Ramp’s Tony Hawk universe and the evolution of auteur creative
Financial companies have Uno Reversed from their dry, stuffy ads of old, but Ramp’s wry, reference-rich Tony Hawk outing is ahead of the curve in any industry.
LinkedIn might be filled with stories that culminate in tenuous conclusions around b2b finance, but the actual world of b2b finance is apparently entering an impressive era of self-awareness.
Ramp's latest film starts like a deadpan comedy short before shifting through some nostalgia-tinged cultural references from Hawk’s peak era.
The skater is hunted by the "Ollie-garchy", a shadowy skateboarding mafia led by Jackass’ Bam Margera.
After a period in Witness Relocation, Hawk finds himself on a Wall Street trading floor, where he becomes ’Anthony Stock’. Retro gaming sequences ensue, nodding to his famous PlayStation title, and the end result is a realisation that Hawk probably would’ve smashed it at whatever he put his mind to. (Hard to disagree, frankly).
Part of the humour here is in the premise that Tony Hawk has a lifelong experience of being told he "looks like Tony Hawk", but there’s much to savour for fans of this era’s subculture through its subtle in-jokes and references.
For the financial sector, this is well within its slow evolution towards ‘cool’, but we’d argue Ramp’s effort is something of a peak, with the company building an entire fictional universe and aesthetic around the product in the way Liquid Death and, last week, Oat Cult have taken on.
Our take
A younger me would’ve baulked at the prospect of a financial software ad being entertaining, yet here we are.
A firm grip on nostalgia is part of the success here, but it’s also part of a wider shift towards Adland employing smart direction to hone brand worlds and storytelling in a way that goes beyond ‘cinematic’ and into auteur territory.
The creative industry is no stranger to employing great directors - as seen in Mont Blanc’s recent effort—but it's rare that a visual style truly becomes the brand’s own.
We cautiously suggest Ramp has achieved that here, as has Puma.
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