Monthly Archives: September 2011

TV Commercial Weekly Round Up: September 28, 2011

Posted on September 28, 2011 by | 1 Comment

New Era – “The Odd Couple”

April 8th, 2011 was the day the Trash Talking began for New Era Cap Company. Over the last 6 months, the John Krasinski, Alec Baldwin “odd couple” has developed a respectable amount of buzz on TV, views online, and an even larger amount of chemistry. The story (6 episodes and hopefully counting) has been enjoyable to watch and easy to find as New Era simultaneously seeds them online as they air on TV. This cross-media distribution strategy provides a great way for viewers to discover the “couple’s” antics through traditional media  and then dig deeper into the story (on)line. Despite spray-painting dogs, burning down houses and peeing on carpets, it manages to stay surprisingly high brow and very much witty. The acting is believable (I would hope so) and the duo plays well off each other.

This latest installment may not be quite as good as the previous ad, but it’s up there. The story plays with the notion that every male sports fan childishly believes he has some influence on the outcome of the game he’s watching. As is evident in this commercial, this belief can have some unintended, even messy consequences. As a result, the spot hits home for many viewers and  - even if you’re not a male sports fan with delusions of grandeur – it’s funny.

About.XXX – “King Gavin”

This commercial, released on 9/21/2011, advertises the new .XXX domain in a confusing, albeit entertaining manner. This spot is part of a series of commercials featuring an awkward businessman fantasizing about bigger and better things while alone in a barely furnished office. The commercial ends telling the viewer to go to about.xxx, which is fitting because at that point  I still have no idea what this commercial is about.

The new XXX domain names will be released in two parts: adult themed and non-adult themed. The domains (as well as the commercials) seem to cater much more to the adult theme in that, well, it’s XXX. On top of that it also comes with free scanning from McAfee and MetaCert, presumably to combat the reality that adult websites are cesspools for viruses (but not Trojans…). There have been many rumors about the negative effects of having a XXX domain (like having the domain easily blocked), rumors this commercials is attempting to squash? I’m still not sure.

Further research shows that the campaign is funded by the ICM Registry, a company that hopes to satisfy ICANN domain requirements by introducing transparent audience-appropriate URL extensions (.XXX and .KIDS are the first). The video currently has about 1.2 million views online, seating it in the top 1% of “viral” advertisements on YouTube, but its lack of viewer-engagements (ratings and comments) suggests many of these may be through paid placements. All said and done, I guess the commercial did what it was suppose to: it led me to www.about.XXX, where my unresolved questions from the commercial were answered. I also chuckled a bit in the process.

Xerox – “Virgin Call Center”

Xerox released this ad on Tuesday of last week, garnering very little attention on YouTube with only 408 views – half of which may be mine.  It is a longer, 2 min web spot  that plays off their shorter 30 second TV commercials. It’s worth recalling that Xerox had some rough times in the early 2000′s but seems to have been building their brand steadily in recent years, working with Ducati, Michelin, and now Virgin – a nice step forward for them.

This commercial employs some nice visual tricks for humor, which warrant repeat views to notice them all. Despite the over-the-top gags, however, it’s the passengers subtle reactions to each change that make the commercial. The only down side is that after watching this video 200 times (I said half, right?) I still have absolutely no idea what the narrator is saying. I’m so fixed on watching the passenger that I zone out the content.Even if I don’t get it this time, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for the next Xerox commercial.

The TV spot, lasting about 30 seconds, is a completely different commercial in the same airplane setting and following along the same concept. Not as clever as the viral ad, but still worth viewing. Together, these spots by Xerox follow the growing trend of cross-media campaigns that span TV and web. Expect this trend to continue.

If you’re a brand or agency in need of a commercial or viral campaign, contact us here.

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Viral Video Ad Weekly Round Up: September 26, 2011

Posted on September 26, 2011 by | 1 Comment

Puss in Boots – “The Cat Haz Swagger”

Dreamworks is releasing a new Puss in Boots movie and to promote it they are using a bit of humor by playing up the comedic aspects of the character “Puss” from the movie. In this particular ad we see Puss doing a re-make of the wildly popular Old Spice viral “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”. This marks the second time in recent months where a movie has used a notable viral approach to promote a movie. The other movie was “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” which featured several videos that were made to look user-generated and drummed up a lot of interest in the movie. While those were on a more serious note, this movie has a decidedly different tone, and presumably, age range, which begs the question: why would they parody a viral aimed at males 18-34? Never you mind, however, because if the quality and comedy are there, the internet will respond. And how has the internet responded? Quite well, with 1.1 million views in just four days. That’s pretty powerful stuff. There is no release date for the movie yet (according to their website) so we can probably expect several more of these to be produced.

