Archive for the 'commercials' Category

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16
Dec
09

The year’s top videos – in under 3 minutes

By Jay Weise 1 Comment
Categories: commercials, Stunts, Video Ads, Viral, Web sites and YouTube

Just a fun day here at TheSideNoteBlog.com.

Check out this list (one of many I’m sure) of the top 100 online videos from 2009.

The Top 100 videos of 2009 in less than 3 minutes

Now, how many of you wasted hours of time at work watching these videos?

The power of the internet.

Here’s the complete list for your convenience:

1. The Amazing Beat-box Kid2. Elephant Sneezing3. Surprised Kitty4. Weird Animal Gets Tickled5. Cat Kicked By Breakdancer6. Mambo Dog7. Two Dogs, One Cockroach8. So Your Cat Wants a Massage?9. The Horrifying Sleeping Dog10. Baby Does Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”11. David After Denist12. Baby Jack-In-The-Box13. Little Girl Flushes Fish14. Talkative Baby15. The Stay-at-Home Dad Workout16. Dog Freaks Out Upon Soldier’s Return17. Sad Giants Fan18. The Matrix in Legos19. NES Game Cartridge20. Soccer Gutar Hero21. Post-It Note Animation22. Cardboard Animation23. 20-Foot Front Flip24. The Tree Bike Trick25. Bruce Lee Plays Ping Pong26. Man and His Exercise Ball27. This Guy is Good at Everything28. Human Mattress Dominoes29. Little Kid Break Dances on Ellen30. Glow-in-the-Dark Dancers31. Choreographed Wedding Entrance32. Fat Kid Gets Served33. The Crazy Shirtless Man Dance34. Insane Japanese Backpack Commercial35. Ghostbusters A Cappella36. Great Mascot Dance37. Smoking and Singing in the Shower38. Ping Pong Celebration39. Amazing JumboTron Performance40. The Breakfast Song41. Close Call With a Bus42. Man Defies Death Twice43. Woman Passes Out In Front of Train44. Kick to the Face #145. Snooki Gets Punched46. Russian Prank Gone Right47. Accigone48. WoW Freakout49. Bad UPS Man50. Butt Acrobatics51. Bat Prank52. Saving Private Ryan Prank53. Be a Smart Bully54. Fat Kid Sings About Being Fat55. Vanilla Ice Says Sorry56. Extreme Faith57. Jesus Pwn3d U58. Jesus Christ Bail Bonds59. Vince With Slap Chop60. Shamwow Guy in Jail61. Take U to the Movies62. OK GO – WTF63. Billy Mays Re-Dub64. Fat Kid Loves Bacon65. Balloon Boy Pukes66. 80s Video Dating67. Chicken Tetrazzini68. Phillies Fan Ruins News69. The Problem With Live News70. Giant Seagull Ruins News71. Will Ferrell Crashes Newscast72. Students Define Grinding73. Crazy Georgia Fan74. Susan Boyle75. Sharon Osbourne Vs. Charm School’s Megan76. Jimmy Kimmel Vs. Melissa Joan Hart77. Frisky Ewoks on Today78. Kittens! Inspired by Kittens79. Kanye’s Imma Let You Finish80. Mad Men’s Lawnmower Fiasco81. Wrecking Ball Vs. Mini Van82. Conan Hits His Head83. Hot Water Floor Prank84. Terrible Singers, Great Production Value85. Sleepwalking Dog86. Japanese Sniper Prank87. Unbelievable Baseball Catch88. Baseball Spin Swing89. Impossible Baseketball Shot90. Double Bicycle Kick91. Fantasy Football Players Show Off92. 9-Year-Old’s Amazing Hockey Goal93. Oops, Wrong Tackle94. Taco Explodes in Slow Motion95. Crazy Soccer Girl Fight96. Redhead Kid Dances97. Strange Kid Sings98. The Most Drunk Guy Ever99. Risky Business Fail100. Keyboard Cat

25
Nov
09

Vampires Drive Volvos: A Social Media Campaign with Bite.

By Tracy Weise Leave a Comment
Categories: Advertising, commercials, Social Media, Social Networking and Uncategorized
Tags: ,

Volvo and “New Moon’s” integrated social media campaign drives awareness for the movie and the car.

“New Moon” opened this past weekend to thrilled fans and happy studio executives. Regardless of the book devotees, the “Team Jacob” vs. “Team Edward” fan base and the “Twilight” diehards, I have to believe that advertising did something to help the initial success of this movie, because the current statistics are staggering:

  • The most presold tickets of any movie ever
  • The highest-grossing midnight screening total of all time ($26.3 million)
  • Best single-day tally of all time ($72.7 million on Friday)
  • Third-biggest opening weekend ever ($140.7 million)

The previews were great, but Summit Entertainment got creative in advertising efforts, and you have to give them credit for this. Movie advertising is, like all other advertising, increasingly using online outlets to gain audience exposure and make product placement ties, but I especially like one of the campaigns tied to “New Moon” – WhatEdwardDrives.com.

