Kobe Bryant, Wee Man, and a pool full of snakes got together for Nike's latest viral marketing campaign, the results of which just hit the Net. Sure, it's an ad, but I can watch anything Jackass-related all day, which I do as often as possible. The same can't be said for that stupid Bam show. Man, I can't stand that kid!
Ever since Mean Girls became a runaway success back in 2004, Tina Fey has been riding a wave of near universal acclaim. Her ability to ride that tasty wave of popularity for the last four years without succumbing to any nasty wipeouts has arguably turned her into the Laird Hamilton of the Writers-Turned-Performers circuit. But when Baby Mama hits theaters this weekend, all of that cred that she has built up will be put to the test. Not only has Variety's Todd McCarthy gone on record calling it "exceedingly predictable", but Videogum has been trumpeting the notion that "Tina Fey-Tigue" is about to set in for the last week and some change. Recognizing that this film doesn't exactly fit the mold of traditional studio comedies (namely, in that it stars two female protagonists), Universal has been throwing a bunch of dollars at Baby Mama television advertising over the last few weeks, alternately positioning the film as a Tina Fey Vehicle, a film In Which Amy Poehler Steals The Show and, gasp, as something that even sports-loving, beer guzzling men will dig (specifically, by scoring the spots with The Cars' dude-friendly power pop anthem "Just What I Needed").
While all three of these spots appear after the jump, we thought it would be fun to enlist Defamer's videographer par excellence Molly McAleer to cut a commercial for the film that would play to all the thrill-seeking teens who have made Prom Night one of this spring's surprise B.O. hits (above). Feel free to use our cut, Universal marketing team — all we ask for is a link in return. Enjoy!
When it comes to celebrity endorsements, Harrison Ford isn't exactly known for splashing his chiseled face across billboards shilling for shower gels and cell phones (Japanese beer, as you'll see after the jump, is whole 'nother story). But according to Mediabistro, Ford recently agreed to partner with powerhouse advertising agency BBDO to develop a series of environmentally angled ads. And, apparently, Ford's developed a case of the Nortons:
It's 3 a.m. and a telephone is ringing—do you know where your kids are? They are in bed! But who will answer their phone? It is terror calling, and when terror calls, who do you want to answer? You want MOM, that's who! That is basically all we can decipher from this awesome and totally 100% real Hillary Clinton campaign ad, about what to do when the world is calling from inside the house. Watch it yourself and cower in fear of a world in which HOPE LETS TERROR GO TO VOICEMAIL, after the jump.
The world's worst filmmaker recently starred in a Verizon broadband ad parodying his blow-it-all-up-and-chant-"awesome" style, an ad which many received without critique, as if Michael Bay was letting everyone know he's in on the joke — that he knew he's just a soulless moneymaker. Bay has reduced of his body of work into a 31-second ad. And impressively, nothing has been lost. Before the analysis, watch the work in question:
The 60s are back! Thanks to the candidate for change! Attached, Barry Hussein's new TV ad, set to run right here in New York City—which is briefly important again, did you hear? Barack Obama knows America is sick of the same old ways of doing politics. They're tired of dynastic families remaining in Washington for generations. He knows also that everyone loves the Kennedys! At least, most of the Kennedys. The dead ones mostly, plus the ones we don't see too much of, like Caroline. It was so nice of those Kennedys to adopt Barry and make him one of the family! Just like Brad and Angelina! Or maybe he's infused with the spirit of JFK himself, like Suri Cruise! (The Times notes that the spot references the moon landing, which NIXON did, while leaving out the Bay of Pigs. Seriously? You thought they'd include the Bay of Pigs? Why not a drugged-up Marilyn Monroe getting double-teamed by the President and the Attorney General too!) The full ad is below, watch and pine for the black and white America you don't remember but it seemed pretty awesome.
Ever indulged in a little autoeroticism to images of Sarah Silverman or Natalie Portman and then wished with all your heart and soul that you might be rid of your cursed goy-tell foreskin, just so they might consider, ever so fleetingly, nailing you? Can't say that I have, per se, but the latest promo ad at Jewish hipster bible Heeb Magazine will show you the way. NSFW, if you think your boss might be uncomfortable with a WASPY 16-year-old hacking into his Gentile genitalia. Though really, what finally puts him over the edge might be more disturbing.