Weetabix – “Chocolate Spoonsize”

Weetabix, a British company (if the name didn’t already give the it away for you), is behind this dubstep fueled ad. The dancing by this young girl is impressive, but the company ensures that the ad still caters to a younger audience by making her back-up dancers teddy bears and by giving her room a very childish feel. Dubstep, a type of music that has become vastly more popular over the past year, has finally reached the masses, because everyone knows music is no longer underground when it’s used in a commercial for a British children’s cereal. The ad is entertaining to watch because the dancing is quite good, but questions must be asked about the choice of a girl going hyperactive after eating the cereal. Regardless of your feelings on nutrition, this is a good viral, even if it is British.

DnB – “Clooney”

Thank you, random foreign bank, for producing a fantastic ad with a great twist to keep our momentum going in this round up. This viral with George Clooney and a very confused, silent, blonde woman is for the bank DnB based in Norway. The premise is that for those of us who aren’t lucky enough to wake up married next to an extraordinarily rich and influential person who will solve all of life’s problems for us, there is a bank that can do it. The random nature of the video, such as the horse head laying on the ground, is the stuff virals are made of. Having George Clooney in this ad also contributes to the popularity it’s gotten from media and blogs. This ad isn’t even raunchy, the woman is disheveled and has a fair amount of cleavage showing, but otherwise the success of this video is in its twist and clever writing. If there is one thing most virals have in common, it’s clever writing, so take note!

Google – “Google Wallet”

This Google commercial features two software engineers talking about Google Wallet and its features. Google Wallet, an app which we’ve mentioned in the past, looks really exciting. Unfortunately, these two software engineers are not. The previous Google Wallet ad with George Costanza (played by Jason Alexander) was really well done and offered a cool new direction for Google with humor in its ads, but this one is admittedly more dry and less entertaining.

Toshiba – “The Ramifications of Yes”

Toshiba’s ad showcasing the possible apocalyptic zombification of the world by not adding in a special hard drive to their new laptop has gone viral this week even though it was released a couple months ago. This ad tries to ride the wave of popularity around zombies that seemed to have peaked long ago. However, as the internet has shown us in the past, things are resurrected for no apparent reason, and this is a good example. This was a simple 30 second ad that Toshiba did a good job on. They didn’t have cinematic make-up effects or over-the-top gore, but it was still a creative idea. If they had pushed this one a little bit father, maybe made it into a 60 second spot and featured more zombie destruction or humor, the ad could’ve done even better.

If you’re a brand or agency in need of a commercial or viral campaign, contact us here.

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Viral Video Ad Weekly Round Up: September 19, 2011

Posted on September 19, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Google – “First Google Wallet Customer”

Google Wallet is a new service which utilizes Near Field Communication (NFC) integrated into Android smart phones allowing a user to sync their credit cards with an app so that they can pay at any NFC enabled pay station with a simple tap of their phone. NFC is nothing new for credit cards, it’s been around for quite some time but some people have had issues with the security related to NFC credit cards. The Google Wallet system will apparently offer more security and versatility, featuring the ability to integrate and scan coupons without the annoyance of a large paper wad to sort through. This particular feature is what this Google viral is highlighting. Whether it be receipts, coupons, or stray pieces of paper left over from a purchase, these can all be eliminated with the help of this one device.

Google must have went to some lengths to hire Jason Alexander, get the proper Seinfeld music, and then even mimic the look of New York which was shot in the old series. The video is currently going viral, but as of this writing it only has about 210,000 views, significantly less than the most popular Google ads which feature celebs. This type of live action commercial isn’t something that Google does very often, especially something which has a tinge of humor, but it would be great to see them continue to explore this space.

Jim Beam - “Bold Choice”

This Jim Beam ad which recently went viral was posted some time ago, but for no logical reason has suddenly become very popular. With a modest 120,000 views it’s clear this is a recent find. The ad features William Dafoe talking about life choices while living out life along different paths, such as a sumo wrestler and a circus performer. His narration is pretty good, but the ad as a whole is just so off the wall that it isn’t really clear how Jim Beam connects its product to the different paths alternate universes might have in store for Dafoe. Regardless, the production value and emotion in the ad are very strong.

Isang Litrong Liwanag – “Advertisement”

In Sitio Maligaya, Philippines, there is an impoverished town nestled next to a railroad in which many homes are built so close together that hardly any daylight gets in.  Out of this difficult situation some people have taken one small step to better the living conditions of many in this village by creating what is essentially a skylight made from a soda bottle.  This video is inspiring and tells a good story, and the students at MIT who developed the project have done a good job of staying off camera.  Also, if Pepsi didn’t fund any of the project, they certainly are receiving some good viral marketing out of it. You can donate to the project on their website here.

