Crazy Canon Camera time!

CANON - Freeze Tag from Saman Keshavarz on Vimeo.

Cool stop-motion live-motion thing, but if someone dropped my camera like that? Be somewhere else.*

*Not that, you know, I’ve ever dropped a camera before. Maybe.

“That's a funny spot!”

Bud Light - Dog Training - (2009) :30 (USA)

The current Bud Light Too light, Too heavy spots are running as you know by now. The dog version came on during last week’s NFL games, and, sitting with a bunch of hard-drinking non-ad pros, all you heard over and over when this or the nail gun spot came on was “That’s a funny spot!” Whereas I’d go the difference is plausibility, it’s easy to forget that the other half of the audience thinks these are the shit.

I return you to your Friday.

AdVerve Server Fun Fixed.

The squirrels that chewed through the servers’ wires have summarily been dispatched and all AdVerve shows are available again. Download you some:

When nature calls, will you answer?

Rhett & Link’s latest. Rhett wonders about the reaction, but I think the spot misses some of that local flavor slash interaction with real people found in their previous spots.

The man from LOX.

Except for the one grisly NSFW scene near the end, this has to be the strangest training film I’ve ever seen. Part safety, part bad acting, part wtf. Courtesy of your Uncle Sam.

Seatvertising, first blood part II

School busvertising, air sickness bagvertising. They didn’t think of the backs of seats sooner? And look, it's for a cruise line? Isn’t that some kind of inverse cannibal advertising logic? Why look at travel ads while traveling? “Hey, I’m at 30,000 feet—let me book a cruise.” Some media planner is going “Studies show that 65% of airline passengers often go on cruises.” Here’s the thing, even if I was headed to a cruise? I ALREADY HAVE MY TICKET. Why not just make the whole interior one giant ad. Maybe then they can afford to wave fees for that extra bags.

Captcha or comment spam?

Nope. Not a new bit. It's riptide conditions out there people, so, word verification measures in effect for now.

AdVerve - Episode 6 - The French Connection

This episode includes...

Fred. Angela interviewed digital generalist Frédéric-Gérard Leveque for a unique take on the ad scene in Paris and the state of agencies in general. One thing that comes to mind after listening to him is that regardless of the solutions he talks about, you realize the problems facing ad agencies in France are things that ad agencies deal with all over the world. WE ARE NOT ALONE.

Five minutes with... the other half of AdPulp, Danny Goldgeier, or “Danny G,” as he’s called on the streets. He talks about getting out of the cubicle a little more. (Check him out on Twitter.)

Topic timestamps:

02:54 – 1. Intro with Fred
04:02 – 2. Rethinking the big agency model
09:15 – 3. We can do it all mindeset. Digital vs. traditional
10:16 – 4. Big brand but multiple shops
11:51 – 5. Where do big shops turn - connecting the dots
16:52 – 6. Agency silos
17:29 – 7. Finding the idea guy on staff
19:50 – 8. Taxi. When too many is too much
21:41 – 9. Lot of hands = lot of handlers
25:14 – 10. The role of search consultants
28:54 – 11. Crowdsourcing
31:24 – 12. French agencies doing it right
33:20 – 13. Sweden! (And praise to Farfar, whose name we all forgot until the end.)
35:01 – 14. Improving the French ad scene
37:01 – 15. Other European work
37:58 – 16. France’s digital drive
39:15 – 17. Every idea for itself
42:35 – 18. Can't we all just get along?
43:29 – 19. Raising Gen(eration) Tech
47:08 – 20. Bad questions, not bad solutions
48:28 – 21. Wrap-up and strategy planner roles
50:32 – 22. Final thoughts on Fred
54:20 – 23. Five mins with... Danny G.
58:30 – 23. That’s a wrap

Download the show directly here.

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Send questions, comments or requests for newsletter inclusion to advervepodcast [at] gmail [dot] com.

Gatorade’s Replay—Sports redemption slash product placement.

The next step in reality programming crossed with branded entertainment? REPLAY from Gatorade and TBWA\Chiat\Day. It’s a new take on Joes vs. Joes as they replay history 15 years after the fact. (A throwback idea to Kurt Russell and Robin Williams 25 years ago in Best of Times. Yeah, no, it is.*) This first show, it’s the Easton Area Red Rovers vs. the Phillipsburg Stateliners trying for redemption. Of course, it has to with football, so it’s not a stretch for the brand to a attract a mostly guy audience. (Also helps having Super Bowl QBs Peyton and Eli Manning in the episode.)

I just wish they did one for kickball. I got called out in the 4th grade once and I still say I was safe. We would’ve gone undefeated that year. Undefeated.

*Don’t get all Law & Order disclaimerish on me either: “The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event.” Please. Ripped from today’s headlines is all they know.

Eh, screw it—why not just pay people to use stuff.

It’s where we’re headed, no? In some ways, Matthew Lesko is like your crazy uncle. (If, you have one.) At times part consumer advocate on the order of Ralph Nadar, at others, whacked pitchman with Riddler suit. But I got this email blast that made me do a double-take.

It says instead of spending a ton of money on TV spots (and the agencies who run them), he’s offering that money as $5 rebates to people to go to his website and try his service. (The catch is that you have to sign up for a $1 7-day trial to get the five back.) But, it’s just crazy enough for larger brands to try in times like these.

Because while talking about conversation ripples and influencers is nice, in times like these? Money talks—that shit walks. We need less involved descriptions of how we buy stuff or “talk” to brands and more practical things that have tangible value.

