Bestads Best of the Week: Columbia Sportswear ‘Engineered for Whatever’ via adam&eveDDB, UK

Each week Bestads showcases standout global advertising work as reviewed by an esteemed international creative director or team. This week’s Best TV ad is Columbia Sportswear ‘Engineered for Whatever’ via adam&eveDDB London.
The ad was selected by this week’s guest judge Nayaab Rais, Executive Creative Director at FP7 McCann, Dubai.
“This feels like it escaped the formula factory, because it doesn’t follow the tropes commercials usually do,” says Rais. “In a world of low cognitive load, it’s self-aware, unpretentious and still has some visual novelty that makes it an easy, fun watch. Which in turn makes you like the brand more, because it isn’t trying too hard to sell you something.”
Columbia Sportswear launched its new brand platform, ‘Engineered for Whatever’, that peels back Mother Nature’s cliché facade to expose the unpredictable chaos beneath. This is Columbia’s debut campaign by adam&eveDDB and marks the first major brand platform relaunch for Columbia in a decade. For the launch of Columbia’s new “Engineered for Whatever” brand platform, the campaign kicks off with a visceral, irreverent and downright bonkers film that shows humans getting their asses kicked by the great outdoors. The commercial forms just one part of the brand’s ‘Engineered for Whatever’ platform, which proves that Columbia’s gear isn’t just made for the outdoors, it’s engineered to conquer it. This multi-season campaign is carried through punchy and bold out-of-home executions and a series of product tests – think ‘Mythbusters’ meets ‘Jackass’ – featuring real-life stunt people proving how strong and protective Columbia gear is.
Read Nayaab’s full review here.
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