Xbox 360 "Jump In" promo wins Addy
by Alan Rose 
{ Jun 13th 2006 at 12:30PM }
Last week, the American Advertising Federation (AAF) held its annual Addy awards, and McCann-Erickson took home the Best of Show award for their Xbox 360 "Jump In" commercial.
From the press release: "This extreme double Dutch jump rope jam metaphorically captures the excitement and social aspect of the new generation XBOX 360. It was shot completely in-camera in one take. This is a beautifully crafted piece of work, and the soundtrack is inspired."
Congrats to the creative superstars at McCann-Erickson. How about an encore?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Scott @ Jun 13th 2006 12:34PM
If this was truly shot in one-take...I think the kids who did the performing should be getting the majority of the kudos!
RK @ Jun 13th 2006 12:35PM
Woohoo for McCann-Erickson! My gf works there!
an angry hobo @ Jun 13th 2006 12:39PM
this seems more like the people having fun playing outside instead of using an xbox
stranger @ Jun 13th 2006 12:39PM
Where's the white people? Sorry, but really... I only counted 2 out of like 100... And they were the ones doing the stupid stunts.. The white girl sort of just jump right thru and flailed her arms some.... I, personally, am offended.
gamer_guy @ Jun 13th 2006 12:40PM
Hopefully, they gave all those fine young ladies and gents free Xbox 360s! They deserve them more than Paris Hilton and all the other "look at me" celebs who got hand-outs at the premiere.
Phil @ Jun 13th 2006 12:51PM
@ Angry_hobo - It's called symbolism, look into it.
MthdDirector @ Jun 13th 2006 12:53PM
From a production standpoint, that was a pretty amazing video. Very difficult to pull off. When I first saw it, I did wonder at one point if the rope wasn't CGI. Nice work.
Jo @ Jun 13th 2006 12:55PM
It's a fun had... but it certainly hasn't helped sell 360's.
The 360 has an installed base of 1.7 million units in North America as of June 1, 2008:
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=12922
Consider that we are now in the 8th month of the console, and that even the XBox 1.0 had sold 1.5 million within a month and a half. (PS2 sold a million on first weekend).
Hmmm... maybe time for a price cut? Or some must-have game?
GunForHire @ Jun 13th 2006 12:58PM
I thought the 'Bang!' advert was way better personally.
ihavenoideawhatisgoingon @ Jun 13th 2006 12:59PM
And where are these commercials now??? I haven't seen one in a good 3 or 4 months(maybe i'm just watching the wrong channels).
Prof-KOS @ Jun 13th 2006 1:04PM
Thanks Jo, that was totally off-topic and irrelevant to the current discussion. Next time, keep it to yourself until there is a topic regarding Xbox 360 sales.
This is a fantastic ad. I remember being competely floored when I first saw it on TV. Even my non-gamer gf thought it was one of the coolest things she'd seen. The agency that developed this, and then found the talent deserve the highest of praise, not to mention the talent themselves. I'm mostly impressed with the BMX stunt thrown in there. That alone should make up for stranger's (# 4) personal offense to the demographics of the ad. There is truly no pleasing some people.
copa @ Jun 13th 2006 1:05PM
"Where's the white people? I only counted 2 out of like 100... I, personally, am offended."
Ah, I see we have some Counterstrike players who frequent Joystiq.
Les Doodis @ Jun 13th 2006 1:11PM
I work at McCann-Erickson. Yea for me!
Clint @ Jun 13th 2006 1:16PM
Looks like the Xbox 360 is not doing too well. Sales are really down! I guess people are waiting for the PS3! I can't believe they are already lowering the prices of the games due to a lack of sales. Microsoft should be worried. Nice ad though. I guess it's ironic that the kids are outside jumping rope instead of sitting on the couch eating chips off their chest while playing the latest Halo installment.
lunatech @ Jun 13th 2006 1:19PM
PS3 is vaporware.
Nice add :)
Soulo @ Jun 13th 2006 1:24PM
#4 - Stranger?
Are you kidding me? Did you and your white friends play alot of double dutch growing up in the hood? I didn't think so.
Just wait 10 seconds and i'm sure your emotions will be appeased through some Lost pilot or some other preview of the 4 kazillion shows on television that fail to represent any minority of any kind.
Then again, i'm sure your the type who's upset because there isn't a "White Entertainment Network" or something just as ignorant.
Closet racism is soooooo 2005.
Jeremy Wright @ Jun 13th 2006 1:25PM
With 2 white people out of 100... Isn't that like the right split when viewed on a global scale? ;-)
vidGuy @ Jun 13th 2006 1:27PM
Was this an award for the worst ad of the year? Who uses symbolism in an ad? Isn't the point to sell a product - versus movies that uses symbolism to make a point or to make the viewer think.
