We were ready to pan this new campaign by Old Spice but after exploring it we realized there was no way that we could. Experience Old Spice reaches for a younger demographic, but instead of trying to make itself young and cool like other brands, Old Spice positions itself as the brand of choice for men of culture and experience.
And who better to tell you what manliness is than Bruce Campbell, the kitsch king who demolishes zombies with chainsaws and boomsticks?
The campaign includes a 50-question test gauging whether you're man or boy. And instead of asking beer-oriented questions while a chick undresses, these are actually pretty tough. Can most 20-something guys tell the difference between a Monet and a Van Gogh? We're sure they'll be able to after this.
Also check out the section where worldly men their pass life experience on. Learn critical skills like how to shake hands like a Siberian and how to read aircraft gauges. And get advice from Bruce Campbell himself.
We love this campaign. We just love it. And we hope they expand on the effort, because it's the perfect way to reinvigorate an aging brand.
We've seen teases of this Budweiser Super Bowl ad in which an army of crabs steals a cooler full of Bud, makes off with it and then bows at its feet in worship. Although we're not sure highlighting the worship of your product by such lowly creatures as crabs is necessarily a positive. It's OK though because the commercial has hotties in bikinis in it to distract us from that notion. See the ad here.
OK. It's cheesy. It's lame. It's hideous. but we love it. Love it! Call us sick but we love the consumer-created Chevy HHR commercial in which guys turn into street strippers for a couple of women in a car. See the ad here.
GoDaddy is so serious about keeping their URL costs low that they'll fling boobies at you left, right and left again. We're glad to know somebody has their priorities straight. In the first GoDaddy commercial, the domain registrar has a good time poking fun at marketing. The spot begins seriously with a spokesperson type walking down an office hallway explaining GoDaddy services. He gets to the door marked "marketing," open it and, sure enough, there's Bob, Candice, Danika ad the whole production crew having fun spraying champagne all over Candice as she dances in a tiny top. The guy closes the door and says, "Everybody wants to work in marketing." Right on, brother. See the ad here.
While those in the NFL might take issue with this Nissan Super Bowl good luck ad which uses a roman numeral style that looks very similar to this year's Super Bowl logo design, we really like the approach. We're not sure this ad actually appeared anywhere but we're told it was created by Curt Detweiler and his team at TBWA\CHIAT\DAY LA. Here's a second version of the ad.
We've been using web-based instant messaging service Meebo for over a year now and love it. It allows you to aggregate all your IM clients into one, easy to use, interface. It's a company with a loyal and growing follwing so it is without surprise they are looking to hire more developers. What better way than a Super Bowl spot to get the word out to the most people. OK, that would be a horridly inefficient media buy but that's OK becasue Meebo isn't actually placing their as in the game but rather on YouTube.
In a Mash-Up of the 1987 VW Golf ad with the two dudes picking up the old chair off the side of the road and the 1998 Bill Gates and Steve Balmer spoof of the ad, Meebo makers Sandy and Elaine follow suit with a Smiley in the back seat and the announcement they are in need of developers. We like it. Then again, we love Meebo so we have to like this commercial.
Seriously, if you want to try out a new way to manage all your IM accounts without the necessity of having multiple programs open at the same time, you should check out Meebo.
Long-time advertising production professional "Vontra" tells us, "After 20 plus years of listening to creative whining while on film shoots, (including my own) I thought of a way to turn comments into cash: Print all the stupid shit we creatives say onto clothing and throw it back at ourselves." Thus, a Cafepress business was born called Shoots. The store sells clothing emblazoned with "all the stupid shit" creatives have said to Vontra over the years and, no doubt, still do to those of us still in the business. From "Where's all the African Americans at?" to "My room sucks. Who's responsible?" to "This looks like shit. Is that the style now?", there's plenty of bitchiness for all to appreciate.
OK. Now who's going to open the store where creatives quote "all the stupid shit" production people, AE's, traffic managers and clients say in reaction to their work? Come on. Someone step up to the plate!
Here's where Michelin's Super Bowl spot will point you on game day. Perhaps it's because we just returned from the place, but this site makes us feel like we're in the middle of a combination of Disney World rides. While the swirling camera animation is very cool, we're not quite sure what the site's trying to tell us. But don't listen to us. We're squarely in the "don't waste time fucking around with distracting, cool shit. Just tell us what you're fucking selling" category.
UPDATE: OK, now we get it. The site's just video from the commercial (which ran pre-game Super Bowl 2007). The commercial makes sense because there's voiceover. Maybe the website needs a voiceover too.
We are told these are bed ads from a Brazilian bedmaker. The images carry no logo and our source does not know who the brand is. But, they are too good to share and done in a way only Brazilians can do. Enjoy them all here.
In a witty ploy for press, Taco Bell, unlike other fast food brands who have derided Nationwide's depiction of the fast food career as less than desirable, has offered a job to Kevin Federline and the promise of a customized Taco Bell uniform. Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed sent this offer letter:
Dear Mr. Federline,
First off, congratulations on your upcoming Super Bowl ad. We heard it's generating a lot of talk, particularly about working in the fast food industry.
We know you respect those who work in our business. In fact, last year you said in an interview, "My kids are going to have to learn what a real job is, what life is. You don't have it easy with me. Period. My kids are going to work at Taco Bell."
We're flattered, but obviously they're too young to work for us. So here's our offer to you: Come work for us, just for a one hour shift. We'll get you a uniform, a custom name tag and show you what a great place Taco Bell is to work. We'll even reward customers who visit that restaurant with an order of our new Carne Asada Steak Grilled Taquitos for free.
We encourage you to continue to "Think Outside the Bun" and hope you accept our tasty offer.
Sincerely,
Greg Creed
President
Taco Bell Corp.
Now, that's the kind of marketing think we respect and appreciate.
