Adver-Dweeb

Retromercial of the Week - Sony Bravia "Balls"

2009-09-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

So this week's retromercial is only 3 years old, but I like it and this is my stinking blog... so I'm posting it!

Fallon London is responsible for this Sony spot that touts their LCD TV's with the tagline "Color Like No Other."

No this is not CG, they actually dropped 250,000 bouncy balls down the hilly streets of San Francisco - but don't take my word for it - the video clip includes a "making-of".

To quote the director of the commercial, Nicolai Fuglsig "It's all about the balls."

JD's Bacon Lipbalm

2009-08-05T13:18:00.001-07:00

Someone on my Twitterfeed just pointed this out and I had to share.... Bacon lipbalm!

Come on, you know you want to buy some for your girlfriend... Get it here.

Uptown, Chicago Woman sued for defamation over Twitter post

2009-07-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard about this interesting piece of news... A Chicago woman was sued by Horizon Realty - the company that manages her apartment building - over the following tweet:

""Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay."

The suit claimed that Horizon's reputation was badly injured by the tweet, and they are seeking $50,000 in damages.

Now, I don't think that this suit will hold up in court, but I do however, think it sets an interesting precedent and frankly, I am surprised we haven't seen more Twitter related lawsuits. One reader of Chicago Now's "Chicago Bartender" pointed to a negative Yelp.com review for the same Realty and wondered whether or not they would also sue that user.

Ironically, I think Horizon Realty will do far more damage to their reputation with this lawsuit than the Twitter user ever could with her Tweet - which frankly, wasn't that harsh.

Audi Commerical - Street Skiing in San Francisco

2009-02-20T09:31:00.001-08:00

Incredible commercial showing an obviously insane person skiing on pavement, dodging cable cars, and slaloming parking meters. Link to the "making of" video is interesting, but it is in German.

- The most amazing home videos are here

In the Doghouse

2009-02-13T07:58:00.000-08:00

In honor of Valentine's day, I am posting this JC Penny commercial from Saatchi & Saatchi (which came out around Christmas this year). If you take it seriously enough, you may find it distasteful because, like many ads, it re-enforces unhealthy gender stereotypes (materialistic women and the bumbling idiot men they married). It made ME laugh, anyway.

Twitter Dictionary for the Uninitiated

2009-02-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

This weekend, my Mom gave me the surprising news that she joined Twitter. This fact convinces me that Twitter is going mainstream. In honor of this momentous occasion, I decided to post a Twitter dictionary for the uninitiated.

Twitter - Free micro-blogging service. Like your FB status but so much more.
Tweets - Twitter posts
Tweeting - the act of posting a new tweet
Dweets - drunken twitter posts
Tweeple/tweeps - people who use Twitter
Twerps/Twits - not-so-nice way to describe people who tweet
Twitterati - Tweeple with lots of followers
Twitiquette - Twitter etiquette
RT (re-tweet) - reposting someone's tweet
Fail Whale - when the Twitter servers are over capacity, you receive an error message with a photo of a very cute whale.

There seem to be innumerable ways to make up new, amusing twords to describe your activities on Twitter, but I hope these few will help my Mom (and others) get started.

Unfortunate Commercial Placement - Battlestar Galactica

2009-02-06T09:11:00.000-08:00

***Major SPOILER Alert**** This clip will show a key plot point in Battlestar Galactica. If you are not caught up, watching this clip will ruin a major surprise. Consider yourself warned...

This Battlestar Galactica commercial break juxtaposed a bloody and emotionally intense moment in the show with a tomato soup spattering commercial set to "I Just Want to Celebrate" from Rare Earth.

eTrade Baby Superbowl Outakes

2009-01-23T11:36:00.000-08:00

The fabulous folks over at Adrants blogged about this video today and since I laughed out loud I decided to repost it here.

