Intelligent, irreverent, but never irrelevant news from the world of digital creativity.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Ad2 Denver Bowling Event Friday, Feb 27th!
Announcing the Ad2 “Strikes for Bikes” Charity Bowling Tournament
Do you like to throw a few back and knock a few down…all while doing something for a good cause? If you answered “yes” then this event is right up your alley. Announcing the Ad2 “Strikes for Bikes” Charity Bowling tournament, benefiting Wish for Wheels.
All event proceeds will go to this year’s Ad2 public service client, Wish for Wheels, a non-profit dedicated to providing new bikes and helmets to kindergarten children living in poverty. With your help, Ad2 will be helping to ensure that this year even more students receive a brand new bicycle and helmet through the efforts of this very special organization. So break out your bathrobe and order up a round of White Russians because this event is going to be one to remember…dude!
When: Friday, February 27th from 6-9 pm Where: Elitch Lanes 3825 Tennyson Denver, Colorado Registration Info: All participants will bowl in teams of 5-8 people. Participants may register as a team or individually. (Individual registrants will be pre-assigned to a team.) Cost Per Person: Ad2 Members $25 Non-Members $35 Cost includes event registration, shoe rental, 2 hours of bowling, FREE food, AMAZING drink specials and all the fun you can stand!
In one corner we have Denver agency Pure, with its ad for Cessna that defends the CEO's right to private jets...
And in the other we have JWT pitching Jetblue to all of those same CEO's who might be thinking of heeding to the public outcry for them to fly commercial...
Which do you find more effective?
Personally, I'm drawn to the Jetblue ad. I like the tone, lighthearted and poking a bit of fun while not insulting the very people it's trying to attract. Sure, maybe it reads more to the common man than the CEO that it's aiming for but they aren't that different from us, are they?
The tone on the Cessna ad, while probably spot on for who it's talking to (CEOs) is, in my mind, dragged down by some of the word choices. I understand Pure trying to use "fancy words" to speak to the highly astute CEO, but "timidity?" Something about using such an uncommon and fairly awkward word right off the bat makes me stop and say, "what? Is that even a word? Oh, yeah it is. Now what were you trying to sell me?" And has anyone ever thought about their own timidity? Have you ever heard anyone, even those highly educated CEO types, use the word? Somehow I think they overshot the idea of using more sophisticated language and landed in the realm of English snobbery. Oh, and ditto for "tempestuous." Don't get me wrong, I know what it means, but I don't really know what it means here. It just seems like, as an old English teach of mine used to say, a thesaurus was used but it hindered rather than helped get the point across.
But of course no critique is complete without a how I would do it better / different, so in this case I'd look into what sort of language CEOs actually use to describe the core idea here: timidity, cowardice, hesitation, weakness, however you want to say it. Maybe I'd try to speak to some CEOs (or at least read an interview) and see what CEOs are saying about the private plane crackdown.
To counterpoint myself, I must say that the rest of the Cessna copy is great. But those two words, which to me are fairly pivotal to the point being communicated here (you could summarize this ad by saying "Timidity has no place in tempestuous times") just throw me for a loop.
I recently picked up the Red Hot two disc compilation Dark Was the Night and it's been on repeat since I got it. In the car, on the stereo, on the computer, humming to myself in the bathroom, I've been listening non-stop for two days now. What can I say, it's catchy. And with artists like Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists, The National, Conor Oberst, Iron & Wine, Spoon, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, and The New Pornographers, what's not to like? Oh, and did I mention the sales benefit AIDS research?
Here's a three song sampling of my favorites, enjoy!
Yes, I'm a semi-vegetarian, which seems to piss everyone off. To the carnivores I'm too often seen eating veggies and to the vegetarians I'm too often seen eating meat. I'll never win, so I've just come to accept my place in diet purgatory.
