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.
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.
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.
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