metro de madrid: best transit ads… ever.

I live in Toronto, a city where the only thing worse than the pathetic joke that is the Toronto Transit Commission is the hideous mockery that is it’s own lame advertising (“Ride the Rocket” anyone? Perhaps, if I had to wait 25 minutes for a rocket that would then short-turn with no explanation and only get me half-way to where I need to go – then, I guess, I’d be riding a rocket. The TTC is more like “Ride the Dinghy”? “Ride the Turtle”? “Ride your tax dollars down the drain”?) I hate the TTC and will go on about this all day; so don’t get me started, don’t even get me started.

My hate is not alleviated when you see the stunning work being done by another major transit company – Metro de Madrid. These are two of the best commercials I’ve ever seen – in my entire life. I want to fly to Spain tonight and ride the subway until I fall asleep or fall in love or get hit on or simply transcend into a higher state of spiritual conciousness – because these ads have proven to me that’s how completely fucking awesome the Madrid subway is.

They’re both so good I’m not sure which one to lead with. The first, “Transparante”, is simply one of the most well-filmed, visually-arresting ads I’ve ever seen. And, listen up TTC, it’s for a subway. This would never make it here, it’s far too ethereal and cool for the majority of North Americans to accept as advertising…

(Agency: Contrapunto Madrid. Director: Gabe Ibanez. Production: Peliculas Ponder.)

That’s not all. Why only have one mind-bendingly good ad when you can have two? Before this, I would never have thought I’d get misty-eyed at a subway commerical. This spot, “A Little History”, changed that:

(Agency: McCann Erickson Group Spain)

mtv think: “subway” + “family room”.

MTV’s social and activist network, Think, is seriously laying it down lately. In an increasingly desensitized world, they’re doing all the right things to get a message across; they know it needs to be honest, it needs to mean something, and it needs to be relatable. Especially when it comes to the treacherous, though well-meaning, tight rope walked by Public Service Announcements. We’ve all seen PSA’s that played it so safe or, conversely, were so ridiculously over the top, that they were laughable and ineffective. Like the unintentionally hilarious and impotent WSIB spots from late last year.

These new spots, directed by Michael Franzini, are perfectly suited to their goal. Realistic and relevant. They made me feel cold and put a stone in my stomach: