...stays together. I mean, really, we all have to work the benefits into everything we do, but this is over the top. The family discusses them while dad–sounding an awful lot like the son of longtime Smucker’s pitchman Mason Adams–reads an article about the product in the paper. Now that’s a fortuitous media buy, wouldn’t you say? Take the MTLB DanActive :30 challenge and see if you can stomach their commercial.
Love DM. Got this one in the mail chock, I say chock full of tips on making Manville a better place to live with contents like: ‘Rocking out Dad style’ or ‘Dialing for Dads,’ or my personal fav, ‘To the Dadmobile.’ If you had to write this copy, I feel your pain. You can also go to the RadioShack site where they have the whole thing online. And, anybody else a little creeped out by RS Father’s Day dad? He looks like the guy a desparate housewife calls when her real husband isn’t quite so handy.
From the “you must be joking department” comes the revolutionary Regal Guest Response System. Sounds like something Homeland Security came up with. It’s a freaking pager people. The idea being, a select person would get to be a member of the movie police in the audience, just like an air marshal on flights. (Maybe DHS did hatch this idea.) Like, if someone’s too loud, or the film is blurry, sound is bad, whatever; you page a member of the staff and they’ll come running. WTF? Let me repeat: WTF? By the time you have to page someone because they won’t shut up, the movie is ruined. By the time you have to page someone for poor audio, the movie is ruined. I’m all for improved customer service, but most theatres have digital sound and audio so I don’t see a problem there. As for loud patrons? Me telling someone to be quiet works better than a pager anyday.
Well, there’s a song for everything. Jo found a clip of the person I’d heard sing that damn song but never knew who it was. Sounds like an Eartha Kitt B-side, but Amy Winehouse is not your father’s Eartha. Instead, she comes off like the next Nora Jones/Eartha/Supremes beehive knockoff with an old-school sound and a lot of ink. After hearing her speak in interviews, you don’t expect her to sing like she does.
They’re coming out of the woodwork. No, not this one. Or this one. But this one. Jim “The Hammer” Shapiro. He sues drunks. He helps victims of airplane crashes. He does windows. WITH ONE CALL, HE DOES IT ALL PEOPLE!
In keeping with the Find True Film movie theme, this spot called HD-Bot was sent to me. Done by Goodby, the spot promotes Comcast’s HD library. However, Comcast apparently asked them to pull the ad and keep it quiet. Don’t see why really. It’s not better or worse than anything else currently running. Little on the ET/happy/nostalgic side, but not any worse than a Hallmark spot. (Unless the robot theme was too close to GM’s Super Bowl spot?
WONGDOODY has a pro bono campaign out for the Seattle International Film Festival. Being a film freak, ok, I’ll bite, even though I’m a little surprised by the claim that this international festival is the largest one in the U.S., (Sundance, Tribeca, and a host of others aren’t ahead of it? Hmmm.) Anyway, there’s a bunch of funky animation clips in support of the speed dating theme as it relates to watching a gajillion films. This in the hopes of catching that diamond in the rough. The animation work must have taken some time to do. (A concern when you’re burning studio time on a freebie.)
I need a glass after this clip. I swear this is why I want to punch walls. Here’s the winning song in the Alka-Seltzer song contest from Josh ‘gosh’ Anderson. After watching it, it’s clear Josh’s dad was in The Archies and passed down the genes. (Don’t believe me, swap out the words “Sugar, sugar” with “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz.”) Check out other entries at their website. (Just what song actually lost to this anyway?) Look, I understand the rush to ‘hiptify’ or try and make a brand appeal to a young audience, but just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Was Alka-Seltzer ever for anyone under 60?
Seriously, Nancy & Co., can’t you guys just stay at home and do your fucking jobs? You and the Dems are like the kid at Christmas who moves on to the next present before the one in front of them is even halfway opened. Bouncing from issue to issue like a 6th grader with ADD off his Ritalin drinking a six of Red Bull playing Halo 2. As if we don’t notice you can’t seal the deal on anything? What’s next on the daily To Do list, AIDS in Africa? Human rights in China? Focus on important issues–here: will McDonald’s ever have decent advertising, why Die Hard 4 is even necessary, the Yankees and their pitching.
Until real football starts, something for the other futbol freaks out there...
Memorial Day also means outdoor projects. Projects that require something to listen to or you’ll go nuts. Anything. Music. Talk radio. Whatever. And that can mean only one thing: Workforce Jobsite Radio (WJR). Like the bag o’ wires that resides in Manville, no project would be complete without my POS old-school beater: The Panasonic RX-C38 Portable Stereo Component System–with XBS [Extra Bass System].
