features are demonstrated in the, shall we say, unusual scenarios that follow.

Recommended Videos

Why is it so great? The actress taking the lead overacts in exactly the right fashion, the gang leader and his goons that make an appearance later on are perfect stereotypes, and the overwrought music is used at just the right moments. It is, without a doubt, a glorious celebratory mashup of many cheap sci-fi films, slapstick comedies, and delirious drama movies which end up as cult classics. We think a lot of people had fun making the ad, and we had fun watching it. Way more so than seeing Zooey Decshanel ask Siri if it’s raining, and yet another feeble dig at the competition from Samsung.

Has it made you want to buy an AGM X2? You’ll have to import one and pay $515 if so, but you will get an IP68 water resistant phone with shock protection, a Snapdragon 835, dual rear cameras, a 6,000mAh battery, and a volatile organic compound sensor for detecting air quality, much like the new Cat S1.

Oh, and just in case you think all AGM’s commercials are as fun as this one — sadly it’s not the case. A more serious ad for the AGM X2 shows the phone at the North Pole. It’s undeniably cool, but we think Cookie Cutter Media had a hand in its creation.

Andy Boxall
Andy has written about mobile technology for almost a decade. From 2G to 5G and smartphone to smartwatch, Andy knows tech.
Huawei Mate X2 foldable mimics the Galaxy Z Fold 2’s look … and sky-high price
huawei mate x2 news white

Huawei has launched a new folding smartphone, the Huawei Mate X2. It’s a sequel to the Huawei Mate Xs (itself a refreshed version of the original Mate X), but this time goes in the opposite design direction. Instead of an outwardly folding design, where the screen folds on itself to create a smaller device, it takes on a dual-screen book-style fold, like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 2.

Unfolded the 8:7.1 aspect ratio OLED screen measures 8-inches and has a 2480 x 2200 pixel resolution, while folded, the slim outer, 21:9 aspect ratio OLED screen measures 6.45-inches with a 2700 x 1160-pixel resolution. The Mate X2 screens both have a 90Hz refresh rate, while the outer has a 240Hz touch sampling rate, and 180Hz on the inside. It’s covered in a special layer for low reflection and less glare.

Read more
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 vs. Galaxy Z Flip: Should you fold or flip?
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip vs Galaxy Z Fold 2

 

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 is Samsung's latest (and arguably greatest) foldable smartphone, being the souped-up and more durable successor to last year's Galaxy Fold. It also succeeds this year's Galaxy Z Flip, which took the foldable smartphone format and flipped it on its head, swapping the vertical folding of the Galaxy Fold for some nifty horizontal action. It also provided a smaller, more comfortable alternative to the larger Fold, making it easier to carry around and use.

Read more
These hilarious ads from the 1980s and ’90s show how far mobile tech has come
80s 90s mobile phone commercials large

With Samsung having just released several of its latest flagships phones and Apple gearing up to launch the highly anticipated iPhone 12, we can expect to see some pretty slick marketing campaigns in the coming weeks and months. So before all that kicks off, let’s take a moment to enjoy some classic mobile phone ads and marvel at how different it used to be when it came to hawking a handset to the masses.
The RadioShack phone pack
Retro Commercial - Radio Shack Cell Phones - 1990

The opening scene of this ancient Radio Shack commercial cleverly lulls us into a false sense of security by showing us a device that appears to consist of only a handset. Just as we start to feel impressed by the “small” size of this handset, the carefully constructed illusion is suddenly blown away as the guy exits a car carrying an enormous box that’s also needed to make the darned thing work. It’s really all downhill from there.
Motorola's mobile monstrosity
1980s mobile phone Tv Ad

Read more