Copy Cats

Wow what a straight rip-off of the Fight Club scene. I mean I've heard that no idea is original anymore, but Fight Club is a pretty huge movie. I frown upon stealing in general, but did they really think people weren't going to catch this one? I guess that's why it's banned.

What Do You See In This Picture?

If you saw it the first time, you might be a pervert or I might just be a retard. Point is this uses a really interesting angle on pornography that I haven't seen before. It's appealing to people not by showing skin but by comforting them by letting them know that their kids won't be able to see how perverted they really are.

The only problem I see with this commercial is that I didn't get it the first time. I had to see the erotic tagline to realize that I should be looking for boobs, a penis, and a rear end (wow that was really politically correct of me). Unless you have TiVo, you don't have the luxury of rewinding to see this a second time and if you have TiVo you probably missed it anyways becaused you zipped through the commercials. Also, this would never fly in the US. Either way this is really fun once you get it.

Enjoy you sick, demented pervs!

"That's Kind of Our Thing"

New Hulu commercial. I love it. This concept is great. Read my Hulu blog under "...because were aliens"

We Think Therefore We Are

It's hard for me to explain it any better than the video did and you are probably tired of reading by now, but it is true that more and more people are engaging in conversation and idea creation. We must advertise something that ignites a conversation between them. The only way we can do this is by providing a message they can believe in.

This video was brought to my attention today by our guest speaker at the Miami Ad School, Domenico Vitale, creator of People, Ideas & Culture (http://www.pic-nyc.com/). His approach is that we should stop selling lies and actually provide believable, behavior triggering messages. It's not just about attitudes. It's about behavior. People change their attitudes depending on who they talk to. It's what they actually do that reflects their true intentions and their intentions are usually triggered by something they believe in.

Domenico made a point about the Obama election. People stood in line for HOURS to vote. Their patience didn't come as a result of politics or marketing. People waited in line because Obama made them believe in something. Hope and Change weren't advertisements, they were promises.

Granted, our brands arn't running for presidency, but we should highly consider all these changes occurring such as the age of "mass innovation" and create advertising that will make us proud to be a part of.

Gatorade Going Medieval on Your Ass

Gatorade has rebranded itself as simply G and in order to promote the new name and logo, it has created commercials that star a myriad of athletes in a quest for G. Initially, I thought the commercial was crap until I realized there was an extended version online that’s 9 minutes long. It is a parody of Monty Python’s quest for the Holy Grail.

I can see how this idea got sold. Putting American athletes to imitate British actors in a parody of a movie that was already a parody to begin with sounds interesting. Then you add the fact that you’re creating a “webisode “of this quest that has the potential to go viral.

Personally, I still think it’s crap. To begin with, this 9-minute mini movie probably cost a ridiculous amount of money to produce when it’s including around 10 athletes and it’s just not good. While I cracked up when I saw Kevin Garnett pet a unicorn, I think Gatorade went too far. They had excellent brand equity and now they are chipping away at it. There are too many things going on. The references are obscure and the payoff at the end with Michael Jordan’s voice wasn’t enough for me to put up through 9 minutes of bad acting and cheesy special effects.

I get it. G is trying to appeal to more than just elite athletes. It's trying to appeal to everyone. I think it's brave for them to move a beverage in a completely different direction in a category that is usually about serious, athletic advertising. I just think this brand stretched too far. That said, Usain Bolt's pet ego is completely hilarious though.

Predicting the Future

This is cool. Thought I'd share this too. God why can't I sign off already.

It's Valentines...Let's get Engaged!

Things have changed and the truth is advertising is not as simple as it used to be. This video does a fantastic job at showing how our industry has changed and how we need to make advertising that is truly worth interacting with for our clients. Advertising isnt easy anymore, which means that only the truly passionate people will survive. The ones with thick skin as Michelle Zubi once told me. Enjoy the video. I wish my Flash skills were that good.

...Because we're aliens...

I'll get some crap for this but I think this is genius. I'm taking two account planning and strategy classes and I have an appreciation for planners directing the message for creatives to do their thing. I have to believe that this type of work probably came from a good brief.

Hulu as a service is fairly simple. It's all the shows you want to watch or missed...for free. It's better than Tivo because you don't have to remember to record something you're going to miss and it's better than YouTube because it's in HD not in that pixelated webcam look. A planner could have suggested a creative to sell consumers on the idea of convenience or accessibility.

Instead, CP+B opted to use all the negative perceptions about TV to sell Hulu. People will embrace that. Some people watch TV all day and get reprimanded for being lazy and wasting their time, but the people that do that will defend it to death. They love not doing anything productive with their time. All people that watch Hulu do is productively watch TV by eliminating most of the commercials thus allowing them to watch more of their favorite programs using that extra time.

Embracing something negative is nothing new. Black people were oppressed for years by the N word and now they use it themselves to throw it back at anyone ignorant enough to still be racist. They took its power away. If this campaign works, Hulu will take away the power from the perception that watching too much TV is bad. More people will watch Hulu without being criticized.

Also, there's aliens in the plot. And that's always a plus. Also, theres Alec Baldwin. And he's right up there with aliens.

Beautiful Monster.com

Someone (that I will leave unnamed) came to guest speak at my school that was a former employee of BBDO. She is now a creative director. She said BBDO was the most boring advertising agency on earth. It was too traditional and very much like Mad Men. I think she might be wrong. These two spots by BBDO are hilarious. The moose was one of the highlights of the Super Bowl and the Battle spot is completely left field. We all know that some people's jobs suck, but they are literally showing us sucky jobs that one would never imagine. The spots use cognitive dissonance to perfection. Originality is hard to find in advertising and I personally think this is truly fresh stuff.

Also, a GoDaddy.com spot just came on while I was writing that and I almost barfed. Their advertising is so incredibly bad. Can someone tell them to stop doing their work in-house? Anyways, the Monster.com ads are great. I hope they can keep it up. I'm sure a lot of people will go on the site now that thousands of people are being laid off, but I'm not sure how successful they will be at getting jobs on Monster. No one is hiring and if you are....then hire me. I'm unemployed. HELP. Just kidding. I refuse to make this blog into a cry for help. Wait a minute I just did by capitalizing help in the last sentence. Just enjoy the spots.

It's Tantastic!

What's better than tanning at the beach?... Tanning at the office. DUH! As if getting a tan was ever a chore, now it's portable. Humans are so lazy. Did I say that outoud? Yup. Please go to www.computertan.com and experience the free trial today. I won't say anything else because I don't want to ruin it but jeez this is such a fresh, creative and brilliant angle to take on this.
:: clapping for McCann Erickson::

Have a Coke Zero and Smile!

This classic Coke commercial from the 80's was re-made for Coke Zero. It's perfect. The Steelers are back in the Super Bowl. Troy Palumalo is the best defensive player in the league just like mean Joe Green was in the 80's and Coke Zero needs a super bowl spot. All the stars aligned. The twist was hilarious. In general, I think the whole taste infringement idea is genius. I don't think it was a rip-off. It was a perfect tribute. As Bob Garfield said in AdAge, the original spot has residual value that carries on to this spot. That value was definitely used here. By far my favorite super bowl spot this year.