If you are not familiar with the “Twilight” saga, let me fill you in on a key fact: Edward drives a Volvo. Summit Entertainment worked with Volvo to create an online competition to drive awareness of their cars. The landing page for the campaign was nicely “Twilight” branded, and the cars from the movies were highlighted. The campaign also incorporates social networking sites like Facebook, has corresponding TV commercials and, of course, features the Volvo that’s in the movie.

As explained on ABCnews.com regarding the online competition, “players were asked questions that tested their knowledge of the “Twilight” saga. Starting on Nov. 1, players were given clues during six different phases to help solve the series of puzzles and were encouraged to exchange hints through Facebook, Twitter and Myspace.”

I love the integration of the campaign and that Volvo went further than just product placement. To get their target audience involved and participating with Volvo, they asked site visitors to return to the site six times.

What do you think about this campaign? How well do the site and the commercials promote both Volvo and the movie for a win-win scenario? Share your thoughts with us, because the numbers don’t lie – you or someone you love has seen the movie.

I hope Porsche runs a similar competition with the launch of “Eclipse” in June 2010.

20
Nov
09

Gap commercial… What is the problem here?

By Jay Weise 14 Comments
Categories: Ads, Advertising, Branding, Business growth, Business Strategies, Cheerleading, Christmas, commercials, Creative, Holiday, location data, Marketing, Publicity, Publicity Stunts, Recession, Stunts and Uncategorized

In the last few days, the blog world has exploded in controversy with this new Gap holiday commercial. I saw it on TV last night and I thought there was cool dancing, there must be cheer leaders to pull that off, especially the girl who gets tossed 20 feet in the air at one point, nice sound stage to shoot on, good choreography. I also think the lyrics were fine…except that the Gap is showing its PC side. We have seen mostly PC holiday messages for years now.

But now there are groups (well, one actually: American Family Association – AFA) that are all bent out of shape because in the commercial’s lyrics say “You 86 the rules, you do what feels just right.”

I just dont understand the problem with the commercial. What do you think?

I have to run. I am attending a “Celebrate the coming of Winter with this Winter Welcome gathering” at Stapleton’s town center. Now that’s just another PC name for the lighting of the Christmas lights at my town center.  I hope people aren’t upset when they get there to find out Christmas won’t be mentioned anywhere. What a world we live in.

Here are the lyrics for the GAP commercial:
Two, Four, Six, Eight, now’s the time to liberate
Go Christmas, Go Hanukkah, Go Kwanza, Go Solstice.
Go classic tree, go plastic tree, go plant a tree, go add a tree,
You 86 the rules, you do what feels just right.
Happy do whatever you wanukkah, and to all a cheery night.

Go Christmas, Go Hanukkah, go whatever holiday you wanukkah.

18
Nov
09

Attack of the Holiday Advertising Season – Verizon Hits Hard

By Tracy Weise Leave a Comment
Categories: Advertising, commercials and Uncategorized
Tags:

Typically when we see attack ads in November they are targeted at politicians. Not this year. We are kicking off the 2009 holiday season with a slew of early and hard-hitting ads from major retailers across the country. Currently the most notorious are the attack ads from Verizon. Lawsuit from AT&T or not, Verizon is going for the jugular by reaching out to the still growing iPhone market with their own products and, more importantly, touting their 3G coverage. As you can see from the three ads below, there is no “slight reference” to the competition, like “nice” ads will often do. Verizon is calling it like they see it and calling AT&T to the mat.

I do have to give Verizon credit for hitting the 30-40-year-olds with the first ad. Almost everyone who grew up in the ‘70s (or earlier) is familiar with the Island of Misfit Toys from the classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” TV special. But I especially like how Verizon touches on several emotions through the series of ads.  As marketers, we know how important it is to use emotions to help drive sales.

10
Aug
09

Healthcare reform ads take center stage

By Joshua Woolery Leave a Comment
Categories: Ads, commercials, Harry and Louise, healthcare, Healthcare reform and Political

Our president, Tracy Weise, was recently quoted in an article on the HealthLeaders Media Web site. The article was focused on answering the question, “Is there a healthcare reform ad that will resonate with the public?” We encourage you to read the full article here.

HarryandLouise

24
Jul
09

Want 15 minutes of fame? shake it!

By breannehight Leave a Comment
Categories: Bollywood, Branding, commercials, Esurance, Marketing, PR and Uncategorized

I had hardly heard of the Bollywood dance craze before Slumdog Millionaire hit theatres, and didn’t actually get in the groove until I saw it a few months ago (better late than never, right?).

Esurance seems to have one of the more distinct brands on the auto insurance front, perhaps due to their vixen cartoon spy of a spokeswoman, Erin Esurance. She’s the leading lady of Esurance commercials, always saving the day with auto insurance. Erin’s World can be found on Esurance’s Web site and includes a virtual tour of her pad, her “secret diary” blog and an online gallery of her photos. It’s only fitting that such a happening gal would take part in such a happening scene (enter Bollywood).