Smash Burger (in Fort Collins) Delicious, juicy burgers smothered in all the toppings you'd ever want and served up sloppy. By the time I was halfway through this burger my hands were coated in various sauces and burger juices. It was incredible. This is what Carl's Jr wishes it was. The burger was well seasoned and the taste just stuck with me. I was salivating the whole way home as the delicious aftertaste stayed in my mouth for well over two hours. The fries? Better than most, but nothing to write home about. they were crisp and salty, almost too much so, and slightly seasoned. Burger: 9/10 Fries: 7/10
Five Guys Burger and Fries (in Aurora) I liked the concept of ordering a burger and then customizing it with the toppings of my choice. I was also surprised to see two patties on my standard burger. They were thin though, so it wasn't too much to handled. The burgers were well done, almost to the point of being dry and rather bland, no seasonings here. Despite this, my combo of veggies and A-1 sauce added lots of flavor. the burger was good, but the hype surrounding this place lead me to expect more. Certainly this is a step or 20 above your average dollar menu burger, but I came in with high expectations. The fries though, were pretty damn tasty. And man do they load them in the bag! I had to eat my way through the fries just to find my burger, a task I was all too willing to undertake. The downside to this is that the outside bag is quickly soaked through with fry oil, so setting this on your lap can prove messier than your average fast-food bag. Burger: 7/10 Fries: 8/10
Usually the Super Bowl glues me to my seat. Even if the game isn't that good I never want to miss a play or a commercial break. This year, things were a little different. First off, the game was great complete with momentum swings and a nail biting finish. In between the action on the field, however, there was little to get excited about.
Considering that advertisers paid a record high $3 million per 30 seconds you'd think this would be the best or the best. Instead it felt like they justified the $3 million media buy by only putting about $3 into the concepting and production of the spots. Of course, there were still some winners and losers, here's my take: The Best:
1. Careerbuilder with it's repeating montage of reasons you hate your job. The lady riding the dolphin had myself and everyone in the room rolling on the floor laughing every time it was shown. Oh, and punching Koala bears is always a recipe for success. Always.
2. Denny's Mobsters commercial was not only a good commercial but did anyone see the news coverage yesterday of the free grand slams? Talk about ROI. Denny's took their commercial beyond just the Super Bowl and created an event out of them. People weren't talking about what the best commercial was at work on Monday, they were making plans to sneak out on Tuesday for a free meal. The question is, did Denny's impress all those customers that flooded into it's stores? We'll have to wait and see.
3. Doritos Crystal Ball - Can you believe this was made by two unemployed brothers for $2,000? And that they won $1 million for it? Doritos has continued with their user generated commercials for the Super Bowl and this might be the best one yet. It combines all the classic Super Bowl ad tricks: office setting, crotch shots, sophomoric humor but yet does it better than some of the major brands that pull out those same tricks year after year (looking at you, Budweiser.)
The Worst
1. Go Daddy - Ok, we get it. Go Daddy is the domain register site for dudes who like boobs. And most dudes like boobs, so it's great right? Wrong. You could try to class it up a bit, like the classic boob, uh I mean, beer commercials of the past. Remember the cat fight in the fountain commercial? Gets to the same point, but with a little (and I do mean a little) more class. Why not just save some money and offer an alternative to the Super Bowl by showing a live webcam of Danica Patrick's boobs during the game?
2. Budweiser Clydesdale's - Sometimes a brand will just take a concept and stretch it too far. The Bud Lizards had a great story and could survive beyond the Super Bowl into many, many commercials. The Bud Clydesdale's, while a favorite last year with the Rocky inspired spot, don't really have that same power. I really don't care about the horse's great grandfather. Or about the horse playing fetch. It doesn't make me laugh, think, cry, or want to buy / use anything. And therefore fails.
3. Sobe 3-D - Does anyone at Sobe know what 3-D is all about? It's supposed to add another dimension to a normally 2-D medium. Therefore, things should be created with that in mind, i.e. having something flying towards the user or showing the depth of something. Really anything other than a bunch of dancing lizards and humans. That's about as flat as it can get. Sure, the lizards did look more "rounded" and 3-D like, but that didn't really add anything to it all.
The Toss-Up Miller 1-second spot - I was the only one in the room who saw it. Everyone else thought it was a glitch. Granted, I then had to talk to everyone and explain what just happened, but I think they would have been better off putting 10 seconds of porn on the air.
