The eyes of the world are on London and its Olympics as Danny Boyle’s opening extravaganza cranks into gear tonight and here’s a nice ad from US industrial giant GE showing how its incubators for new-born babies make a difference at Homerton Hospital in East London, still the poor side of London, even though it is the site of the Olympics. GE gave about £5m of kit to the hospital a couple of years ago.
It’s from BBDO New York and shows the network’s sure touch with such potentially tricky issues and the skill it’s deploying in its current work for GE. All too often such campaigns seem patronising and divorced from reality but this ad, anyway, has a nice down to earth feel.
How could GE, not noted as a corporation with a cuddly side, and BBDO top this?
Donate a hundred or so of them to other needy hospitals around the world (which don’t have a big sports event happening at the time)? Why not? Save some lives and make an ad seems a reasonable proposition.
Thanks for the post.
FYI: the commercial above was actually created by BBDO New York. It’s one of three new ads airing during the Olympics. A second spot follows the story of a young high school athlete (Darius) who, with the help of GE healthcare technology, was diagnosed early on with a rare life-threatening heart defect. But through careful monitoring, he is able to continue doing what he loves to do – play baseball. And the third one spot is an anthemic commercial that celebrates GE’s unique view of the Games: advanced imaging technology enables us to know more about the human body, but it’s the human spirit that never ceases to amaze.
Let me know if you would like me to LeapFile these spots to your attention. In the meantime, thanks again for the post.
Roy Elvove
EVP, Director Worldwide Communications
BBDO
212/459-5797