Tim at AdFreak has a clip of the gov’s recent apology video where he admits he should’ve worn his seatbelt. Just in time for Memorial Day weekend and the ‘Click It or Ticket’ campaign that will be ramping up across the country. But this spot addresses only part of the issue: it’s meaningless in preventing accidents. Especially when you consider the cause of this one: cell phone use. His driver, a trooper, was supposedly texting the husband of the woman he was having an affair with when the accident happened–doing approximately 90 mph. Dumbass the sequel.
New PSA out from the Ad Council talks about the issue of gun crime. This is definitely a more subtle approach than the scared straight tactic from years ago, and certainly far from the charm of this spot. I usually have a problem with kids in PSAs because they almost always are there as part of someone’s agenda, but the spot works for all crime in this case. And not just those involving guns either, especially the end sequence.
Whacked spot for Glaceau’s vitaminwater. They have other spots like Kasey Kahne herding yaks or 50 Cent leading a classical orchestra called by play-by-play commentators. Looks they’re aiming for all demos with this approach in addition to their sports themes. That includes branded fake ESPN covers, buildings painted with Urlacher appearing to break through them and then his badminton spot.
ONE MORE THING WHILE I’M OUT LOOKING FOR JUST THE RIGHT PUPPY AND CONTEMPLATING MY FUTURE, WHY NOT GET SOME OF THE GEAR THAT MADE WHO I WAS BEFORE I BEGAN TO, UH, DOUBT WHO I WAS, AM, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. ONE OF MY DEEP COVER OPERATIVES PUT TOGETHER A SPECIAL PACKAGE FOR ME CALLED 10 THINGS I CAN’T DO WITHOUT. FIND IT HERE.
The once venerable all-in-one tag/headline now gone, we apparently live “In an absolute world.” Gone in this spot also is product as hero as we will all be armed with pillows in the not-too-distant future. And hopefully patience, for a s-l-o-w loading film clip. After the useless age verification page, you have to let the main page load to get the clip. (Why more brands don’t throw their spots up on YouTube is beyond me.)
In ESPN The Mag there was a story about Chinese apparel brand Li Ning losing out to one of the big boys Adidas in their bid to be official sponsor for the upcoming Olympics. So naturally, they turned to an obvious choice: sponsoring reporters. Specifically, the state-run network CCTV covering the games. All reporters from that network will wear the 
From Drudge comes word that the boys want Google to run your life for you. No matter how good “the algorithms get,” that’s going to require people to share an awful lot of personal info beyond their Amazon purchase and browsing habits to make that leap. 
Yeah. I almost had a stroke thinking that as well. Heard this version on a local NPR station from The Jimi Project and thought it was either Billy Gibbons or DLR doing a jazz cover. It wasn’t. Phil Brown sounds like he could be either of their doubles though–minus Dave’s yelps. Hendrix is usually viewed as untouchable, (SRV notwithstanding), unless you pull it off right. Here, he doesn’t try for a dead-on rendition. His Eric Johnson/Joe Satriani-like guitar playing contrasts a voice sounding at times like Robin Trower* wanting to go over the edge, but doesn’t.
Most of the ad blogs often get sent the same clips from PR people, so pardon the replay here of a spot from knoodleshop for a local country radio station in Arizona. Cue lonely husband showing up to find both his woman and his truck gone while he stays home with the blue balls she helped create—again. Yep. Sounds like the basis for a country song to me. Apparently several stations passed on airing it. The take on this was that there was an uproar over whether this should be censored or not? I don’t know. Seems tame as far as suggestive metaphors in ads go. Dolce & Gabbana’s heroin rape chic still runs, so why not let this pass.
AND THAT’S HOW YOU DO THAT PEOPLE. ONE OIL RIG. ONE CHIP. ONE DAD. DONE. CAN I MULTITASK OR WHAT? TALK ABOUT A SEASON FINALE MONEY SHOT. IT’S JUST LIKE RIDING A BIKE. FUCKIN’ A. OH, AND I COULD’VE GRABBED THE CHOPPER’S LADDER WITH MY TEETH, BUT I DIDN’T WANT TO SHOW OFF. (ACT LIKE YOU’VE BEEN THERE BEFORE, KNOW WHAT I MEAN?) AND FEAR NOT, Little Ricky Schroder WILL NOW LOOK A LITTLE MORE BADASS WITH AN EYEPATCH. I MAY EVEN HAVE TO CHANGE HOW I SPELL HIS NAME TO GO WITH THE NEW IMAGE: LITTLE RICKY SCHRODER. AND FUCKING CHLOE FINALLY SMILED, ONLY BECAUSE SHE’S HAVING A BABY. MORRIS AND HER? KID’S GONNA LOOK LIKE STEWY FROM FAMILY GUY. REST ASSURED, I CAN GET ANYONE PREGNANT JUST BY LOOKING AT THEM. 24 MILLION LITTLE CTUS READY TO ATTACK–THROUGH CLOTHING EVEN. YEAH, I’M THAT GOOD.
