LG ad riffs on Apple's panorama commercial, and expands on it

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
A new ad out from LG pays homage to an Apple ad showing off the iPhone 5's panorama capabilities, right before it skewers the ad by showing the expanded panoramic capabilities of the Optimus G Pro.



For the first 30 seconds or so, the LG spot (via MacMagazine) is a tweaked, but faithful, reproduction of the Apple ad in which an iPhone user takes a panorama shot of a line of joyful children. It mimics the white background, the elongated "Cheeeeese" (here "Kimchiiiiiii") and the quirky background music, as well as the long-framed picture the panorama shot produces.



At about the 30 second mark, though, the LG spot beings showing off the wider camera capabilities of the company's flagship Optimus G Pro. Instead of moving solely on a horizontal axis, the photographer begins moving the camera vertically, capturing the ceiling, floor, and surrounding material of the shot.

The resulting image is a multi-dimensional panorama, navigable by touch on the Optimus G Pro's screen. Google added this capability, dubbed "Photo Sphere," to its Android OS in late October with the release of 4.2 Jelly Bean. Images captured in this manner can be uploaded to Google+ or Google Maps for sharing with others.

Less emphasized in the course of the commercial is another feature of the Optimus G Pro's camera, a tracking focus setting that allows the device to keep moving objects in focus.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 57
    I usually think that the best advertisements are the ones where you don't need to make reference to your competitors (hence why I think so many of the Apple ads are top notch). But this one is well done in my opinion. Comes off as an almost playful jibe at Apple.

  • Reply 2 of 57
    Thats nice... I have doing that with Photo-synth for years on iOS. Thats what happens when you have a healthly app eco-system.
  • Reply 3 of 57
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member
    Love it.
    Especially "Kimcheeeeeeee" :)

    Much classier than Samsung ads.
  • Reply 4 of 57
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member


    I agree, it's pretty well done even tho they obviously play on Apple's panoramic feature. In this case I think it's effective advertising. FWIW that streetview-like panorama feature on the LG is actually built into Android as far as I can tell. It's on the Nexus 4 as well.

  • Reply 5 of 57

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wubbus View Post



    I usually think that the best advertisements are the ones where you don't need to make reference to your competitors (hence why I think so many of the Apple ads are top notch). But this one is well done in my opinion. Comes off as an almost playful jibe at Apple.

     




    In the end, whether you are pitching your product on its own merits or dissing others, it's all about making it memorable in a good way. Very few people would look at one feature and instantly change their minds about which phone to buy. Having said this, if enough ads make it look like the iPhone is deficient in some ways, some of the undecided folks may be swayed. OTOH, the US market is not going to change that much in the near future, is it?

  • Reply 6 of 57


    Okay, LG is boasting about their new feature that Apple doesn't seem to offer with iPhones.


     


    Sadly for LG, there's an $0.99 app for that.


     


    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/360-panorama/id377342622?mt=8


     


    Poor LG had to build its own app though, we have something called App Store.


     


    (And not only LG, every Android vendor bragging about features seems desperately trying to conceal that those features are actually a rip-off of apps on App Store(TM))

  • Reply 7 of 57
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member
    I played with the iPhone 5 panorama which was fun, but having to keep holding down the button to take a photo for 30 seconds? I don't know if I have time for that. I'm not really an avid photographer when it comes to using a smartphone, but I can see the attraction to this feature.

    I find it humorous to see what features these guys use as a way to demo the product, but sometimes these features make great demos, but aren't actually used more than right after the initial purchase.
  • Reply 8 of 57


    There are plenty of apps that does what LG's does int the iOS App Store.  Microsoft's Photo Synth, 360.  The idea and the apps have been around for years.

  • Reply 9 of 57
    It might be a play off the ad. Or straight out plagiarism.

    this is ad meant to air in Korea, and they may have never seen the us panorama ad, and Korean creatives have a reputation of copying American stuff so there's a chance it's a straight out plagiarism...for example their music videos or celebrities get sued by US musicians all the time.
  • Reply 10 of 57
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    wubbus wrote: »
    I usually think that the best advertisements are the ones where you don't need to make reference to your competitors (hence why I think so many of the Apple ads are top notch). But this one is well done in my opinion. Comes off as an almost playful jibe at Apple.

