Monthly Archives: November 2011

TV Commercial Weekly Round Up: November 30, 2011

Posted on November 30, 2011 by | 2 Comments

Target – “One Minute Past Thanksgiving”

Well, we know it’s not even December yet (1 day away) but it seems that the holiday spirit of Christmas has arrived, as per usual, the day after Thanksgiving. We’ll try not to have the next month of TV Commercial Roundups filled with holiday cheer…but no promises. Our first commercial this week hits this concept of ‘rushing to put up the Christmas lights before December’, right on the head.

Target has put out a bevy of new Christmas ads with the slogan “Santa has Elves, You have Target”. A few of them are nostalgic, some a little romantic, but most are just plain funny (even a little nutty). Although this particular ad isn’t knock ‘em out hilarious, it’s enjoyable…what’s not to enjoy about the holidays, especially Christmas (or the idea of it)? Now, now, let’s not get into the politics of what Christmas “actually” is and all the other hooha about religion – when it comes down to it, this time of year should be about giving AND receiving; for most people, it’s a great time of year no matter what your affiliation is. I apologize to those who hate it.

Back to the fun stuff: Target has done a good job with advertising holiday cheer and fun while providing their viewers with a  solution to the challenges they may face, which are obviously all at Target. While Target can’t solve all your holiday problems (family?) it probably does supply solutions to almost all of the aesthetic issues you may come across this season of greetings.

Ancestry.com – “Santa”

Sticking with the Christmas theme, Ancestry.com recently released a few commercials starring the one and only Santa Claus. Although, according to the commercials, he’s not actually the “one and only”…in fact, he’s got quite the lineage; who knew he was related to the toothfairy? I may have been able to guess this when I was younger, but I can’t quite hear the reindeer bells anymore, so of course, in my mind, there is no way they are related. Then again, I thought they didn’t actually exist…

Beyond the trivial banalities of  (spoiler alert) Santa and the Toothfairy not being real, we can all agree that Ancestry.com has done a pretty decent job at having fun with fairytales. Whoever is playing Santa in these commercial spots gives an enjoyable demeanor to the character who is a bit awestruck by his Ancestors, but still just as jolly as ever. Who knew Santa could be surprised by what he found on the internet? That’s not a challenge, by the way.

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: November 28, 2011

Posted on November 28, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Samsung “The Next Big Thing”

Apple users have been targeted and stereotyped for years, especially since Apple began to grow in popularity in design based industries. Traditionally the battle has been between PC and Mac users when it comes to making fun of each others user base, but Samsung has stepped up to target Apple in an entirely new arena, the cell phone market. This is significant because while Apple is a juggernaut within the cellphone industry, they have not been outright targeted like this before. As a computer manufacturer, they have taken shots from Microsoft on a regular basis, but this parody, as funny as it is, exemplifies the power Apple is having on the cell phone market. Samsung goes for the jugular as they take shots at the fanatical customers willing to stand in line for hours and make fun of the users who will only buy Apple products because they consider themselves creative. Obviously Apple has done their fair share of making fun of competitors (remember those Mac vs PC ads?) and this one was clever enough to be giggled at even by Apple product owners (such as ourselves). That being said, Samsung is clearly concerned by the iPhone’s success.

Kohl’s “Rebecca”

Ironically popular YouTube icon Rebecca Black can’t seem to escape the spotlight, and this ad by Kohl’s reinforces that fact. Kohl’s conveniently, like through providence not by design, released their ad at around the same time Rebecca Black’s new single Person of Interest came out. Even with the help of a well known name, Kohl’s Rebecca Black Friday ad hasn’t garnered only 300,000 views and a 1:2 like to dislike ratio. The comments are just as scathing, but it’s hard to say whether people hate this song solely because of its association with Rebecca Black, or because they are genuinely annoyed by how terrible this song truly is. By now you might be asking yourself “how can they get away with this?” Well look closely my friends, at :08 seconds you can spot Rebecca Black in the flesh with a red jacket and purple hat on. She shows up earlier when the ad begins behind the main lady, and then later on at around :12 seconds the lady steals something from her cart. If Kohl’s was planning on becoming ironically or annoyingly popular like the original Black Friday song they could have utilized more of Rebecca in the commercial, or even had her star in it. However, this ad is still a pretty good idea in my opinion, but they could’ve played more with Rebecca Black’s image in order to get more views.