Etsy and the crowdsourcing phenomenon

2009-01-20T15:34:00.000-08:00

In this video, Wired Biz author Jeff Howe discusses how Etsy - an online marketplace selling handmade goods from more than 100,000 crafty folks from all over the world - has used the web and crowdsourcing to channel creativity & passion and turn it into profits.

Crowdsourcing as defined by Wikipedia: the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people or community in the form of an open call.

It is a term that has been thrown around a lot in the past couple of years because it is so obviously shaping the way we do business, thanks to Web 2.0. Wikipedia, itself is a prime example of crowdsourcing, as are the "recommended" items in your Amazon and Netflix accounts, even search engines use the power of the crowd to determine the relevance of a particular site. We see crowdsourcing as the main business model for companies like RYZ which lets consumers design the sneakers and vote on the best designs which are then produced and sold on their website with a kick-back to designer. We also see crowdsourcing used as a way for companies to connect with their customers; like the contest hosted by Heinz for a user-generated commercial.

The ultimate goal obviously is to translate all of the consumer creation & involvement into profits; some companies are inevitably more successful than others, but if crowdsourcing allows me to buy awesome things like these
Cute little crocheted cupcakes, you won't hear any complaints from me.

TMobile UK - Love it!

2009-01-16T16:26:00.000-08:00

This little bit of experiential marketing/commercial happened yesterday at Liverpool station.

See reactions from some of those who witnessed the event here. Also some consumer captured footage here. Sure, some of you may say that it is similar to this video and others, but I still think it's brilliant. Shout out to my friend Jen Schwam for bringing this to my attention.

Retromercial of the week - Hai Karate

2009-01-16T15:59:00.000-08:00

Well I might as well make it a hat-trick this week. Continuing on the Axe theme, check out this commercial. Axe's grand-daddy? You decide.

Unilever's Dove Spot - Oh the Irony.

2009-01-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

As a nice comparison to my post the other day. I thought it would be fun to watch this Dove commercial from last year (another Unilever product).

What a difference between the Axe and Dove ads, huh? I personally love this spot created by Ogilvy & Mather, although the warm fuzzies are killed a little with the irony. It was only a matter of time before someone did a mash-up of the "Onslaught" spot with Unilever's own branding. Hey, Unilever never claimed that THEY weren't part of the beauty industry.

Axe Effect scientifically proven?

2009-01-10T11:25:00.000-08:00

Okay, I admit it. I have a love/hate relationship with Axe (Unilever). On the one hand, Axe ads make me feel icky. Most of them are tasteless and sexist. I am not so humorless that I don't emit an occasional chuckle, but I delude myself into thinking that we live in a world with a bit more sophistication. As a marketer, however, I have to admire Axe's strategy - even if it is unabashedly "hey use this stuff and women will f*@k you!". The ads are clever, edgy, and many of them are funny. The sales results speak for themselves; in a relatively short amount of time Axe (or Lynx as it is known in some countries) sexed its way to the top of the product category against some very well-established brands in global markets.

Old news, right? Well, on Thursday I read this article in AdAge about a laughable scientific study that supposedly proves the Axe Effect and it brought all those conflicted feelings back again. The Lynx control group reported a slight increase in self confidence, which in the eyes of Unilever's consumer scientist supports the case that Axe gives guys the confidence they need to attract their mate (or one night stand?). Let's just hope these guys don't take the commercial spots TOO literally. The only thing worse than a stinky man is an over-cologned one. Just a spritz will do, boys.

The 1st Retromercial of the week

2009-01-08T11:29:00.000-08:00

Why do talking dolls scare the crap out of me? Could it be that old episode of the Twilight Zone with Talking Tina? Not sure, but the doll featured in this week's retromercial could give little Tina a run for her money. Just. Plain. Freaky.

Introduction

2009-01-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

The job search continues, and I know I have a lot of company out there. Instead of sitting on my laurels I decided to start a blog about one of my favorite topics... advertising. I will most likely also blog about marketing, social media, and anything else that remotely ties into the marketing and advertising space.