Task: Encourage parents to tune in to the world's most -oved educational programme with their children by showing that Sesame Street is as contemporary and relevant as ever.
Execution: This is a flawless spoof of the "smell like a man" launch commercial for Old Spice, except it stars Grover from Sesame Street. He observes that, although sadly we are not monsters, with his help we can at least smell like a monster and learn all about the word "on".
Credit: Sesame Workshop
Why I like this: Usually there is nothing less edifying than an ad that parodies an ad; it's the kind of ghastly self-referential nonsense that assumes that the stuff we make is part of the fabric of popular culture. But then "smell like a man" was so damn good it did become part of American popular culture where people have started going to fancy dress parties as Isaiah Mustafa, complete with crayoned-on six packs.
And this parody is a work of consummate genius from the casting of Grover as the Old Spice monster to the muppet clam that contains the "tickets to that thing you love" and Grover's final appearance on top of a cow to deliver the immortal line: "I'm on a horse."
In fact, it is so good that as I write, it's the number one ad in the global viral video chart with 5.6 million views and a quarter of a million online shares in the past two weeks.
Wish I'd thought of: In truth, I wish I had thought of anything in my career good enough that Sesame Street wanted to pay homage to it. Sod Cannes; that's proper recognition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkd5dJIVjgM