Yaffe Tidbits

The Best and Worst Super Bowl Ads

Yesterday was the day, I don't move for 3+ hours. Being a huge football fan and a huge advertising fan, Super Bowl Sunday is one of the most anticipated days of the year. Yesterday lived up to the hype. For the third year in a row, we had a great game. And although we don't see the true wow factor in the commercials as we did in the good old days, it was a pretty good crop of ads this year - with the usual smattering of clunkers. So, let's look at what made my top ten list and what made me ashamed to be an ad man. First the good:

Number 10: Tru TV:"Punxsotawny Polamalu"

This commercial isn't getting the buzz around the agency as some of the others, but I thought it was pretty funny. Set up to look like Ground Hog's Day, the crowd is gathered around as the head guy in tux and top hat is pulling on this rat nest of hair. Finally, he pulls up a little Troy Polamalu by the hair. Polamalu sees his shadow and it's declared we'll have 6 more weeks of football, on Tru Tv's new reality show. Bonus chuckle: Polamalu's flexing at the end.

Number 9: Bud Light: "T-Pain"

Another one that just made me laugh out loud. Some random guy's wife brings home a 6-pack of Bud Light and all the sudden he's talking in the electronic T-Pain voice. He gets 3 buddies on the phone, all in the middle of doing mundane things like brushing their teeth, and they all start talking in that same electronic voice, about how they're gonna party now. At the end the actual T-Pain is at the party speaking electronically and looking for some guacamole.

Number 8: Flo TV "My Generation"

Flo TV did real well, this Super Bowl. I liked a lot of their spots, including some good ones with football announcers Jim Nance and Jim Brown. But the best of the bunch was a montage of highly charged events from the last half a century set to Will-I-am's remix of the Who's "My Generation." The base idea is nothing new, but the execution was done really well.

Number 7: Kia Sorento Toy Fantasy Life

With the Big 3 automakers pretty much out of the Super Bowl this year, we saw a flood of innovative ads from the foreign car companies. My favorite was the Kia Sorento spot featuring a hip gang of toys out for a night on the town in their new Kia. Turns out they belong to a kid who's mom drives a Sorento. Fun, cool spot.

Number 6: Doritos "House Rules"

Doritos was all over the place, producing some of the best and some of the worst ads on the Super Bowl. This one was the best of the best of them. It features his mom's date showing up, checking out the mom as she walks away and then taking a chip from the kid's bowl. The kid is having none of that and lets him know in no uncertain terms.

Number 5: Denny's Chicken campaign

Denny's had three spots featuring chickens screaming in terror in response to free Grand Slam breakfasts and how many eggs that was gonna require. The first, announcement one was only so-so, but the second two "Chickens Across America" and the :15 second "Chicken Birthday Ad" were classic. I knew it was a hit when the chicken in space floated by doing a silent scream and i could hear my son's group of 20-something friends all laughing from the other room.

Number 4: Vizio "Forge"

First of all, it's featuring a pretty cool looking product a flat screen TV enabled to run all kinds of Internet apps. It opens with Beyonce' singing and a huge mechanical arm snatches her mid-song, dumping her into a whole. It continues to grab all kinds of things including the Chocolate Rain guy and the Numah-Numah kid, dumping them all into the whole that apparently is the way into the new TV. Showcases cool product features in a very cool way.

Number 3: Bud Light "House"

The high point of the Bud Light stuff this year. Crazy house where everything, including the house, is made of Bud Light. There's even "Bud Light in this fridge made of Bud Light." Thirsty friends start to destroy everything to get at a can or bottle of the beer.

Number 2: Volkswagen "PunchDub"

Loved this ad. They took a simple, brandcentric game we've all played, Slug Bug, and turned into a great ad about their whole line. The spot features all kinds of people in all kinds of situations slugging someone and say, "there's a red one" or whatever color. From to Amish guys in a buggy to two partied out guys in the back of a limo. The spot has a great kicker at the end featuring Stevie Wonder and Tracy Morgan.

And my number 1 Super Bowl spot: Google "Parisian Love"

Great first effort by Google. It's simple. It's engaging. It's compelling. And it tells a story. All through simple googles a guy does over time in the process of wooing a French girl to become his girlfriend, wife and mother of his child. All done by simple product demonstration that highlights the key benefits without them getting in the way of a good story. Best one of the bunch.