I would have much prefered a 30 sec spot of the console and it's games - not CGI renders but real in game footage. That would have made me want the console, rather than being angry that MS was making some Apple-esque ad campaign.
And as far as the sales, they are looking pretty horrible. I went to three electronics stores this weekend (two Best Buys and a Gamestop) and collectively they had around 200 XBOX360s on the shelfs, unsold. But sales will surely pick up when there's a game worthy of a $59.99 purchase in more than a few's eyes. And of course near the release of Halo3.
Soulo @ Jun 13th 2006 1:27PM
...also, before i forget, lets not forget about the fact that there IS such a thing called niche marketing, "stanger".
Would you be more inclined to buy a 360 if the advert contained a bunch of white kids in ICP t-shirts and JNCO's playing a pick-up game of hockey in a suburban Iowa town?
Your mindset makes me laugh... as mine probably does you.
But there in lies the difference. I'm not taking myself seriously. When you ask "where's all the white people?" ... wel.....you are. And that's pretty sad.
The ZeroCorpse @ Jun 13th 2006 1:29PM
I don't like this ad. . . But there's a black girl on it with a really nice butt, so I'll accept that it got an award on that alone.
Sales of Xbox 360 don't seem to be down. I sell many of them, and the only people who are "waiting for the PS3" tell me it's because they want to play Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy. Only the die-hards are holding out for PS3.
Jeff @ Jun 13th 2006 1:31PM
Was that Ben Wallace?
Anubis @ Jun 13th 2006 1:40PM
#15 and #11...ummm...I'm preeeeeeeeeettty sure stranger (poster #4) was being sarcastic...then again sarcasm tends to be hard to detect on the interweb...the internetworked web...umm...
The ZeroCorpse @ Jun 13th 2006 1:41PM
vidGuy... Yes, we're getting HUGE shipments of Xbox 360s now. That doesn't mean they aren't selling.
First the public complains because there aren't any 360s, now they complain that they see too many on the shelves.
Your statement is kind of dumb: "they had around 200 XBOX360s on shelfs, unsold."
Well, yeah. You see, at big stores we like to stock items and keep them in stock so that when people want one, they can have one. If you see it on the shelf, that means it's unsold, but ready to be sold, and taking the place of the one before it that was already sold.
Look at it this way: When you go to the grocery store and see a cool-case packed full with many gallons of milk, do you say "Oh, milk must not be selling anymore!" or do you say "Oh, they must have restocked the milk recently!"
When you see a shelf packed nearly full of cans of Spaghettios, do you say "What a shame! Campbell's can't seem to sell any more Spaghettios!" or do you say "Wow! Look at all the Spaghettios! I'm gonna grab me some because it looks like they recently restocked the shelves!!!"
Don't be so obtuse. Of course stores have a lot of 360s. That doesn't mean that we didn't start with more (we did) and that we aren't continually getting large shipments once or twice a week to replenish what we've already sold (we do.)
It's like you believe that stuff magically appears on shelves when the supply runs out completely, but up until that point there's no replenishment.
Get a clue.
Fredrik Dunder @ Jun 13th 2006 1:41PM
step 1: bring a camera to suburb
step 2: aim press record on camera
step 3: press stop
step 4: bring to studio and paste the '360 ad' in the end
step 5:????
step 6: PROFIT
vidGuy @ Jun 13th 2006 1:47PM
Haha, great post ZeroCorpse, but totally unneccesary. The fact of the matter is, if there was high demand for the console, they wouldn't have 70 stocked at any one time. People would be lining up to grab their package, and in 15 minutes the place would be sold out. The 360 has sold to early adopters. Now MS needs to prove to everbody else that the console is worth the cash by releasing some games of value.
It's good that their getting large shipments, but my belief that the 360 isn't selling as well as it should is also substaintiated by the fact that the PS2 is killing the 360 in sales. Stock that.
Fenris @ Jun 13th 2006 2:03PM
The ZeroCorpse,
Good post.
vidGuy, the sales levels of 2 different price sku's are not really comparable. That is like comparing a standard 27" TV to a 40" Plasma. One will sell more based on the available disposable income.
400.00 vs 129.00 Yea, OK real even comparison.
Clint @ Jun 13th 2006 2:14PM
The fact that the PS2 is still outselling the Xbox 360 is amazing. Microsoft can't even beat the PS2. How the hell do they expect to beat the PS3 again?
