If Ever a Commercial Was Deserving of An Encore...

...it's this one:



It aired during the Cowboys-Jets game tonight--only the second time it's ever been shown on TV, with the first being during the 2002 Super Bowl.

I have to admit, this got to me even more than the tribute I played for during church services this morning. Kudos to whomever came up with the original idea, and to whomever decided to rerun it tonight.

It Was a Good Game; How Did You LIke the Ads?

As always, the commercials that run during the Super Bowl get as much attention as the game itself. While there weren't as many memorable ads last night as there have been during previous years, there were still some good ones.

My personal favorites? The NFL Fans commercial that seamlessly mashed up all the different TV series, from Happy Days to The Simpsons would be tops in my book, followed by VW's Little Darth Vader spot (which almost doesn't count as a Super Bowl ad, because it went viral on YouTube nearly a week before the game), and the Bridgestone beaver would be #3 for me.

So what were your favorites? (If you need to review them, because you missed one on a potty break or the place you were watching the game was just too loud, go here.) Cast your votes in the comments.

Advertising As Art (or, The Greatest Song You Can't Download...Yet?)

As a jazz musician, the bulk of my listening over the past several years has been in that genre. Still, that's not to say that I don't have a soft spot for a really well-crafted pop song every now and then, and my CD collection supports that idea.

I should also mention that, during their visits over the years, Mom and Dad have gotten me hooked on HGTV, which they watch religiously during Clock Tower. During the summer, I've been known to flip over there after the Rangers game, and I watched a bit last night to take my mind off how badly both the Rangers and Cowboys did at the same time. (If you're wondering, my favorite HGTV show is "House Hunters"; I always like to try and guess which of the three houses the prospective buyers will choose, and I'm right more often than not.)

Needless to say, most of the commercials on HGTV are of the home-improvement variety, and one that's been airing for a while really jumps out at me. It's an ad for Olympic paint, and not only is the concept cool--the person doing the painting sees future enjoyment of the room being painted (Mom holding up baby, Dad or Son reading the paper while drinking coffee at the table, kids jumping on the bed, etc.) in shadows on the wall--but the tune being sung behind it is thirty seconds of pure pop perfection. And thankfully, it's on YouTube so I can share it here:



After seeing the spot a number of times, I decided to find out if that was in fact a real song (as opposed to something created specifically for the commercial) and who the artist was. But a bit of Googling led me to some advertising music forums (yes, you truly can find a page for nearly anything on the Internet!), and discovered that it was in fact written for the commercial.

But one of the posters at the first linked forum provided a bit of hope with the response he got from writing the company directly:

Campbell-Ewald created the music specifically for the commercial. There is currently no name to the song or a particular group that it belongs to. Because of the positive feedback that the commercial has obtained, further development may occur and the song may be extended.

So maybe it will become a full-blown song someday. And kudos to the Campbell-Ewald folks for putting a bit more artistry than usual into their advertising.

A Barely Passing Grade in Advertising 101

While driving through the High Five this morning, I saw a billboard for the Verizon Droid phone, with the caption describing it as a "BARE-KNUCKLED BUCKET OF DOES" (example here), and the point of the ad completely missed me for a second.

If you've seen other Droid advertising, you may have noticed the shorter catchphrase "DROID DOES," and such ads go on to list all the features of the phone, especially in comparison to their main competition, the iPhone. (Even as an iPhone owner, the description of the latter as the "iCan'ttakepicturesatnight" cracks me up.)

But here's the thing: "Does" (the verb) isn't usually found in buckets, so when I, the casual driver keeping at least one eye on the road (being on a very tall bridge and all), saw the phrase "bucket of does," I didn't immediately think of "does" being a form of the verb "do," but rather as the plural form of a female deer. And for a moment, the thought going through my head was "Why would you want a bucket full of deer?", along with "Wait--deer don't even have knuckles."

So what do you think--does (as in the verb, not the deer) this ad miss its mark? By the time I got what they were talking about, I was well past the billboard and thus lucky to remember who made the phone in the first place. Would this ad work better on TV or radio, where you could hear the word "does" pronounced? Or does everyone else in the world get the context, and I was just way too tired on a Sunday morning. Talk to me in the comments.

UPDATE: It appears that The Language Blog beat me to the punch on this subject a few months ago. Great minds think alike...

I May Not Get Caught Up on Blog Posts Tonight...

...but I'll be tweeting my thoughts on the Super Bowl commercials throughout the game. (And thanks for your patience on the lack of blogging--really. I'll catch up next week during TMEA.)

UPDATE: OK, so there were a few good commercials on there tonight. My personal favorites were the one with Betty White playing football (even if, a few hours later, I can't remember who the commercial was for), a couple of the Doritos ads, the Coke spot with the Simpsons characters, the Bud ad with the Clydesdale and the Longhorn, and the Google spot that tracks a relationship from meet-up to buying baby supplies.

So what was your favorite? Hit the comment button and talk to me. (And if you missed a few, or want to see them again, they're about to be posted here.)

