The joy of hordes

I’m a sucker for big ads. I’m talking cast-of-thousands ads. The ones that require a director to be half artist and half general.

I’m enamored of these ads because (1) you can find new details every time you watch, and (2) I’m jealous that I’ve yet to work on one of these things myself. Surely fun is more intense on a grand scale.

My fault. I could just as easily have started a script with “Open on screaming horde of 3,000 running across a field” instead of “Open on couple seated in cafe.” What was I thinking.

Here are four really good cast-of-thousands ads to stir your love of the genre, starting with the new ad from IKEA that inspired this topic.

Not too long ago, Comcast gave us their “Field” commercial. The HD war is over, they said, illustrating the concept by having an army of HD channels overrun the old-school, boring businessmen of the satellite world.

I featured this crazy horde ad for the Motorola Cliq phone when it first appeared, but bring it back because it fits today’s topic. It’s filled with cast-of-thousands goodness.

The grand-daddy of them all is the following ad from Carlton. They not only had fun making The Big Ad, they ridicule the idea of making a big ad in the first place. I give this ad my highest rating partly because I love it and partly because Brits are funnier than we are. (Update 8:55pm, 8/17: Oops. My mistake. Carlton Draught is Australian, and so is the agency that created the ad. So the Americans get pushed down one more notch on the humor scale.)

My life goal remains unchanged: if I can’t write one of these spots one day, I would at least like to be cast in one. I’m sure I could wear funny clothes and stumble on cue.

i have the same dream as well.