Meet GE’s Super Bowl Scarecrow

Contributor Judy Hu is the Global Executive Director of Advertising & Branding at GE.
The Smart Grid technology story is a complex one to tell in a 30-second television ad. So when we briefed Don Schneider, our chief creative at BBDO (GE’s long-time ad agency), we had to simplify the message to a single sentence: “Our energy grid needs to be updated, and GE has the technology to modernize it.”

That single sentence laid the groundwork for GE’s first-ever Super Bowl ad, “Scarecrow,” a modern take on the classic song, “If I Only Had A Brain,” from the film, The Wizard of Oz. With the help of computer graphic imaging technology (designed by Framestore), and a very talented dancer, the ad shows what can happen when old technologies have a brain.

For any advertiser, being on the Super Bowl raises the creative bar significantly, as the largest television viewing audience of the year stays glued to their sets throughout commercial breaks. With “Scarecrow” we have a positive, optimistic, and engaging spot, that we think is Super Bowl worthy.

You can watch the “Scarecrow” with a brief introduction from Beth Comstock, GE’s CMO, on the video player below. Credit: Wizard of Oz and Music Licenses TM & Turner Entertainment Col. (s09)

* Watch the “Scarecrow” ad (:30)

More information about GE’s Smart Grid technology can be found on our new website, PlugIntoTheSmartGrid.com, which was developed by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Check out the cool Augmented Reality technology we feature there. (Neil and Ted tried it out and think it’s really cool!)

Here are some recent blog posts about the ad:

* Treehugger
* Environmental Leader
* The TV Ad Guru