Recall

Here is the Lipton Iced Tea commercial I have mentioned a couple times.

I really don’t even know where to start. I know that when I first saw this on TV, I had to make a mental note in order to remember what the advertised product was since I was so distracted by the singing fish and crustaceans. I was left with a bizarre impression that got in the way of my recall of the product.

Additionally, the premise the entire concept is based on is pretty thin: Lipton Green Tea with citrus goes well with fish. This might work if you are selling wine, but I doubt anyone has ever intentionally paired any Lipton product with a dish. Then we get the tag line, that has nothing to do with the (failed) attempt at humor that we just witnessed. What does “the bright side” have to do with fish? Maybe the fish should have been singing Monty Python’s Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. Then, if nothing else, the viewer would have that tune stuck in his or her head for the rest of the day.

If humor is the approach to selling a product, then what makes us laugh needs to be directly tied to the actual message or product. Below is a great example of just that. Sukle Advertising, who created Denver’s Use Only What You Need campaign, nails the use of humor in this one because if a viewer remembers the ad at all, then he or she will remember the message.

2010
07/13
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
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Swan dive…into the best night of your life

I stopped using Old Spice deodorant about six years ago. That recently changed. After giving Old Spice deodorant another sniff while at Walgreens, I’m back to it. And I sorta think their new campaign might have been a contributing factor, even though the campaign is actually trying to sell me body wash. I think that’s a pretty good example of what brand awareness alone can accomplish. Here’s their follow-up to the “I’m on a horse” ad.

2010
06/30
CATEGORY
humor
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music that moves you

I’m by no means a gamer. Any of my friends who have ever played video games with me usually laugh and ask me to keep playing because they find my ineptitude so amusing. That being said, this Halo 3 commercial moved me the first time I saw it. I know it has been out for about two years, but it’s definitely worth commenting on.

It is cinematic in scope and brings back vivid memories for any child who ever played with G.I. Joe action figures. The model battlefield is so elaborate that it almost makes you remember playing with action figures as better than it ever actually was. It has what we never had: the explosions, the rocky battlefield landscape, the pained expressions on the faces of the soldiers.

But my actual point here is that the music is what seals the deal on the effectiveness of this ad. It stirs up our longing for heroism and conveys the epic nature of this battle. And as the soldier held captive by the enemy in the end looks into the camera (the only actual movement in the entire commercial), we feel that even in the worst possible situation, there is hope.

Or at least I do. Maybe I’m a bit romantic. But that may be exactly what they are tapping into here: that little boy that still lives inside every man.

And while I’m on the topic of video game commercials and the excellent use of music, I have to mention a Gears of War ad that came out about four years ago. It appropriates the Michael Andrews version of the tune “Mad World” – which, not coincidentally, was popularized by the movie Donnie Darko (though the song was originally written and performed by Tears for Fears). The reason I say this is not a coincidence is because I believe that the game makers are intentionally targeting that demographic since the film quickly became a cult hit for teenagers and the just-went-to-college crowd, a number of whom are gamers. Though not as moving as the Halo 3 commercial, it’s appealing in it’s own right.

Oh, and I found the Lipton Iced Tea ad with singing fish, which I’ll post on here soon.

2010
06/23
CATEGORY
action
music
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Humor as distraction

While I was trying to find the new Lipton Iced Tea commercial with the singing fish—which I have a few things to say about—I ran across another ad that is even more peculiar. This commercial for green tea aired in either Japan or Thailand, which one is unclear.

The humor succeeds quite well here, once you get over being weirded out. The little caterpillars are undeniably cute, and the abrupt stop of the soothing guitar picking at the moment of crisis creates a nice dramatic and comedic emphasis.

I don’t want to pick this apart since analyzing humor always ruins it. But I will say that, though a viewer might just feel like he or she is being entertained, the commercial strategically imparts the message that this brand of tea only uses the very best tea leaves, or the “top tea leaves” as they say. And, if our subconscious reasoning does its job, then we will conclude that since this brand of tea uses the best tea leaves, then it must be the best tea. Just in case your subconscious reasoning fails, they drive the point home with their tagline, “Brewed only from the best.”

I haven’t found the Lipton commercial online, but I’ll keep looking.

2010
06/15
CATEGORY
humor
subconscious
successful ads
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Irresistible

If you’re on the internet much, you’ve probably seen this advertisement for Carhartt.

It’s as if you’re looking at the product through a fogged up window, and you can move the little hand to wipe away the condensation.

I never fall for these kinds of ads, but, clearly, I couldn’t resist this one – probably because I’d never seen anything quite like it. When I clicked on the hand to wipe the window clean, all it lacked was the squeaky eee-er eee-er that usually accompanies such an activity. And, of course, when I released the mouse button, a new tab opened in my browser to Carhartt’s web storefront.

I find this advertisement interesting for two reasons:

1) I only know what a Carhartt jacket is because I grew up in West Texas where a Carhartt is one of three essential items for hard workin’ folks—from ranchers to roughnecks—to have for functionality and image (the other two being cowboy boots and a pickup truck). This indicates that Carhartt is trying to change its demographic of customers, which leads to the next point that 2) the kind of people I know who have Carhartts would not be sucked in by this ad. Quite frankly, they probably wouldn’t even be on the internet.

Kudos to Team Detroit for paving the way for Carhartt to break into the outdoors-for-fun crowd who has been wearing mainly North Face, Patagonia, and Columbia for years now.

2010
06/06
CATEGORY
Carhartt
Team Detroit
successful ads
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of Ribbons and Rebellion

I want a typewriter because I know I am supposed to be a writer. It’s what I’m good at, what comes naturally. Words and phrases flow from my fingertips and create paragraphs, pages and pathos. And if not pathos, at least noises, stirrings, whispers. All the things that are the beginnings of revolutions and rebellion through reticence and recalculations of how you thought of words before and how you will never see them the same again. Or maybe I’ve had one too many whiskey and 7Ups.

[written on May 21, 2007]

2010
05/31
CATEGORY
first post
inspiration
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