Why are tech firms bent on convincing us they’re not all that, you know, tech? For instance, you might think that a Google ad for a software product like its Chrome browser would be futuristic, but the brand and agency BBH have gone the other way: Like last year’s introductory ad for Chrome, the new executions forgo shots of computer guts for whimsical, Rube Goldberg-esque visions of copper plumbing and hammers, an image that recalls Weetabix’s depiction of a Google search. The new ads hype Chrome features like Twitter integration and the ability to turn images into slideshows, all with cutesy, low-tech illustrations that give the impression that Google staffers are giddy Oompa-Loompas rather than hard-nosed engineers, a trick Dell deployed last year with negligible success. Of course, Apple has been more successful with the approach with its "Get a Mac" ads, which literally humanized its product (and that of PC makers.) Maybe chips and ethernet cables just aren’t that visually exciting, even if Popular Science argues that the Internet actually resembles something that is thrilling to some: a Tootsie Roll pop.
—Posted by Todd Wasserman