Microsoft Trade Marketing Manager Geert Desager has launched a site Bring Back the Love which features a video, The Break Up, that hilariously illustrates the ridiculous relationship between advertisers and consumers by making each human and filming them while on a date. Working with Microsoft Agency Openhere, the long-form commercial takes a hard look at what we all like to call the "relationship" between advertiser and consumer. Clearly, at this point, it is far from a relationship which is why this video is entitled The Break Up.
Desager hopes the video and the blog will foster discussion about this ridiculous notion of relationship and how it can be better defined or reworked so that an actual relationship can occur with The Break Up. While never a good thing to com[are to a classic, this thing's right up their with the famed Truth in Advertising.
For some reason, Miller Lite thinks it's beer is only for smart people. Or at least that's what Crispin Porter + Bogusky wanted Miller Lite and the rest of us to think as we watch this recent commercial. We've all seen these idiots out and about and have always distanced ourselves from them. Nothing like being lumped together with a bunch of chanting idiots...especially when a beautiful bartender mistakenly thinks you're one of the buffoons.
We just thought this was funny. And it wasn't that long ago, either.
In April 2004 Garrett French of Web Pro News wrote a post about Google's announcement of GMail - which, in Google's "loose, freewheeling" style, fell just before April Fool's Day.
"How long," French scoffed, "would it take before that ocean of email burst from the Google server farm and sank Washington?"
*Observes moment of silence for nostalgic wave*
Funny how standards can change.
That poor McDonald's Fat Kid. We don't know where he came from but he's been our poster child for the obesity discussion over and over and over and over and, yes, over again.
Now, it seems, KFC wants in on the action. Well, not exactly. They're just victim to the latest culture jamming episode to hit the streets of East London.
If it weren't bad enough agencies have to deal with needless agency consultants making money for doing what clients are too lazy to do themselves, now they have to deal with the illogical idiocy common sense-challenged companies like Kraft are now foisting upon them. Kraft, in twisted logic not seen since CareerBuilder fired its agency because the agency's add didn't make the USA Today Top Ten, is requiring agencies participating in a review to not only cede ownership of pitched concepts (a not so uncommon practice) but also to accept liability for those concepts if they end up being used and cause legal problems in the future ( a new and extremely stupid practice).
Someone please help us here. We'll say it again. Kraft wants agencies to give up ownership of any presented idea. Then it wants to be able to sue the agency that presented those ideas if they cause legal trouble in the future...even though the agency doesn't even own the idea any more! We have a headache.
Salty prose can only say so much. Sometimes you have to shuffle the cards a little, keep 'em guessing, pull out some mild-mannered nonsense dressed up like fighting words and observe: a bemused, uncertain audience becomes your oyster.
Because that's kind of what happened to us when we watched this Orbit ad.
Energy BBDO, Chicago put together The Affair to show even the most scuzz-tacular situation can be relegated back to sterility with Orbit gum.
We're itching to run outside and call somebody a Hoboken, just at random, while shaking a fist in righteous indignation. Throwing a shoe might be kind of awesome too, but we'll see where the feelings take us.
We can kind of see the esprit de coeur behind this Adidas wish-I-were-a-viral by glue London, but beyond that the sound effects drove us fucking insane.
It also takes more than an uploaded head and some doodles to imbibe the notion that impossible is nothing.
We know. In times of angst, we have exhausted the limits of Paint a number of times.
The PR guy's spiel:
"Slamdunk the moon and eat a flying shark in your own incredible adventure. Impossible Story lets users create a totally personalised animation in a matter of seconds. Anyone can be the star. Simply upload a picture of their head and use the A-Z keys to make your character achieve one unbelievable feat after another and then share your journey with your friends."
Fail.
- Copyranter puts the overly wordy, overly aspirational Equinox gym in its place telling them their "Life=Activating Destiny" headline is a load of crap.
- Shawn has no idea what this "babes and boys in eggs" ad is all about. Neither do we.
- Cynopsis reports: "News Corp.'s Fox Sports and MySpace announced a sponsorship deal with the NFL that will give advertisers a broad web presence during the Super Bowl, a little added value for $2.7 million they'll have to spend next year for a thirty-second spot. Advertisers will be able to offer "calls to action" after their spots run online, according to The Wall Street Journal, with coupons and links to their own sites."
- In NBC upfront news, Friday Night Lights will return for a full season, the Bionic Woman makes a return, Chuck will be about a guy with a computer for a brain, Lipstick Jungle will follow the lives of three successful New York women, Journeyman will be about time travel and Life will be about a wrongfully convicted police officer who returns to work.
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When we heard there was yet another Axe viral...uh...branded entertainment thing floating about, we were fully prepared to hate it, figuring it'd be more of the same, lame tickle/dress/undress/ogle the hottie trivialized trash. But after viewing Let the Game Continue, a multi-part full-blown movie that follows the travails of a guy whose car has gone up in flames and the escapades he experiences with various women on his way home, we were truly stunned by its entertaining goodness. We watched the whole thing...every bit of it...all the way to the end. That in and of itself earns this effort very high marks from us.
Since this is a commercial, Axe does make several appearances in the movie but they are fully part of the story line and do not detract from but actually add to the the subtle humor that carries through the film's plot. Damn, I just called it a film. Hate that. Anyone for Filmercial?
As a follow up to their Livin' Large in Aveo, Chevy is doing the "this car's so awesome you could live in it" thing again. Chevy is sending Eric Schackne and Filup Molina on a cross-country quest for so-called stardom. The two will travel from Gainesville, Florida to Hollywood, California continue to to see if they can make it big in movie land. Along the way they'll document the people they meet, the experiences they have and the "performances" they deliver in comedy clubs and with improv troupes in cities along their route. Eesh. That oughtta be good. If you aren't lucky enough to be one of their stops on their week-long road trip, the whole thing's being chronicled with videos and a blog.
No one really wants to live in a car but a road trip is a right of passage and we're liking Chevy a lot for helping these two dudes fulfill this important life chapter. We think more automakers should get in on the game too. After all, there ain't much money in the pockets immediately after college.
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