Old Spice “Motorcycle”

Old Spice has released its first new commercial since the mediocre Fabio vs Isiah Mustafa competitive ads. This one features the same visual effects we’ve come to love from Old Spice ads, but doesn’t feature any of the traditionally witty and humorous dialogue. Instead, the dialogue is replaced with advanced visual effects and a motorcycle. The magic of this ad begins as the pale, well-fed man takes a wiff of the Old Spice body wash scent Swagger, and starts to shed his exterior persona in exchange for something a little more conventionally attractive. As his visual insecurities are being crumbled away revealing his inner badass the other men in the ad start to crumble away as well. In traditional Old Spice fashion the men take a completely different tact than the main character, with one turning into a bear and the other one into a woman. There’s a lot to be said about these two choices, but it’s probably safe to assume there’s no reason to read into this choice of metamorphoses. The ad ends with the main character, now a handsome tanned man shirtless on a motorcycle, paired with a hot tub side-car driving along the coast of a tropical island. While this ad was funny, it could be time for Old Spice to rethink their traditional approach and reinvent viral advertising all over again. Considering how many ads are just now copying their style, it seems like the right time for them to abandon ship and forge ahead into a new style.

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

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TV Commercial Weekly Round Up: November 23, 2011

Posted on November 23, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Chevy – “Nick and Hunting”

In the spirit of the holidays, Chevy has introduced a new campaign staring the one and only “Nick”. Hopefully you got that this is in reference to good old Saint Nicholas, otherwise known as Santa Claus. It’s possible this is a cheap politically correct way of throwing Santa Claus into the mix, but we’re pretty sure it’s simply playing off the average viewers knowledge of Mr. C’s stereotypical look and asking, “what would you do, if Santa was your Car Salesmen?”

Each ad in this campaign plays with different aspects of the Santa character, such as milk and cookies, is his beard real and even his reign deer – which leads us to our ad in question. Jolly old Nick, like the great Chevy salesmen he is, begins a conversation with a customer who explains that he’d love a truck for hunting…deer in particular. The customer gets one look at Nick and quickly changes his story (Santa doesn’t want you hunting his reindeer now, does he?). What ensues is a bit long and overdone, but awkwardly funny enough that it’s enjoyable. Reminiscent of a Seinfeld or an Office sketch – it’s fun to see this customer crash and burn in front of Santa…Nick…whatever.

When all is said and done, Chevy did do the smart thing and cut the commercial down to a 30 second spot, which does lack a bit of the humor from the original but is much better suited for the television audience. Looking forward to seeing what other idiosyncrasies Chevy can come up with for ol’ Nick in future commercials.

The Shelter Pet Project – “Sandbox”

The Shelter Pet Project has been around for awhile with some pretty funny commercials staring your favorite lovable pet, complete with talking monologue. They started out with cartoons, progressed to the E*TRADE baby technique of making the mouths move and finally for their most recent campaign have completely internalized the animals discourse.

This looks to be a good move and is quite a bit funnier than the older versions. The talking mouths are ok, but quite unnatural. It always seemed like animals with mouths that move like a humans, especially since they obviously lack the same muscular structure, is just creepy. The day dogs learn how to curl their R’s…we’re out.

The Shelter Pet Project makes some funny commercials that have just enough humor to keep you  interested in what the project actually is. It isn’t hard to figure out that it’s a commercial for adopting a dog or cat and once you found yourself at the website, it’s pretty hard not to want to adopt one. The personalities of each of the animals in their commercials are very fun and we hope they continue to put out more of these. It’s like viral cat videos, but with the animals thought process provided for us…what’s next…catvertising?

Samsung – “Next Big Thing”

This week, Samsung decided to grow some apples and pick a few fights (more puns!).  At first it would seem that Samsung is touting that the release of their next phone will come with long lines of adoring fans waiting for the day it launches – this idea turns quickly, though. These “fans” seem a bit too obsessed about waiting in line, and a bit too concerned with the updates and all around just a bit too fanboy cliche…they sound more like a different company.

Then comes the ‘shocking’ reveal – these are iPhone fans, not samsung fans waiting in line. All the Samsung fans are outside, doing every day activities and enjoying the use of their 4g phones with super big screens. The iPhone users, who start to ask questions (uh oh, Apple) get a taste of the Samsung and they seem to like it. Except of course for the grand hipster-cliche-stereotype of them all: the “too creative for samsung” guy, who’s actually just a barista.

We have to give Samsung some props for this particular pie thrown in apples direction. They do bring up some serious concerns for iPhone users and ‘solve’ them with their own phone while providing funny back and forth banter between the two users (even though Samsung has had some security issues of their own). When iPhone was first released, comparing the two would be like comparing apples to oranges…completely different products – but as the market shifted towards the android, it seems Apple may actually have some cleaning up to do. It’s not like Apple never tried to start a fight with anyone…

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: November 21, 2011

Posted on November 22, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Blizzard – “Chuck Norris, Hunter”

