Adobe Photoshop's Oscars Movie Montage Ad Lionizes Film Partnerships

As part of Photoshop’s 25th anniversary promotions, parent company Adobe ran a movie-themed Oscars campaign called ‘Dream On’ to celebrate the role its software package plays in the film business.

During Sunday’s Oscar telecast on ABC (22 February), Adobe launched the initiative with a spearhead TV spot built around work by Photoshop artists and images from major movies that all used Photoshop in production – including ‘Avatar,’ ‘Gone Girl,’ ‘The Hobbit,’ ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2′ and ‘Shrek.’

The agency creative directors on the project were Adam Reeves, Patrick Knowlton and Will Elliott and, other than the genuine movie images, the spot’s other art was all sourced from the Adobe-owned creative community Behance.

The 60-second commercial, which was created with Adobe’s ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GS&P) and features Aerosmith’s track Dream On, both highlights the past relationship and promotes future film partnerships.

The ad debuted nationwide during the ABC Oscars’ telecast and also aired on broadcasts after the Oscars (including on late night talk shows like ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live,’ news shows and next day morning TV shows).

In TV push was sported by sponsored paid online ad placements on websites covering and commentating on the 2015 Academy Awards (such as Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and ABC), as well as running paid promotion on Buzzfeed and Twitter.

‘It’s the tool we put out into the world that’s had the broadest impact,’ says Adobe senior director of creative and media Alex Amado.

‘It’s used in the design process of pretty much everything we see and touch these days—every ad you’ve reviewed, all the photography in every publication, everything from logos on T-shirts to billboards, industrial design and the movies.’

‘It’s a tribute to the amazing creatives who have used this product and helped us evolve it and conceive of even greater uses. And we want to challenge the next generation of designers and artists and photographers and moviemakers to dream even bigger, and we’ll help them get there.’

GS&P co-founder Rich Silverstein, who was heavily involved in the commercial concepting, added: ‘It’s an amazing tool that helps imagination come to life’.

Comment

With 1.4 million YouTube views and counting, the spot is having a genuine impact.

Especially for a brand that more usually keeps in the background when it comes to its role in adverts.

This full-on, multi-coloured, energetic commercial acts as both a tribute and a challenge to film creatives.

An eminently sensible activation space; with relevant synergies both in terms of the commercial’s creative and the product’s usage.

Links

Adobe YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/AdobeSystems

Adobe Website

http://www.adobe.com/

Adobe Photoshop

http://www.photoshop.com/products/photoshop