The Claus That Refreshes

Via a tweet from Lileks, I find myself enjoying this collection of old ads from the Coca-Cola Company. While they didn't invent the modern incarnation of Santa (artist Thomas Nast, among others, can be credited with that, along with the descriptions found in Clement C. Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas," better known as "The Night Before Christmas"), the Coke ads by the artist Haddon Sundblom certainly cemented his current image in popular culture, especially the "jolly" part (some past Santas looked strict or even scary).

Read the whole story, and check out the pictures; it's fascinating stuff. And thanks to Lileks for sending me there.

These New Commercials Already Get on My Nervés

If you've watched any TV at all recently, you've probably seen the commercials for McDonald's new "McCafé" products. There are actually several of these ads out, but the one that drives me bonkers is the one which tries to show that, by snagging one of these drinks, the average working Joe or Jane can turn the daily commute into a "commuté" or a cubicle into a "cubiclé." My response? Puké. (And sometimes, to navigaté to a completely different channel.)

Does this commercial drive you as nuts as it does me, or is your tolerance for silly just a little bit higher than mine? (And, honestly, I thought I had a pretty big tolerance for silly, but this one just sets off the gag reflex in me for some reason.)

And it's been funny to read about how Mickey D's is launching these new products--and upgrading their regular brewed coffee--in an effort to "compete with Starbucks". Really? You think that's gonna work? I can point to only one segment of the customer base who might warm to this idea: Those who only use the drive-thru window and never go inside. For everyone else, it's all about atmosphere, and the atmosphere in a McDonald's is almost the polar opposite of that of a Starbucks.

Think about it for a second: A Starbucks is usually relatively quiet, save for the Frappuccino blenders, with straight-ahead jazz playing in the background more often than not. People are working on things on their laptops, playing games, maybe meeting with a Realtor or starting a new business deal. On a good day, you might even smell the baked goods up front. It's my favorite place to chill with friends or read a magazine or newspaper, and that atmosphere is a big part of the overall package.

Now let's contrast that with the average McOonald's: The first word that comes to mind is "loud." Think of a noisy kitchen, big long lines on occasion, and the constant squeals of kids (should you happen to sit too close to the McPlayland). If I wanted a quick breakfast, or a place to bring the (theoretical) kids for a while, this would be the perfect atmosphere for that. But in terms of a place where I'd want to chill and read for 30 minutes to an hour, meet with business associates, or hang with friends? Not so much.

But again, my main beef (pun slightly intended) with McDonald's is this ad campaign. Obviously, advertising is supposed to make the viewer want to buy something, but occasionally it backfires and actually produces the opposite effect. For me, this is one of those campaigns. (Longtime Dallasites might remember the old Westway Ford commercials and their "Joe Greed" character, the obnoxious cowboy in oversized boots; that's another one that made me turn away instantly. But the rapping car salesmen of Trophy Nissan always got a laugh from me no matter how many times I saw the spot.)

Do you have a least-favorite commercial--one that completely turns you away from the product being pitched? Tell me in the comments, and feel free to weigh in on the McCafé spots if you so desire.

Maybe It's Their Lucky Ad Campaign

This one may not resonate with anyone but my fellow Texans, so feel free to scroll down if that's not you. But I think the story is interesting no matter where you might reside.

I listen to a lot of talk radio during the day, and one of the common advertisers on my favorite station is the Texas Lottery. They've had many ad campaigns over the years, with varying degrees of success (anyone else remember Scratchman? I thought he was annoying as all get-out, and I wasn't wild about all the ads that had various winners throwing cowboy hats in the air, yelling "Yahoo!" and basically demonstrating all the stereotypes we don't need other people to have of Texans); the "Jackpot" song from a few years ago was not bad, but the current one, "Maybe It's Your Lucky Day," is really engaging.

What they've done is used original music that is heavily inspired by other pop songs, starting out with other subject matter that doesn't even make the nature of the commercial apparent until the "maybe it's your lucky day" part sneaks in. So far, I've heard three different ones: A female vocalist whose song is mildly reminiscent of the '70s song "Brand New Key" by Melanie (but with a much more pleasing voice); a male-voiced song that's a dead-ringer for Fountains of Wayne; and a very Beatlesque song that ran before Christmas and changed the tagline to "maybe it's your lucky holiday."

There's apparently nothing to be found about the campaign on the lottery's website, and a bit of searching finds but a few tidbits of information: The "girl song" is evidently sung by Camille Cortinas of Dallas, from a band called Fishing for Comets, and the whole campaign is done by the agency Juniper Music and Sound Design, but I can't find anything but the old "Jackpot" song on their site. (Likewise, on Cortinas' site, there's no record of the lottery commercial, but there are enough clips to convince me that she is indeed the singer.)

At any rate, it's nice to hear some advertising that's not only not annoying but actually includes really good music.

IN THE COMMENTS: An appearance by Camille Cortinas herself! And welcome to everyone who's finding this post via all the different search engines; feel free to have a look around.