Soulo @ Jun 13th 2006 2:15PM
Oh yeah.... teh sarscasm. I forgot all about teh sarscasm... i enjoy teh sarscasm.
Damnit. Now that i read my posts, i sound like some militant raving black panther.
Not so much. Just irked me if that dude was being serious.
Prof-KOS @ Jun 13th 2006 2:18PM
vidGuy, stop now. Every post makes you sound worse. Zerocorpse has it straight, and he should know. To add another level to what he posted before;
If there were no demand for the Xbox 360 stores would not order so much stock. In the marketplace stores do not overstock for no reason. They stock what they think they can sell within a reasonable period of time. If you find 70 systems on the shelf you can be damn sure that the store plans to sell almost everyone before the next shipment arrives and they had ordered accordingly. A system that sits on the shelf unsold would represent a loss in available shelf space (which sells at a premium) as well as a loss in capital because most stores have to pay for the items they order. Perhaps some have deals with Microsoft so that they don't pay until the item is sold, but don't bet on it (certainly not the majority of stores) since that is a big financial risk on Microsoft's part.
Marc @ Jun 13th 2006 2:20PM
stranger,
you're offended?!?! Why don't you go think about the 300 years of slavery African Americans had to go through and hearing that racist shit that you're saying in the 60s.
My God it's only jumprope! Besides how many white people do you see in Brooklyn next to all the blacks, and hispanics? It's called "shooting on location" dumbass.
vidGuy @ Jun 13th 2006 2:23PM
Fenris, that point is acceptable, yet obvious. Except that video game consoles have a much higher rate of penetration - it shouldn't take them 10 years to enter the market like plasma tvs are taking 10 years. It shouldn't take 12 months for a majority of gamers to even want the console.
Sure, the PS2 is cheaper. But it's been out 6 years. End-of-generation sales of a console shouldn't be that much higher than first-year sales of a new console.
If the 360 is selling fine, according to all of you, be prepared to declare either of the other consoles a huge success if they come out and sell millions in their first few months.
Marc @ Jun 13th 2006 2:27PM
Anubis,
sarcasim or not, it's not good to kid around with that kind of racist shit. And now because of the internet it's worse, cuz you can't tell if he's kidding or is part of the K.K.K
Lock @ Jun 13th 2006 2:28PM
It was a very well made ad, and entertaining to watch. I do, however, wonder how many people finished watching the ad thinking that a 360 is some sort of jumprope or jumproping team. I always question ads which do not show or demonstrate thier product, and I believe the number of people who care enough to "research" what a company was trying to sell them to be extremely low.
Fenris @ Jun 13th 2006 2:40PM
vidGuy,
I see what your saying, however the fact is that not all households have a large amount of disposabe income and given that the ps2 has a substantial game library (at inexpensive prices) it would be a great choice for a lower income household as both a game console and DVD player. The 360 by contrast is at this point an expensive version of that (and more). If I had younger children that wanted a console you can bet that I would not be getting them a 360 or ps3 for that matter. A ps2 would be just fine. The 360 would be mine(I'm selfish like that).
Believe me that I have no doubt that the Wii and ps3 will be successful at launch. The question is how much market share will they keep or expand. I think that the more reasonable comparisons will only be able to be had after the ps3 is launched and after supply meets initial demand. Then we should be able to compare on more even ground eventhough the ps3 is more expensive. Maybe if we looked at overall dollar figures it would be more accurate. That way we could see how much the consumer base is willing to pay.
Just ideas and converstaion.
Ciaran Gallagher @ Jun 13th 2006 3:01PM
Pity they didn't have something like this in the UK. The UK ad campaign was abysmal.
It told nothing about what the console was capable of and nothing like that.
The only ad that showed anything about the 360 was an ad of PGR3 which showed a tiny glimpse of nice graphics. But to people watching, it was probably just CGI like all the other ads.
And recently, the only ads you'll see that have any relevance to 360 are for multi-format games like Tomb Raider and Hitman that don't show any gameplay footage or features of the game.
Xbox 360 sales aren't as good as they should be and its because of bad marketing. People won't buy the console and games if they don't know what it is, what it can do etc. Most people will play it safe, thinking that PS3 will be one to wait for because they all own PS2's...
The only information about 360 can only be found on the net, and I don't know many people who are going to search for info on the net.
Even on the net, a potential buyer cannot just load up a web page and check out everything about the 360. At xbox.com, they don't have enough information about Xbox 360 that would sway a customer.
Eih'Beir @ Jun 13th 2006 3:40PM
Good ad, but needs more cowbell.
