The stellar Halo 3 “Believe” campaign and the lesser-known PS2 “Mountain” ad have both been placed on a list honoring the 25 most epic commercials of all time.
If you asked someone familiar with advertising what the most epic commercial of all time was, there’s a good chance that their answer would be Ridley Scott’s famous Apple “1984” Super Bowl spot. But that one is a bit played out, isn’t it? That’s why AdFreak has composed a list: “The 25 most epic ads that aren’t ‘1984.’”
It’s a great list and highly worth your time, even if only two videogame-related ads pop up on it. #17 is “Mountain,” a 2003 UK ad meant to promote the “global competition” available on the PS2, featuring a stunning 1,500 extras. It’s certainly a cool ad, and worth being on the list (hey AdFreak, any plans to give Kevin Butler an honorable mention, or is he not “epic” enough for you?)
Naturally, if you’re compiling a list of the most epic ads of all time and including videogame commercials, you would be absolutely insane to omit the mind-blowing Halo 3 “Believe” campaign – and AdFreak doesn’t, placing it at #8. Featuring an absolutely incredible diorama (sweet baby Jesus, that diorama was amazing) as well as narration from old veterans of the Covenant wars reminiscing about their memories of the Master Chief, “Believe” was extremely effective in setting a chilling tone for the trilogy’s finale.
Halo 3 was a great game, but it couldn’t live up to that ad campaign – the 90-second spot featuring the diorama, set to Chopin’s Prelude No.15 (and with no other sound), is perhaps the single best videogame ad ever made.
I do have to say, though, that for the most part these are all great picks. I love good advertising – even if it is trying to sell me a product, it’s still cool to see it done so damn well.
