BI Norwegian Business School: Strip

A Norwegian business school ad that wins with humor

Norwegian ad agency Try has created this humorous TV Commercial for BI Norwegian Business School in Norway.

What the “Strip” format is doing

This film is built like a short, punchy scenario where comedy does the explaining. The title “Strip” signals a reveal. The joke is the hook, and the point lands after you’ve already committed attention.

When recruitment advertising works, it makes the viewer feel the consequence of being unprepared or underestimated. Then it positions education as the fix.

In higher-education recruitment, attention is scarce and differentiation is hard. Humor and a clear scenario can compress the message into something people actually remember.

Why a humorous recruitment ad can outperform “informative” messaging

People rarely share program facts. They share moments. A comedic execution creates that moment, and it travels because it is easy to retell.

It also flatters the audience. If the viewer gets the joke quickly, they feel clever. That positive emotion transfers to the brand.

What to steal for your own recruitment marketing

  • Lead with one simple situation. One scene. One tension. One payoff.
  • Make the title do work. A strong title sets expectation and primes the reveal.
  • Earn the brand message late. Let the scenario pull people in, then attach the takeaway.
  • Keep it culturally specific, but universally readable. Local tone helps, but the human moment should translate.

A few fast answers before you act

What is BI Norwegian Business School’s “Strip” ad?

It is a humorous TV commercial created for BI Norwegian Business School, designed as a short scenario that makes a recruitment point memorable through comedy.

Who created the ad?

The film is credited to Try Reklamebyrå for BI Norwegian Business School.

Why use humor for a business school recruitment message?

Humor increases attention and recall. It also makes the message easier to retell, which helps recruitment campaigns travel beyond paid media.

What is the main creative mechanism at work?

A single situation creates tension, then the reveal resolves it. That structure delivers a clear takeaway without feeling like a brochure.

What is the biggest risk with this approach?

If the joke is stronger than the takeaway, viewers remember the gag but not the school. The brand connection has to be unmistakable in the final beat.

Yellow Pages: Location Based Banner

Here is the next generation of interactive web banners. Tel Aviv agency Shalmor Avnon Amichay/Y&R promoted the Yellow Pages augmented reality location-based app by creating a banner that does the same thing.

The banner opens your webcam and lets you see the businesses around you. Wave your hand to switch between businesses. Click a business to jump straight to its Yellow Pages listing.

A banner that behaves like the product

The clever part is that this is not “interactive” for decoration. It is a working demo of the core value proposition. If the app helps you find what is near you, the banner proves that promise immediately, inside the placement, without asking you to imagine anything.

The mechanic: webcam as context, hand wave as UI

The flow is intentionally simple. Turn on the camera. Overlay nearby business options. Use a wave to move through results. Use a click to convert curiosity into action via the listing page.

In local discovery experiences, the strongest persuasion is a live, context-matched preview of usefulness rather than a feature claim.

Why it lands: it removes the “so what” gap

Most directory and local-search advertising dies in the space between promise and proof. This banner collapses that gap. You see your own context first, then you see results, then you can act. The interaction is the explanation.

Standalone takeaway: The fastest way to make a utility app feel essential is to let people experience the “aha” moment before they ever leave the page they are on.

What Yellow Pages is really trying to achieve

The business intent is to reposition Yellow Pages as modern, digital, and situationally useful, not just a legacy directory brand. The banner also creates a clear performance path. Engagement inside the unit, then click-out to a listing that can drive calls, visits, or follow-on app consideration.

What to steal from this execution

  • Mirror the product in the ad. If the product is a tool, make the ad behave like the tool.
  • Use one gesture people understand. A wave as “next” is instantly legible. No tutorial needed.
  • Keep the ladder of commitment short. Preview. Browse. Click through. No extra steps.
  • Make the experience readable for bystanders. In shared environments, obvious motion plus clear on-screen change sells the mechanic.
  • Watch privacy optics. If you turn on a camera, be explicit that it is for interaction and context, not identification.

A few fast answers before you act

What is a “location based banner”?

It is a banner ad that adapts its content to the user’s situation, typically location or environment cues, so the ad can show relevant nearby options instead of generic messaging.

How does this Yellow Pages banner work?

It opens a webcam view, overlays nearby business options, lets you wave to cycle through businesses, and lets you click a result to open the corresponding Yellow Pages listing.

Why use a webcam at all?

Because it makes the experience feel immediate and personal. The ad becomes a live “finder” interface rather than a static claim about finding things.

What makes gesture-controlled banners risky?

Friction and variability. If the gesture detection fails or is unclear, users assume the ad is broken. The interaction must be forgiving and the feedback must be instant.

What is the safest way to replicate the idea today?

Keep the mechanic to one simple input, provide clear on-screen feedback, and ensure the user can still get value even if they do not enable the camera.

Everyone saves for something

McDonald’s with ad agency DDB Budapest have launched an interesting new campaign to promote 2 cheeseburgers for only 1 Euro. An offer so low that it gives their target audience a chance to save for things they want.

The challenge was to stand out from the usual low price campaign. So they used the iconic wrapping paper to wrap a lot of cool stuff. They partnered with all kinds of shops around the city and turned them into unusual touch points.