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Someone said earlier this week that Ray Bans were back. Did they ever go away? Not if this 90-second cinema ad is anything to go by, and best of all it features the music of the much underrated Ben Kweller.
I really like Kweller and while mostly I'm really very against good artists ending up flogging their wares in TV ads this is not so bad. Plus it is a really good track - 'Make It Up' - if you haven't yet discovered Kweller this is a good place to start. This spot and Kweller has in its favour that it's not a crappy product for a start. It isn't the Only Ones in a Vodafone ad and that has to count.

Created by San Francisco agency Cutwater and is running in cinemas in Europe as well as some TV in the UK. It’s part of a campaign to support the new Ray Ban tagline 'Never hide'.



Shot in black and white, it was directed by Michael Haussman, it opens with snippets of a gig before cutting to a schoolgirl sneaking out a window to join her friends and then strangers kissing suddenly in the street.

It might be a little passé in parts with the sunlight and the water, but really that's okay as it also feels pretty much like an MTV2 music video, which is no bad thing. I like it.
Published May 23 2007, 09:08 AM by Gordon Macmillan
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by Jason Gale
May 23, 2007 3:56 PM
 
Hold on. Surely The Only Ones were a band who never earned much at the time, trying make a buck late in life. If flogging your art to shift units is ever accessible, it's in a case like theirs. Kweller is a young upstart with years of 'marketing opportunities' ahead of him. He (or should that be his record company?) obviously thinks this is a good way of getting a foothold in the public's imagination. But at what expense? Aligning his 'brand' with another, before his brand has had a chance to gain a personality of its own will put off a lot of punters with a more sensitive 'brandometer' than Kweller's. Of course, he will now go on to make millions and prove that he doesn't need such sensitive fans anyway, but I won't be buying it.
 
 
by Gordon Macmillan
May 23, 2007 4:10 PM
 
Kweller is not an artist who will make millions. He is overshadowed by a bunch of other singer song writers like Willy Mason and Bright Eyes. My problem with the only ones was it is a great song ruined by a poor ad. The Ray Ban spot is really not half bad and i think on that basis does Kweller no harm. Plus it is only airing on music channels (MTV2 and cinema).
 
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Gordon's Republic

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Gordon Macmillan

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