This Monster.com Stork commercial is so good both Angela and I had to write about it. Predictably, Bob Garfield didn't like it so much. At first, we were going to compare the commercial to that odd, Cannes-winning IKEA lamp spot back in 2003 but then we realized, hey, this Stork spot is actually good. Really good. Like a slap to the face, it makes one realize the pit of a life into which one may have fallen and how one needs to kick oneself in the ass to make a better life. With a new job from Monster.com, of course.
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Advertising Age says snide advertising is bad for business and society. (They also define "snide" in case you're teetering on uncertainty. Isn't that sweet?)
Having been victimized to emotional tatters by the online efforts of Jawbone, we believe it.
We're assuming these three Kelliher Samets Volk-created commercials for Efficiency Vermont, an organization which encourages people to use compact fluorescent bulbs, were purposefully created to be bad. If not, we have no other explanation for why the they are so goofy. See one of the spots here. The other two are nearly identical.
Along with the three spots, the campaign includes local newspapers, online ads and a website on which "Jesse Fewer Watts" (get it?) and his Western buddies ride into town to collect "Incan Derek" (that's stretching it) for his crimes against light bulb efficiency.
OK, OK. It's for a good cause. We'll stop complaining.
Can you believe it? It's a shocker. An actual ad with actual old people in it! Complete with wrinkled skin and less than perfect abs. Seriously. We can't get over it. We're still in shock. And here we thought every one in the world was as hot as Obama Girl in a BarelyPolitical video. We are crushed at the thought of this new reality.
Where do we go from here? Is a wrinkled 75 year old the new twenty-something hottie? Is a flabby ass the new hot? Oh the horror of it all. It's just too much to bear! People actually get old? Everyone isn't hot forever? Who knew?
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Hmm. On the one hand, it makes perfect sense for a brand's ad campaign to mirror the essence of the brand. On the other hand, if you're Holiday Inn, you might want to shoot a bit higher. Alas, Holiday Inn chose to properly reflect the douchenozzles (thanks, George) who frequent the place.
In these four spots (1, 2, 3, 4) from Fallon, the agency followed research which found almost half of all business travelers say they've been "picked up or hit on" in the morning. And, 14 percent of those went on to form romantic relationships. In the commercials, we see a group of business people eating breakfast at a Holiday Inn buffet. Stupid jokes and awkward buffoonery ensue. And the announcer dares to close each spot by saying "check out the new hot bar in town." Really.
It seems a new commercial for Australia's Commonwealth Bank has the land of down under angry for two reasons: the bank left Australian agencies behind and came to American agency Goodby Silverstein to create the work. And, secondly, they think the campaign, itself, sucks. Even Australian ad legend John Singleton got in on the hating and called on the bank's CEO to pull the ad because it is "obscene" and a "waste of money."
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JWT France has created a spectacularly engaging three minute video that encapsulates the life of a lowly cubicle worker, the mocking he receives from his coworkers, the glowering he receives from his boss and the relief he receives when he takes a break to grab a Kit Kat.
In the video, our lowly cubicle worker leaves behind the taunting co-workers, the menacing boss and even the office hottie (who the animators clearly had fun creating) for a life atop his office building which has grown to spacious heights offering a view of a solar system full of, yes, Nestle candy.
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AOL just now released its results for the top-ranked ads in its 6th Annual AOL Super Sunday Ad Poll, sponsored by Verizon. Here's the top five:
1. Budweiser Clydesdale/dalmatian ad
2. Bridgestone squirrel spot
3. Coca-Cola's Balloons
4. Life Water's Thriller
5. E-Trade's talking baby spot
"Advertisers bring their 'A' games to the Super Bowl commercials, and Budweiser scored an impressive victory this year as the best of the best," gushed GM Derrick Heggans of AOL Sports. Nothing new there.
Gotta say we're glad the Coke Balloons spot made it into somebody's top five. But what'd we tell you? There's no beating Rocky. Maybe next time, Charlie Brown.
Created by Venables Bell & Partners, Audi's much talked about Godfather-themed R8 Super Bowl commercial (preview) is worthy of the discussion it has created. The ad, which marks the automaker's return to the Super Bowl for the first time in 20 years, features Alex Rocco's Godfather character Moe Green in the famous scene during which the Jack Wolz character wakes up to find the bloody head of his prized stud horse in bed with him.
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We have to tip our hat to Wieden + Kennedy for their Super Bowl efforts this year for Coke. In Jinx, which we reviewed here, Republican pundit Bill Frist and Democratic pundit James Carville share a friendly day together in Washington. In the second Super Bowl spot W+K created for Coke, we are treated to the slow, graceful dance of two Macy's Day Parade balloons as they engage in a battle for a balloon in the form of a Coke bottle. In the end, a third balloon, Charlie Brown, wins the prize high above Central Park.
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