New Expedia Ad Takes More Than A Little Inspiration From Wes Anderson

It is Wes Anderson himself who has been a victim of one of a creative highjacking recently by DDB Sydney, for the Australian branch of Expedia. The ad so blatently and unapologetically borrows from Anderson's palette that it ceases to become an advert and more of game to spot which trope of the directors will appear next.

When it comes to advertising and particularly television advertising, you would be a fool to think that originality is prized when it comes to the creative. There are homage's, there are nods, there are subtle plagiarisms and there are shameless rip-offs, the source material could be a five-second YouTube clip or it could be a whole movie.

We know this though; anyone who has spent more than five minutes on YouTube in their life can see the vestiges of famous viral videos being played out on the slightly bigger screen to advertise headache tablets and chocolate bars. Advertising agencies have people sitting on the Internet all day long looking for that latest thing, something popular they can retrofit into a new creative for their client.

Sometimes it works out, most of the time it doesn't and the ad looks stupid and ridiculous next to the original. Beroca comes to mind immediately with their ludicrous ad involving an OkGo style treadmill dance. In an ideal world the original creators themselves would get involved with the ads. American comedic duo Tim & Eric have been able to do this; bringing their surreal style to a series of Old Spice commercials. Director Wes Anderson has curated clips for American Express and most recently Prada utilizing his own stylistic tendencies.

It is Wes Anderson himself who has been a victim of one of a creative highjacking recently by DDB Sydney, for the Australian branch of Expedia. The ad so blatently and unapologetically borrows from Anderson's palette that it ceases to become an advert and more of game to spot which trope of the directors will appear next.

The 'homage' is unrelenting; there is no point where it stops being a mini-Wes Anderson film, it is comparable to an incredibly high budget film school piece by an incredibly un-imaginative student. There is an overt reference to every single one of Anderson's films both in the detailed content, sight gags and cinematography and to top it all off they have essentially cast the boy from Moonrise Kingdom as the lead.

Here's a quote from Dylan Harrison from DDB about the project -

"Considering the breadth and depth of what they offer, there is no shortage of inspiration. We aimed to bring a creative passion equal to the potential of the brand, which was embraced with open arms by Expedia."

It would appear that they only brought their passion for Wes Anderson films.

Unbelievably lazy work. Nihil Sanctisne? - Is nothing sacred?

Close

What's Hot