Magic City

To paraphrase the copy line, the review is about to get ugly. Entertainment advertising is always a great category to observe. Unlike many other categories, almost every ad has to launch a new product or a revamped version of a product (a new season). So, there is a wide breadth of hits and misses since each campaign needs to be put together before much public perception can be gauged. A true notion of exactly what the most intriguing and most differentiating elements must be put on a page. This typically leaves out a huge amount of content that will be valuable once a viewer arrives - but may be cluttering up space when trying to make a quick 1-2 second sale in print or on a billboard. 


So, with that said, if you look quickly at this ad, and then take your eyes off of it - what are you left with? For me, very little outside of a brief reminiscence of Reservoir Dogs. There is nothing memorable about any of the faces I'm seeing - two of those faces obscured by sunglasses. No real emotion coming off of the page - just a cool distance. No setting either to fill in the blanks. 


Then you add the color palette. Sometimes even bland key art can jump with a use of a bold palette to at least shout loudly "look at me!" (think of Fox's New Girl campaign or even Kathy below). Here the color palette is willing me to fall asleep. These might be good colors to decorate an office - but not to announce a new show! 


With a title like "Magic City" my imagination should be firing on all cylinders. Instead, all I see is another period drama that looks like it desperately wants to be another Mad Men with well-dressed men smoking a lot. How is the "beautiful life" going to "get ugly?" Nothing here tells me! I have no further idea of what this show will be. Only the copy line gets me any info - and they made it to small to stand out.


Efficient tune info - but again in dull, drab colors with a blocky uninteresting font.


Should have bought more TV time!