    Have you forgotten the whole series of "I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC" commercials?
  • Reply 11 of 57

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by drblank View Post



    I played with the iPhone 5 panorama which was fun, but having to keep holding down the button to take a photo for 30 seconds? I don't know if I have time for that. I'm not really an avid photographer when it comes to using a smartphone, but I can see the attraction to this feature.



    I find it humorous to see what features these guys use as a way to demo the product, but sometimes these features make great demos, but aren't actually used more than right after the initial purchase.


    You don't have to hold the button down the whole time. You just click it once, take your picture and click done when you're finished.

  • Reply 12 of 57


    Lucky Goldstar makes phones?

  • Reply 13 of 57
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member


    Apple should get royalties for all their work. Their r&d, their marketing, their design. Apple effectively functions as everybody else's instruction manual.

  • Reply 14 of 57

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Netimoon View Post


    Okay, LG is boasting about their new feature that Apple doesn't seem to offer with iPhones.


     


    Sadly for LG, there's an $0.99 app for that.


     


    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/360-panorama/id377342622?mt=8


     


    Poor LG had to build its own app though, we have something called App Store.


     


    (And not only LG, every Android vendor bragging about features seems desperately trying to conceal that those features are actually a rip-off of apps on App Store(TM))



     


    Using that logic, there has been panorama photo apps in the app store for years. Why does Apple feel the need to, sadly as you put it, advertise that its built in now?


     


    And photo sphere is built into all androids (with Jellybean) standard. LG didn't build anything extra. And for that matter, there were and still are photosphere like apps in the android store as well.


     


    Its just an ad.

  • Reply 15 of 57
    What they fail to mention is that it is much harder to achieve that shot then the commercial implies.

    When people attempt to duplicate that they will be very disappointed.

    Apple focuses on simple things. That is why they did not make an App of their own for that feature.

  • Reply 16 of 57
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member


    I like that feature built-in- but have 360 panorama I've used for years that has that.


     


    In terms of the picture- if I were to hand one, I'd much rather hang the iPhone one vs the LG one.  I like to focus on the people rather than the background.

  • Reply 17 of 57
    "Imitation (even in satire) is the sincerest form of flattery."

    Of course, anyone can make a joke, good or bad, but this is definitely "a cut above" other attempts to mock Apple.

    Yet, it's still just plain ol' mocking -- toss a penny (or possibly a nickel) into their hat & keep walking. Copiers gonna copy...
  • Reply 18 of 57
    shenshen Posts: 434member
    Much like the Mac PC ads, while it is a pretty good ad, it says a lot about your product when your approach is basically to compare yourself to someone who is doing much better than you in the market.
  • Reply 19 of 57
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    @netimoon "Okay, LG is boasting about their new feature that Apple doesn't seem to offer with iPhones. Sadly for LG, there's an $0.99 app for that. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/360-panorama/id377342622?mt=8 "

    I went to their site and they never showed the ability to add vertical panorama parts to the basic horizontal panorama built into my iPhone5. Have you tried adding a layer above the initial panorama to get the equivalent of half a sphere? It sounds like LG does this and my OSX panorama software can handle a limited amount of horizontal and vertical stitching.
  • Reply 20 of 57

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by drblank View Post



    I played with the iPhone 5 panorama which was fun, but having to keep holding down the button to take a photo for 30 seconds? I don't know if I have time for that. I'm not really an avid photographer when it comes to using a smartphone, but I can see the attraction to this feature.



    I find it humorous to see what features these guys use as a way to demo the product, but sometimes these features make great demos, but aren't actually used more than right after the initial purchase.


     


    You don't hold down the button to use the feature, you simply tap the button and pan left or right.


     


    You can terminate the picture early by tapping the done button, or you can simply pan the full radius, at which time it will terminate automatically.

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