Blizzard, creator of the game World of Warcraft (popularly known as WOW), has released several commercials in the past featuring pop-culture icons to promote their game. Mr. T and Chuck Norris are just a couple ironic celebrities used in these ads, but the marketing is effective when looking at the target audience. The internet savvy users of WOW are familiar with memes such as Chuck Norris, which surely helped this commercial go viral. With nearly 700,000 views in just a week it would seem those who celebrate the now several years old “Chuck Norris as an internet icon” phenomenon have not waned in their enthusiasm. The commercial is pretty funny and creates some new “Norrisisms” – my favorite has to be in the description of the ad which goes like this: “Chuck Norris didn’t break a sweat filming the newest World of Warcraft television spot. Instead, he made the director cry and then cooled himself with the tears.” While the game is seven years old, it still has a massive following, however, two weeks ago it was announced that Blizzard lost 800,000 subscribers last quarter and two million subscribers in the last year, which begs the question, is this commercial trying to regain some of that user base?

Fiat – “Seduction”

Italian car maker Fiat has released this very sensual commercial featuring a gorgeous woman and a man with Michael Cera-esque awkwardness. The ad has some pretty steamy interactions with the woman and coffee froth, as well as her provocative posture when we are first introduced to her. She is first upset when she spots the man staring at her but quickly changes her tone and begins to seduce him. Just as he is about to kiss her, he is shot back into reality. The reveal of the woman actually being a car is one of the best twist endings of a commercial in some time. It’s also quite funny and unexpected. The way the woman beckons and teases this guy is how many car enthusiasts feel when they see a nice car on the street. He is drawn in by her elegant form and aggressive nature, specific qualities the car makers wanted to show off of this car. The execution was quite good. With over 260,000 views in just two days this viral has taken off for a variety of reasons, but will likely continue to stay popular for its seductive and humorous tone.

Nescafe – “Hypnotist”

This is proving to be the weekly viral video post that showcases the best production quality internet virals have to offer, while underwhelming us with their poor view counts. Enter this Nescafe ad. It has beautiful cinematography and some excellent special effects which is why one must question its view count of just under 50,000. Granted, the ad doesn’t offer anything inherently viral, but it does suggest some bigger philosophical ideas about how we need to open our eyes and see what’s going on around us. This is shown by the frantic world that the ad begins with juxtaposed against the calm that the hypnotist brings. It can be assumed this hypnotist is an allusion to coffee, which suggests that with the help of Nescafe you too can calm your hectic morning down. Without getting too in depth with commentary revolving around how distracted people are on a daily basis, it’s fair to say this ad helps put life in perspective in some respects. On the other hand, it’s an ad that’s for a coffee brand which suggests that the aforementioned coffee will give its consumer a clarity of mind that will ingest and dissect all that the world has to offer.

State Farm – “Eat, Fry, Love”

William Shatner is brilliant in this over-the-top PSA sponsored by State Farm to help keep us safe during Thanksgiving. Oil fires are violent and fast. One needs only to watch this video attached by State Farm which illustrates the speed at which things can go from calm to catastrophic. So please, heed Mr. Shatner’s warning and use the dingle dangle in conjunction with a thawed turkey and reasonable amount of oil to prevent burning your house down or losing forearm hair. At three minutes long I was hesitant to give this ad a chance, but William Shatner lured me in, and he didn’t disappoint. This ad stayed consistently funny while still managing to be informational. With a very low view count of 15,000 this ad isn’t gaining much notoriety. However, it was released early last week and has potential to gain momentum as we get closer to Thanksgiving and the armchair quarterbacks decide to become masters of the fryer as well. State Farm has a vested interest in making sure homes don’t get burned down from turkey fires this Thanksgiving. As an insurance company it’s in their best interest to try and keep their costs down, so why not release a happy PSA (which is much preferred to the scare tactic commercials that drunk driving ads traditionally use) to promote sharing? This is a wonderful way to get people talking about the subject and this video is perfect to share on Facebook with your friends. Few things could be more horrific than burning your house down during the holidays or severely burning a family member, so stay safe and spread the message.

Nokia – “The Amazing Everyday”

Nokia has released this viral featuring people doing common things in a slightly more exciting way. The ad starts off strong with a bacon and eggs breakfast shaped as skull and crossbones, then goes into some more interesting things, like Einstein etched into the back of a dirty car window. The spot essentially showcases people making the most out of everyday situations that could otherwise be seen as routine or mundane. The tone of this ad encourages people to dance while they do the dishes or to try operating heavy machinery with their feet instead of hands. While the ad doesn’t show much of the phone that this video is selling it suggests the phone will offer its users a different method to do everyday things, like check Facebook or e-mail. While not an exceptionally innovative ad it has still managed to get nearly 400,000 views,  quite impressive for a commercial that doesn’t offer the blockbuster quality of last weeks Razr ad. Like all good viral campaigns, this one integrates Facebook with a link out at the end of the commercial inviting users to explore more about the phone.

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

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