Honorable Mentions:

I did have a hard time cutting this down to just 10 commercials. The ones that just missed the cut are a Snickers ad where Betty White gets drilled in a backyard football game, a touching but funny Simpsons ad for Coke, Monster's Beaver Violinist was a scream, as was their pre-game Boogy Man ad, The Letterman ad with Opera and Jay Leno at his lousy Super Bowl party, the Audi Green Police spot, the new eTrade baby spots and the Doritos "Snack Attack Samuria" spot where a guy who stole a bag of the snacks from Tim's locker finds mild mannered Tim garbed in a Dorito suit of armor.

And the Worst of the Bunch:

There were still those that made me want to make sure nobody knew I worked in Advertising. The worst offenders, in no particular order are: The Charles Barkley ad for Taco Bell. It was a lot of build up for nothing. I had a feeling from watching the teaser ads that it would be bad, but it was way worse than I thought it would be. The Go Daddy spots are now not just sexist and full of empty titillation, they're just plain stupid. The woman tries to outdo Danica Patrick and whips off her outer wear to reveal a skimpy Go Daddy beater shirt. The ad then hits us with instructions to go to the website to see what happens next. There's no real indication as to what might happen next other than to warn it's for mature adults. Why Ms Patrick does these is beyond me. Another clunker was the guy who faked his death to be put in a coffin filled with Doritos. He's inside it watching the game on a mini TV while his funeral is going on, He then gets exited and knocks the casket over spilling out him and his Doritos. And maybe the worst of the worst is the Boost Mobil Chicago Bears spot bringing back these old pros to reenact their Super Bowl shuffle. Problem is half the audience has no idea who these guys are and why they're dancing around. They just know it's awful, and it is.

What are your thoughts? Did I miss your fav or one you hated?

Mike McClure, Executive Creative Director

Go Ahead - SHOOT!

When the big boss man down the hall asked me to write a blog, I couldn't really say no. I mean, he is kind of scary and all...

He tried to make it easy on me. He said I could write about anything my heart desired, but still, I struggled with a topic - besides babies and being pregnant of course. I can't help it - I have baby on the brain! (and with good reason, might I add! Only 3.5 months until I pop this baby girl out!)

Anyway,not only did I want to be original, but I wanted to post something that would stimulate a response. What's the fun in posting, otherwise, right? So, I read through what had already been written to avoid any repeats, racked my baby filled brain for ideas and here I am days later and finally! I have an idea. And no, it's not about babies. Or Advertising. Or Marketing. But it is original and may just generate a response, so really...I did good.

And for my blog topic, ladies and gentlemen...a riddle! What better way to stimulate the mind, right? Right.

Pirate Pete had been captured by a Spanish general and sentenced to death by his 50-man firing squad.

Pete cringed, as he knew their reputation for being the worst firing squad in the Spanish military. They where such bad shots that they would often all miss their targets and simply maim their victims leaving them to bleed to death as the generals tradition was to only allow one shot per man to save on ammunition. The thought of a slow painful death made Pete beg for mercy.

"Very well, I have some compassion. You may choose where the men stand when they shoot you and I will add 50 extra men to the squad to ensure someone will at least hit you. Perhaps if they stand closer they will kill you quicker if you're lucky." Snickered the general. "Oh and just so you don't get any funny ideas they can't stand more than 20 ft away, they must be facing you and you must remain tied to the post in the middle of the yard. And to show I'm not totally heartless if you aren't dead by sundown I'll release you so you can die peacefully outside the compound. I must go now but will return tomorrow and see to it that you are buried in a nice spot, though with 100 men I doubt there will be much left of you to bury."

After giving his instruction the general left. Upon his return the next day he found that Pete had been set free alive and well. "How could this be?" Demanded the general. 'It was where Pete had us stand." Explained the captain of the squad.

Where did Pete tell them to stand?

I'll be checking the site for answers and will have a special prize for the person who gets it right first. Prize Quantities are limited (In other words, Hurry before I eat it)

~Michelle Youngblood

a.k.a Momma

Blogging in the New Year

Ok, so I’m having a mental block on what to write about for the first blog of 2008.  I guess I could go on and on about how we all make resolutions that we don’t keep because we set the bar too high for ourselves, but the 24-hour news programs have already done that one to death.

How about talking about the perils of using debit cards, or how to reduce personal debt, but no – the news media is inundating us with that advice as well.

And don’t start me about the Presidential Elections and the Caucuses, or Britney Spears – I am so sick of it all already.

Is it any wonder that people are turning off their TV’s and heading to the Internet for their news and entertainment?  Just go on to a gaming site (and I don’t mean gambling gaming, but rather internet games like pyramids, or any of the solitaire card games) and you will find thousands and thousands of people each day who spend many hours playing games, interacting with other people in their groups and making friends. 

One of the biggest phenomena at the moment is World of Warcraft.  Now I suppose this may have been around for a while - but I just found it!!