Judd @ Jun 13th 2006 3:51PM
A. #8 Don't you mean 1.7 million installed base as of June 1st, 2006? If they had that many 360's sold by 2008 then the Xbox 360 would definitely be a failure.
B. I don't know, I kind of have trouble believing that this commercial was shot in one take, without any visual tricks. I mean the camera is kind of far away from the jump rope so they might have done something that we can't see. It's very hard to imagine a guy jumping through a jump rope on a bike, but if he actually did that, kudos.
C. Personally, I liked the commercial with the water balloons a lot more. Maybe cause it was the first 360 commercial I saw but I felt like as the commercial got crazier and the water fight got bigger and bigger the build up to what the commercial was about was a lot better.
bladestar @ Jun 13th 2006 4:15PM
"substaintiated by the fact that the PS2 is killing the 360 in sales." think about this for a minute. Should I say that the PS2 is getting killed because more DVD players are being sold? Or that boss systems are in trouble since more Panasonic systems are being sold? Don't you guys remember when DVD players came out? People were still buying video players more than DVD players. Or that Flat TVs are dying since more tube tvs are being sold? Why do you think Sony dropped the PS2 price?
Most likely the people you see here are:
Replacing their broken PS2.
Buying the PS2 to their kids because the PS2 is cheaper.
People that are usually late adopters (6 years) and finally got one but are no video game fan. This is bad news for Sony since it proves that these people will not be saving money for PS3 November launch. Why would this people buy a PS2 knowing PS3 is bc?
Mix-a-lot @ Jun 13th 2006 4:21PM
what's the background music for this ad?
LongshotX @ Jun 13th 2006 4:29PM
Where's the white people? Are you serious maybe if White people actually double dutched then they'd be more in there. You're a stupid person. That's like saying where are the white 100m sprinters who run sub 10? Or the white Michael Jordans? Where are these people? They don't exist period.
LongshotX @ Jun 13th 2006 4:41PM
Judd you've obviously never seen or participated in double dutch. Double dutch takes skill, patience, quickness, and something called rhythym. There aren't any visual tricks it's just called skill. Go out into some of the Urban areas up North and you'll see Latinos and African Americans, doing crazy stuff that would make you shit in your pants. You think that was something? Man you have no idea.
Josh @ Jun 13th 2006 5:12PM
Does anyone know what the music is in the background??
semolina @ Jun 13th 2006 5:32PM
Mix-a-lot:
The song in the ad is
George Kranz - Din Daa Daa
ill trooper @ Jun 13th 2006 6:11PM
Internet Policeman Prof. KOS wrote: "Thanks Jo, that was totally off-topic and irrelevant to the current discussion. Next time, keep it to yourself until there is a topic regarding Xbox 360 sales."
I disagree. He was talking about the ad, and while it is a good ad, it hasn't seemed to help that much. So it's not off topic at all, like say, if he had posted about the PSP or something. THAT would be 'off-topic.'
I liked the ad a lot, but I especially like the usage of George Kranz's 1990 classic "Din Daa Daa" for the music. Dope!
ill trooper @ Jun 13th 2006 6:14PM
Urp, seems semolina beat me to that! Sorry to restate the obvious.
Rhys @ Jun 13th 2006 7:57PM
Wow. The console that costs a lot more, is aimed at early adapters and has only a few games is being beaten by a console that costs a lot less, has many games and is aimed at the mass market?!?!
Honestly, with a low price and a huge array of games, the PS2 is a good buy even for Sony haters. I know people who have no current gen consoles that are only now buying a PS2 for their kids. Even I brought one for my nephew. The thing is that Vid is missing is that the PS2 is competing against the PS3, not complimenting it.
And as for dumb ads, the “Rock, paper, scissors” p3 add showed an equal propensity to avoid showing any actual product.
TeddyN @ Jun 13th 2006 8:24PM
Great ad;
Although I'm a dedicated PC gamer, I'm waiting until I have some money laying around so that I can buy an xbox 360.
I loved the way that the add was all-inclusive; it really puts out a positive message about gaming that it's a very sociable hobby which can bring people together for pUre pWnage ;)
Thanks for the clip, joystiq!
KC @ Jun 13th 2006 9:12PM
#42 ill trooper,
Don't you mean the 1984 classic?
Waku @ Jun 14th 2006 10:45AM
I see why the ad won an award. The ad visually tells us to throw away our inhibitions and ‘jump in’. It is a good idea but its effectiveness to cajole consumers into purchasing the Xbox360 is to be questioned. One thing is certain, if they put “just do it” and the Nike insignia at the end of the ad instead of the Xbox360 insignia it would have been arguably a more effective ad.
That’s my 14 rand cents (two US cents)