Of course, rebates are nothing new. At their core, they’re direct response. (Look at the spin Denny’s put on it with their free meal promotion last Super Bowl.) There, it had the support of major media behind it. But if Lesko is avoiding TV to get the word out and can drive traffic to the offer, then he’s right, isn’t he?

Why spend for impressions that don’t guarantee anything when word of mouse and earned media does the job for you?

The piece on Denver Egotist about the underwater billboard drew an interesting comment. Someone wondered if it wasn’t the discount that drew people to buy more than any whacky stunt, and it’s a valid point. How do you know it wasn’t?

Talking with a friend about promotions that brands run, and concept of Schooner Tuna marketing came up. (It’s from a scene in Mr. Mom where the fictional CEO of Schooner Tuna basically rolled back prices until things were better *cue flag prop at end* Sales were insane.

Fictional, yes, but we were trying to think of another brand recently that has agreed to any kind of serious longterm rollback like that, and we couldn’t. I don’t mean small discount or $5 Subway.

He applied the theory to pets. Because of the high cost of keeping them is as much as kid depending on the breed, a dogfood company could own the market if just they came out and agreed to cut prices by half. Then, in a year, the price reverts.

Or say ketchup. In a category of condiment sameness, wouldn’t a price rollback be a major differentiator? If Heinz 57 was suddenly half, what other catchup would you buy? (His other point by the way: Name a third catchup in the category. I couldn’t.)

The point?

Not sure, except that at the rate P&G or Unilever claim they’re rewriting agency procurement rulebooks, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go direct to the consumer this Super Bowl with some kind of drastic price rebate, rollback or wild offer on several of their products. Take the million dollars you want to give to just two people for a user-gen TV spot and share the wealth.

I would.

But wait, there’s more...

- In the future, all outdoor will be underwater.
- Why I don’t swim near Antartica ice flows.
- Taking a hegemonic dump on architectural pretentiousness.
- Roguemobile book tour fact-checking fun.
- For all your medieval tent needs.
- Design Catwalk.
- Oh look kids, a twouchebag.
- Prison reform does work.
- FB CAN do some good afterall.
- A different spin on shadow puppets.
- Popup book of phobias.
- Flannelus, what say you?

So much for Lebron's Hummer.

Was thinking back to all the attention about him getting that thing—and now every NBA fan imagines life with him on their team after he becomes a free agent next year. So much for Hummers. What will your city give?

The British are coming—to take your healthcare.

Like the founding fathers, brilliantly framing or bookending the debate with a then vs. now British jab, the anti-public option coalition is growing strong. Although, I think the questions that need to be asked aren't these, rather, shouldn't they answer: “How is a public option worse than what we many currently have?” Eh, details.

Jeff Van Gundy? Coach. Actor!

Forget shoe deals. An athlete hasn’t completed the circle of life until they appear on both Sportscenter AND get their own ESPN spot. The network’s done a good job of expanding its This Is Sportscenter vibe over to their NBA coverage. They’ve had a series of spots out for a while now using NBA stars in various scenarios with the EPSN RV. Shaqtus may be stretching things but the rest on their YouTube page are solid. (Some of them aren’t commercials.)

The Wrong Questions Episode.

A last-minute Beancast appearance adds to my AdRants and MTLB blogging fun this week. Movie-goers in attendance were Hadji Williams, Aaron Strout and Duane Forrester from MSN. We covered schtuff like Razorfish’s FEED and why nobody can agree on statistics. Then we get into the dudes who have never kissed a girl—no, not ham radio operators—but COD players. And other assorted stuff we can’t mention in public. Download the show directly here. You can also follow us on Twitter: TheBeanCast, mtlb, Hadji, Duane and Aaron.

Tags: The Beancast

When heroes fall.

Not that they’re heroes, just needed a grabber! Two things about two people...

First, why does Morrissey now look like my dad after he just finished clearing branches? He’d be at home in a Miller High Life spot.

(Okay, so taking a bottle off the head was bush league, but my dad would’ve jumped out into the audience, beat the shit out of the dude, then hopped back up on stage mid-song. No, he would’ve.)

Then there’s Travolta.

John, John, John. How’s that saying go again? You never have a second chance to make a good... second chance? Headed down fast after the Look Who’s Cashing A Check franchise when Quentin performed career CPR. (10 so-so films to 2 great ones is the new approved standard I believe.) Vincent Vega putting him back on Hollywood’s serious role radar.

Still, the signs were there as another slide appeared in the works.

For every Civil Action or Phenomenon, there was a Lucky Numbers. Originally mastering badass in Pulp Fiction and ultra-cool in Get Shorty without even trying, subsequent roles in Broken Arrow, Swordfish and Be Cool tried hard to recapture “the magic.” (It’s almost back with the recent Pelham remake. Almost.)

Personally, I think it was the temptation to work with Howie Long that started the second fall from grace.

Now, I see a trailer with not only Robin Williams for Old Dogs (hilarity ensues!), but Wild Hogs II? TWO? SO many unanswered questions I guess that they need a sequel to work shit out.

Not sure how many more Pulp Fictions Tarentino has lined up.

Because nothing says 7-10 split like natural disaster.

I can’t believe bowling and all its bad metaphors have been hiding all this time. It’s an old spot with Pete Weber that still runs (as it did today), but financial services and their hack dead horse beating themes have nothing on... STORM! *cue lightning SND FX*