3dfx Voodoo5
From 3dfx

View the ad: Page 1 or Page 2

Marketing video card chipsets is always tough.  After all, how do you make a green computer add-on card sexy?  We’ve seen some horrible examples of card companies like ATI trying to hook into the cool cachet, but 3dfx’s latest campaign for the Voodoo 5 tells a great story about what the chip can do for you.  With the tagline, “Thank God everything’s not powered by Voodoo5,” this ad features a clever over-powered microwave gag. (See the scans of the ad).  You may have also seen 3dfx's more risqué ad featuring an over-powered hairdryer.

Besides the clean and humorous setup, the text here is straightforward and relevant to gamers.  A ton of players don’t know what “full-scene hardware anti-aliasing” even means, but 3dfx goes on to explain that it “instantly sharpens and smoothes the games you already own,” something that makes sense to everyone.  All of the sudden, the ad is accessible to all, not just the techno-philes, and that a feat in and of itself.

We seldom see a 3D-accelerator ad done right.  This is one of them.

Grade: A