G L A N C E S

Blame MTV.  This one-of-a-kind channel, created supposedly as alternative entertainment, is finally showing its ugly head.  Janet Jackson and NFL half-time shows aside, MTV has caused our attention span to dwindle.  Whereas movies such as Aliens and Terminator would have considered as adrenaline-packed and fast-paced, now it takes Vin Diesel and some fancy slow motion camera tricks to grab a typical thirteen year-old kid’s attention. 

What’s more, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  Although consumerism is at an all-time high, hard-selling marketing gimmickry such as product or feature comparisons, Internet pop-up ads and buy now phrases are considered as no-nos.  That’s why aside from detergents, stuff such as shampoos, cellular phones and even fast food try to connect with consumer’s emotions.  Convey images of lifestyle with fancily done photography, cute girls and handsome guys.  Of course, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to discover that this kind of product treatment has already been overused and abused thereby turning off the consumers they’ve wanted to grab.

So, what’s a company to do?  Blatant product placement in television programs or movies may seem like a good step, until of course, it’s become obvious that this avenue’s been well saturated already.  With a bit of creativity and a lot of guts, BMW of North America has suggested a different idea: launch a series of high-quality short films starting their cars.  However, during the creative process, it’s been agreed that it won’t be something like having Steven Spielberg direct an ad for the 7-series.  There would be a real story with real characters and real style; but still enough to inject a scene or two with a BMW vehicle.  Thus, The Hire was born.

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