Claussen, which has asked us for years to judge pickles by their snap, takes its chances on online "viral" advertising with this video for its "World's Most Excellent Pickle" campaign.
The premise: a series of "pickle fitness" tests were conducted. The footage was boring, so two comedians were tapped to ad-lib over it, Mystery Science Theater 3000-style. It is not funny, and the sight of pickles being systematically snapped by the accordion-looking machine only left us with a dull, empty ache in our chests: is this our lives?
Yeah. Yeah, it is.
And I like how on YouTube, the video is disseminated by "funnystuff75." Way to be obvious, Mister Obvious.
Imposed on us (and now YOU!) by Draft FCB.
Got a problem? What you need is a NASCAR driver who knows nothing about you and talks in metaphors. Try not to go racing out to buy Tylenol all at once.
Bravo, except not, to Deutsch/NY.
Like suiting up for epic battle - or is it un-suiting, this new Levi's commercial evokes...no, that's too fancy a word...throttles an adrenaline-fueled, intense rush for an odd combination of street dancing/jumping/fighting/flying/floating. Prior to all this dancing/jumping/fighting/flying/floating, we get a cooing female intoning, If you undo the buttons, loosen the screws, shake off the ropes...baby...ain't nothin' gonna knock you done."
It's unclear how this sells jean but if, while viewing, you plug in your external speakers and turn the volume up really, really loud, it almost makes you want to run out and buy a pair of Levi's just so you, too, can float around like these "street playas."
At least it's an actual commercial instead of those stupid, fake videos.
Before we get into this story, let's make sure everyone is on the same page regarding User-Generated Content. Thanks to Brickfish, which just launched a User-Generated Content campaign for Family Circle and eBay, we have this handy explanation.
"The campaign relies on User-Generated Content [get that??? USER-GENERATED CONTENT!] to reach women across the Web. Brickfish campaigns are designed to spark the creation of brand-focused UGC [that's USER-GENERATED CONTENT, by the way] such as blogs, images, video and audio. Brickfish's content sharing tools enable anyone to view and review submissions, vote on their favorites, and share them with friends and peers using email, Instant Message and postings on hundreds of social networking sites including Facebook, MySpace and many more [get that" MANY MORE!!!]. Brickfish campaigns become extremely viral [that's VIRAL, people! VIRAL! VIRAL is cool!] using a peer-to-peer marketing approach."
Isn't USER-GENERATED CONTENT cool? Neat, huh?
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And by "understanding," that is to say "We'll buy your ad space, you write us up nice and pretty."
A funner statistic: one in five senior-level marketers admit their organizations have purchased advertising in exchange for an online news story, likely even favorable. These figures are up slightly from last year (17 percent versus this year's 19 percent), when five percent admitted to either paying editors or giving them gifts in exchange for upbeat coverage. It's all here, sugar booger.
And just so you know? Yeah, presents, particularly of a monetary or vice-oriented variety, work a lot better than lengthy pitches that start with "I am such a fan!" Products work too. That's what's called "market research."*
Image credit: Delightful Deliveries, which has yet to surprise us with gift-wrapped gratitude in exchange for pushing its logo in this piece.
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- McCain puts Obama on the same "soar high, fall hard" platform as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Probably because they're the only celebrities he knows. I like how the ad cuts to happy floaty music and a soft McCain profile. What a guy.
- See Microsoft-paid blogger give transparency a go for the i'm talkathon. Yeah. You heard me. Transparency.
- Enfatico's having trouble with that whole "being creative" thing.
- method products: so much more than hand syrups and toilet bowl cleaners. Think of them as a summer salad that doesn't know how to capitalize proper nouns.
- TiVo says relevant ads don't get skipped.
- Wendy's cutesy "good good" ad is objectively disgusting.
Though it's likely they had some, Lisbon agency Torke could have used a bit more help identifying the "soul" of FOX's Friday Night Lights, which debuted locally July 20. The guerrilla campaign they created, which involved the gratuitous use of bare midriffed cheerleaders, hardly captured the essence of the show.
Oh sure, the show has cheerleaders in it and centers around a high school's quest for football greatness but those two elements are just a backdrop for the true heart of the show - an examination of family life, interpersonal relationships and life's challenges in small town Texas. The T and A aspects of this promotion hardly do the show justice.
Then again, a dissertation on the woes of abortion, racism, poverty, career choices, physical disability and the difficulties of parenthood wouldn't exactly capture the same attention a few mini-skirted, hot cheerleaders most certainly did.
Hoping to tap into disdain for cheesy film cliches, Sprint chose Union Editorial to refine a set of movie trailer-style spots. The star? Sprint Instinct.*
In "Launch," a couple outruns cops in a high-impact car chase. Mr. Man looks stressed; meanwhile, Wifey buys a handbag on her phone and has it sent to their hideout -- leading the captors right to them.
In "Romance," one woman wants it all -- not from a man, but from her carrier -- as friends beg her to be more realistic.
Here's another dubbed "Horror," and one just for theaters ("Cinema"). We saw it before The Dark Knight and it totally chafed our pop sensibilities.
If you're feeling deja-vu (in addition to that mild burning sensation), it's for a reason. To promote its Scarlet TVs, LG did more with the same campy idea.
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Under the premise that if people could experience Vista firsthand, they'd love it, Microsoft decided to bamboozle a bunch of Vista-haters with The Mojave Experiment.
Groups of users were invited to try Mojave, the "newest version of Windows." After showering Vista with opinions of disdain, they gave Mojave a go and lavished it with compliments. Then they were told it was Vista.
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HP's latest online video campaign, aimed at the back-to-school crowd, launches with "Shaun White and Friends Fight to Help Shower Hottie." Created by Feed Company, the piece (which reeks of Axe) begins and ends with cheap fortune cookie wisdom: Practice Random Acts of Chivalry.
This from the same people that brought us "Hands" and "Maestro"? You gotta be kidding.
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