Internet tech chat session: 
Yikes. While I’m one of the biggest fans of the commercials, and I never judge something until I see it or at least a clip, Cavemen looks like it may be yanked halfway through the first show. Especially if this clip is indicative of the writing. (It loads slow.) This comes off to me as dumbed-down with mostly different actors than the original commercials, and sorry, but they come off as buffoons in a way. That’s why the spots work though. Clever, understated dialogue and situations with modern cavemen playing against the inherent stereotype of a cavemen.
As cool as some people think it would be to have a woman president, do we really want someone who can’t even pick out her own song? (I sure hope this means we get to also decide how much in taxes we’ll pay if she’s elected.) Anyway, her possible song choices are at left. If inclined, you can vote on her site. (Two from U2 though? She must really want a date with Bono.) Ever the Monday morning 
CAN’T HELP IT BECAUSE THAT’S WHO I AM, AND THAT’S WHAT I CARE ABOUT. AND AFTER THE SEASON FINALE? I PLAN ON CHILLING IN HAWAII, CLEANING MY HK POOLSIDE–AT NIGHT OF COURSE. AS FOR YOU PEOPLE, WELL, IF YOU WANT TO LEARN HOW I DO WHAT IT IS I DO, AND THEN, DO IT YOURSELVES? YOU CAN’T. BUT YOU CAN COME CLOSE BY TAKING A FEW LAW COURSES BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE. GO HERE NOW. DO IT QUICKLY AND FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MY COLLEGE MAJOR. THAT’S A NICE BRAND TIE-IN WITH CTU BTW. DO I EVEN SAY THE WORDS ‘BRAND TIE-IN,’ EVER? MUST BE ALL THAT TIME IN THE CHINESE PRISON REARING IT’S UGLY HEAD. SOON AS I KILL SOMEONE, I’LL FEEL BETTER.
Well, at least john st. advertising didn’t go the standard route of only a color variation on the universal ribbon symbol for Fashion Targets Breast Cancer. There’s a website and standard viral of course, which, I was not gonna be a jerk and comment considering the cause. Until I saw the clip that is. Read no more until you watch it (keep speakers turned down) and tell me what you think of the ending. Like the MTV HIV spot, both use the shock value of sudden death to drive home their points. And both executions (pun intended) got my attention, sure, but death from both diseases is anything but sudden, no? “That’s just the type of attitude we need to change, otherwise people won’t take it seriously.” Heard that arguement before and I don’t agree with it. When something startles you, you end up ignoring the message because you’re pissed at the cheap trick. It’s the kind of thing PETA does.
Freud action figure.
Sometimes you come across a story a title can’t do justice. What I thought most amazing was that the parents of the sick could still help so many others. Help them despite restrictions by their religion, and, despite any use of the internet.
This may be one of the busiest ads I’ve seen in some time, in ESPN The Mag of all places. Almost as good as this one. (Damn if the color scheme isn’t the same.) If there’s an ad out with more badvertising techniques in one place, I haven’t found it. Repeat the offer, oh, 23 times. Mention ‘FREE’ oh, like a lot. Have the owner of the company write, oh, all the copy. And it’s ONLY $15!!! It’s regularly an $85.31 value. (You can’t really see it, but yes, in the first paragraph, it actually says .31¢. We don’t round up because that wouldn’t save you money!!!!)
Well, not really. Yet another brand icon 
There’s a campaign out for ClearWay Minnesota to raise awareness for the problem of secondhand smoke, found at areyouokwiththat.com. Minnesota is a state that’s smoke-free in less than 40% of its workplaces. Which raises the question of why, if the Surgeon General says it’s bad, should laws be different in Arnifornia than they are in NYC, or wherever. (Guess cancer grow differently depending on where you live?) Anyway, the TV spots definitely play the emotion card, and there’s also print which rehashes some of the fact-based approach Truth touched on previously. I think it all works though. Of course, that’s me the non-smoker talking. Smokers are the real target here. Problem is, they could give a shit about secondhand effects. They smoke around their own kids–I doubt they care about their co-workers.