Esurance recently launched a Bollywood Casting Call, where aspiring Bollywood stars can post online videos of their very best Bollywood dance moves. One winner will be chosen to morph into a cartoon character and perform alongside Erin in an Esurance Bollywood commercial.

I’m pretty sure I was a late bloomer on the hipster scene, but it still amazes me how many people have uploaded videos in attempt to boogie down with Erin. The amount of videos on the site forces me to reconsider my initial thought (this is silly!) and dub this marketing ploy hilarious and potentially brilliant. Take a peek. I promise you’ll find some videos that amaze you and others that are at least good for a chuckle.

22
May
09

happy memorial day weekend

By Joshua Woolery Leave a Comment
Categories: Ads, Advertising and commercials

Here at The Side Note, we always try to keep it simple and entertaining on Friday’s. Today is no different. Below is a new commercial for Virgin’s commuter train service. I don’t want to spoil it so I’ll just say that you won’t be able to predict the ending.

Have a safe Memorial Day weekend!

18
May
09

healthcare marketing, it should be about the patients

By Tracy Weise Leave a Comment
Categories: Advertising, commercials, Creative, healthcare and Marketing

The one thing I have learned over the years is that healthcare marketing needs to be more than just about the doctors, nurses and technology. The doctors and nurses are (excuse the pun) vital, obviously. And the technology is what makes us all more hopeful today than we were yesterday. But the tricky thing about healthcare marketing is that people mostly want to know that your facility – hospital, clinic, office – with the people and the technology that comes with it, will make them or their loved ones better. It’s a challenging message to communicate, especially when you need to say it differently than your competitors.

Akron Children’s Hospital has a new campaign that is very subtle and effective in its messaging. The campaign features real patients doing what they do best  – being kids. See for yourself.

I like the campaign. I especially like this particular commercial because you can almost feel the hope jumping right off the screen. And if you have to go to a hospital, or if you have to take your children to a hospital, don’t you want to be in a place full of hope and happiness? I do. Don’t misunderstand me, I’ll still check the credentials, look for outcome rates and ask for references, but those topics don’t make for particularly compelling advertising.

15
May
09

Kentucky Fried Chicken Executives Caught Making Prank Calls….Sweet!

By Jay Weise Leave a Comment
Categories: Ad Agency, Ads, commercials, Communications, Crisis Communications, Digital Media, Franchise, Franchising, Marketing and Uncategorized

El Pollo Loco (EPL) recently launched a simple, but not necessarily noteworthy, marketing campaign – a consumer taste challenge – against Kentucky Friend Chicken (KFC). But things got interesting when it was alleged that employees from KFC called the EPL consumer-hotline and pretended to be ordinary people impressed by KFC’s new grilled chicken – they seemed to forget that there may be a real person checking the messages.

Staff from EPL not only listened to the messages on their incoming hotline, but they also noticed the caller I.D. Low and behold, a 502 area code showed up. And while the person specifically said they were from California, area code 502 is for Kentucky, the same location of the world headquarters of KFC (YUM Brands). EPL staff was a little curious. “How could this be?” And we are curious, too. A little coincidental, don’t you think? Listen for yourself.

What do you think about this? If KFC was involved, a not-so-noteworthy marketing campaign for EPL could turn into bad PR for KFC.

For the record. I’m a life long fan of KFCOR.

14
May
09

stealing market share?

By Joshua Woolery Leave a Comment
Categories: Ads, Advertising, Brand Loyalty, commercials, Digital Media, Funny, Marketing, promotions, Viral, Web sites and YouTube
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Increasing your company’s market share usually consists of tough, get-your-hands-dirty marketing strategy that includes product, pricing and promotional changes. However, every once in a while, a competitor drops an opportunity in your lap.

Post currently finds itself in the aforementioned position with its Shredded Wheat Brand and is taking advantage of the opportunity to steal market share from Kellogg’s. For those of you who are new to The Side Note, we reported in April on Kellogg’s run-in with the FTC for their Frosted Mini-Wheats advertising claims.

Those at Post acted quickly and are drawing attention to Shredded Wheat’s unchanged recipe. I was surprised to learn that Shredded Wheat has been made the same way since 1892. I think this is a good attempt at comforting any mothers who may have concerns about a cereal that is similar to Kellogg’s version of Frosted Mini-Wheats.

Post has accompanied the new print advertisements with a Web site- ThePalaceOfLight.com – which pokes fun at being “anti-progress.” This is a very good use of digital media. I like that Post is mixing in facts with humor. My favorite video is the “Speech On Progess.” (Below)

The ability of Post to respond quickly and strike while the iron is hot, further demonstrates the importance of knowing your competitive landscape and creating an appropriate angle to promote your product.

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