World of Warcraft or WOW boasts paid membership of over 13 million and growing.  You select your character, dress your character and can even change the facial features (wider eyes, narrower nose, etc), hair color, build, etc.  Then off you go on your quests.  You can be a warrior, or a mage; human or fantasy figure, etc.  The whole vast “world” is an amazing montage where you interact with other players, form Guilds, and gain skills for your character. 

The most interesting aspect for me is that there are no advertisements, no product placements, no billboards, nothing.  I asked several players in my Guild what would happen if say, Starbucks decided to sponsor a coffee shop in one of the towns, or a McDonalds appeared.  To the last person they said that they would stop playing.

It seems that we are doing a great job of pushing people away from the traditional places they would see advertising.  That, I believe, is the dilemma that faces advertising in the future – to be seen, but not to be seen to be intrusive.  We are so inundated with messages coming from every angle that to enter a place such as WOW just for a little while is a very soothing experience, and total escapism.

And, just to blow my own little theory out of the water I would like to announce that NASCAR (yes, the all advertising, all of the time sport)  starts it’s season again with the 50^th running of the Daytona 500 in 39 days.  “Go Junior”

Sheila

To Date -  Mage Level 6

And Dale Jr Fan

Cool little tech Gadgets for Christmas

Here is a smattering of gift ideas for the geeks in your life this Christmas season.

When I was growing up my dad had the absolute coolest Christmas music collection of any parent I knew. Our relatives always wanted him to bring his music over to play at their houses during the holiday get-togethers. Unfortunately, he used a cardboard box not an ipod to cart it around. His music was on vinyl albums. Yes that’s what I said…albums. I’m the one who inherited the collection a few years back. I don’t have a turntable and until recently didn’t know how to get these albums digitized. Several companies are marketing turntables that plug into your PC this holiday season. Check out the Audio Technica version at Costco (online at www.costco.com or in stores for about $70).

I have an iPod that I listen to in the car on the way back and forth to work. When my cell phone rings it is always a pain to fumble around getting the iPod ear bud out of so I can either answer the phone or lord forbid, I need to fumble even more to find my Bluetooth headset. We now are in off Daylight Savings Time so this means the drive and hence the fumbling is usually always done in the dark. Voila! The Anycom BluNa attaches to the end of your iPod Nano and will broadcast to any Bluetooth Headset. Retails for about $120 but can be found online for as little as $45. Checkout www.buy.com or www.anycom.com.

Finally, if you’re sick and tired of turning on your notebook just to find out if the restaurant or building your in has Wi-Fi or not the next gift is definitely for you. Try this new T-shirt from ThinkGeek. It automatically detects the presence of 802.11 wireless networks. The radio waves from the tower light up according to the strength of the signal. OK, 802.11 is not the fastest of speeds but better than nothing. Look for the Wi-Fi Detector shirt at www.thinkgeek.com for about $30.

If Mrs. Claus is reading this she’ll have a pretty good idea what Mr. Claus would like for Christmas. If not, would somebody send her a link and remind her that I take a 2XL in t-shirts.

Mike Morawski, CDO

What are you watching?

So, the rush is on to create video content for the web. You probably already knew that. But, apparently the big movie studios are just waking up to that fact. I read an article from the NY Times today (Warner Shifts Web Course, Shouldering Video Costs) that talks about how Time Warner is giving up on trying to get advertisers to pay the costs up front for web entertainment projects, because they, like many other Hollywood studios, are falling behind in the race to create content for the web. Edgier, scrappy newcomers are getting ahead in the race to provide content. So, like other studios who have been trying to play it safe, they're jumping in running. They announced a whole slate of minimovies, games and eposodic TV shows they're creating specifically for the web.

All this got me thinking about, what's out there and who's watching it. First off, you can catch up on all your favorite shows online these days with varing degrees of sucess. When I missed an episode of Fox's "On the Lot" I was very frustrated, not able to get their episodes to play on my home computer. When I wanted to catch up on missed Heroes episodes, I was amazed at how quick they loaded and how smoothly they ran on NBC's site. But, it's not just the big networks. My daughter got hooked on Sci Fi's "So you want to be a superhero" several episodes in and went back and got caught up with ease.

All that's great if you haven't joined the DVR set yet, as we haven't. But what about original content? I liked the webisodes of "In the Motherhood" which I talked about in a previous blog. One of my favorite places to go for original content is a site Will Farrell launched for short funny videos called Funny or Die.  It's where he first played his now famous Pearl the landlady videos.

What are you watching online? Why not share some of your favorites with the rest of us? I look forward to watching more good stuff (on my lunch break, of course!)

Mike McClure, ECD