AMD – “Maximum Speed”

AMD is preparing to launch their new FX line of processors to compete with Intel’s high end offerings. To drum up some interest in the capabilities of the new FX series AMD held an overclocking event (to those who are unfamiliar, overclocking is the process of raising the recommended running frequency of a CPU as high as possible without breaking anything). During the event AMD successfully broke the 8 GHZ frequency, setting a new world record for fastest CPU. They created a video showing the competition and the (now ad) has since gone viral. The success of the overclock also gained a lot of press from various tech blogs, which has helped bolster the impending release of the chip and given it legitimacy as an Intel contender. While not the most traditional ad for a brand, it’s an effective way to showcase ones accomplishments and abilities.

Samsung – “The Way We’re Wired”

The new Samsung Galaxy S II ad is inspirational and philosophical, words that were used in the past for a Levi’s ad titled “Go Forth”. Whether this is a trend of companies trying to be bigger than themselves, or companies just trying to make the consumer believe a product will inherently motivate them into becoming someone better than they already are remains to be seen. What is evident is that there has been a dramatic tonal shift in advertising lately, and it seems to fall into two categories: copy overly sarcastic and dynamic Old Spice ads, or do the exact opposite with emotional ads like Levi has been doing lately. While this commercial is not solely a viral (it’s broadcast as well), Old Spice doesn’t keep its silly commercials off television either. Whether you love it or hate it, however, this shift in interest towards these two categories of commercials can make things quite amusing if the writing can stay unique and creative. Let us all hope, for the sake of early morning office giggles, that these important prerequisites do no change.

If you’re a brand or agency in need of a commercial or viral campaign, contact us here.

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Viral Video Ad Weekly Round Up: September 12, 2011

Posted on September 12, 2011 by | 2 Comments

Playstation – “Kevin Butler Returns”

Playstations Kevin Butler, the character they use as the VP of gaming, returns to the Playstation commercial circuit in this new ad. Kevin Butler is a similar character to Kenny Powers (The MFCEO from the K-Swiss virals) but the outlandish and over-the-top personalities of these marketing persona’s seems to resonate well with online audiences. The Playstation ads with Kevin Butler are shown on broadcast media as well, however, and are not nearly as edgy as Kenny Powers K-Swiss virals. In fact, this most recent Playstation ad is more reminiscent of Old Spice ads (That minotaur line, for example) then of traditional Playstation gaming. They use more gamer jargon and have a faster pace as well. It is almost guaranteed that there will be more ads like this getting progressively more insane to ramp up the excitement around the holiday season and the influx of games that are released around that time.

Nike – “Back From the Future”

The previous post, highlighted by a Gizmodo article revealing the reason behind the Nike/Back to the Future collaboration, is corroborated in this most recent video. Right now there are about five of these Nike ads that are
going viral. While it is unusual for us to post back to back ads by the same company, the cause they are promoting is worth supporting our end as well. The ad itself is pretty good, sans Kevin Durant and a horribly cheesy pun (he made like a tree and left *shutters*). Christopher Lloyd is as awesome as ever playing Doc Brown and Bill Hader is solid as the shoe salesman. The shoe, the Nike Mag, will light up for four hours, and is rechargeable. The shoe is officially on Ebay now, and according to the ad 1,500 pairs will be auctioned off. We wish Nike the best in their effort to raise money to find a cure for Parkinson’s and applaud their use of viral video in order to drum up interest in the cause.

Nike – “McFly’s Closet”

At first glance this commercial won’t make sense to a lot of younger viewers. Actually, at first glance this video won’t make a lot of sense to anyone who hasn’t read something about the back story attached to it. This video features a closet full of Nike Mags from Back the Future II, which the internet rumor mill has suggested might mean there is going to be a new Back to the Future movie. The video has earned almost 200k views in two days, so it’s been a good investment on Nike’s end as well. The ad itself is very simple; just a slow dolly shot through this room full of shoes, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped the buzz around it. This is not the only video that Nike has created with this same theme. A similar video features Doc Brown and the DeLorean crashing into a store front after appearing, in classic BTTF fashion, out of thin air. The store is full of the same Nike Mag sneakers. One other interesting thing to note is that the uploader of this video is “DocEmmettBrown88″. Sometimes the most popular ways to drum up interest, as seen by the marketing strategy of the new Planet of the Apes movie, is to leave the user guessing for something. As for now, we just have to sit back and wait for the reveal.

*Update*

According to this Gizmodo article, the Nike Air Mags are real and being sold in limited supply to benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation to fight Parkinson’s.

Minecraft – “1.8 Trailer”

Minecraft’s newest update has been highly talked about for some time now and it looks like it is getting closer to being released. Even in today’s era of visually stunning graphical gameplay, Minecraft still seems to carry a heavy following of players thanks to its inherently entertaining style. The lovers of Minecraft continue to propel these gameplay trailers into viral status, with this video reaching 750k views in a single day. The video itself contains no dialogue, just a simple sound track with title cards, yet this does not seem to have diminished the popularity of this video. Sometimes all you need is a built in audience for videos to go viral, so start recruiting!

If you’re a brand or agency in need of a commercial or viral campaign, contact us here.

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