In many respects, this is a complicated ad. Lots of concepts and ideas. Funny moments. It makes you listen at one level and watch on another. All are techniques used by some of the greatest ads. But one facet- above all- makes this spot work.
It's focus on a single, simple concept, articulated in the first line:
"These pure waters are special. Something goes in there... comes out different."There. In cement. A single, strong, simple creative proposition. The rest of the spot riffs on that.
Anyone who's pitched a campaign in a boardroom knows what a gentle flower a great, simple idea is. And how easily it's crushed beneath a well-meaning manure pile of unnecessary detail.
Such simplicity runs counter to the traditional agency/client process. I'll bet you a nickel that someone saw the virtue of this idea, wrapped her arms around it, and protected it from Category Four bombardment of suggestions and additions.
What emerges and grows is a spot worth 60-seconds of the viewer's attention.
An all-time classic? Probably not. A fun, watchable monument to creative discipline? Absolutely.
As though, this once, the creative process was dipped in some special water...