This morning is Superbowl Day for the web. The Apple Macworld Keynote starts at 9 Pacific, and already tech blogs like Gawker Media's Gizmodo are clocking pageviews like mad as everyone refreshes for news of Apple's latest announcement (this year the guess is an ultralight Mac laptop). It's a scheduled event with a guaranteed boost; last year Gizmodo and competitor Engadget earned four times their normal visitors (and ten times the pageviews), with Engadget breaking 10 million page views thanks to a boost from AOL. I thought ad money would be rolling in for these promised pageviews, but publisher Nick Denton explains why ad sales don't jump today:
Most of the free content online is supported by advertising. But most advertising is designed to interrupt the content. Even Google's supposedly helpful text ads are, in the end, a distraction; otherwise people would just search for ads instead of real results. Most ads are worse, a moving distraction while I'm trying to read text. So since the dancing cowboy will never make me buy , is it wrong if I just block them?
NICK DOUGLAS — A huge advantage of online ads is knowing just how many people saw (or at least loaded) an ad. No more, if Xuuk Inc. (voted "Most likely to become an H.P. Lovecraft monster") succeeds with the eyebox2, its new thousand-dollar camera that counts viewers from up to 35 feet away. The camera, which collects no data about viewers, could be used on racks of products too. If Google doesn't buy Xuuk or a competitor by January (I'm pretty sure Wired News is wrong about Google already buying the device), I'll take everyone to lunch.
Virtually any morning flip through the trades reveals a delightful succession of full-page reacharounds celebrating this milestone or that meaningless award, but today's special All-Star Tribute to the Final Season of The Sopranos edition of Variety provided a special occasion for the industry's finest talent agencies to engage in a particularly vigorous round of congratulatory handjobbery. So which agency loves its Sopranos earners the most?
NICK DOUGLAS — Remember how the Daily Show's John Hodgman did such an adorable performance in Apple's "Get a Mac" ads that it made the PC seem cuddlier than the smug Mac? Then remember how Microsoft hired the equally charming Daily Show correspondent Demetri Martin to pimp Windows Vista on the delightful site, Clearification? Now imagine how Microsoft might handle such blessing. Yes, by screwing them up. Know the annoying prick in every coffeeshop line and office hallway, bragging about his $500 phone that runs his "work stuff"? He's the new spokesperson for Windows Mobile. Sure, some of his lines in the videos are charming, but on this promo page, he comes off a little too much like the suits I avoid at tech conferences.
If you've flipped through Esquire or GQ recently—or even Time's Style & Design supplement last week (which is surprisingly much, much better than T)—you'd have seen that bewildering "Great Minds Think Alike" two-pager by Italian suit specialists Ermenegildo Zegna. In it, four basically indistinguishable guys appear to be standing single-file on an airport moving sidewalk. One presumes they are dressed quite nicely, but it's really impossible to tell from the image, since it's so overwhelmed by a bizarre Twilight Zone conceit: everyone's reading the Financial Times!
The culture split between Yahoo and Google is Hollywood versus the nerds, according to most journalists (take, for example, a CNET compare-and-contrast article from 2005). Yahoo is the one that brought in TV and film execs like CEO Terry Semel and "went Hollywood," a move often blamed for the company's financial and cultural woes. But so has Google, as a corporation and as an executive team.
"Where do you want to go today?" "Think Different." "No wonder it's number one." The tech world's vague slogans may seem interchangeable, but if they're applied to the wrong product — even within the same company — they could prove disastrous.
We guess McAfee is trying to show the horror of exposed identity. Still — is this, or is this not, the most grotesque ad for a virus scanner you've ever seen? It's practically a Dadaist artwork.
It didn't take long for a real deal to come out of Google CEO Eric Schmidt joining the board of Apple. Forget the rumor that Apple will support Google Video in its new iTV product or other such trifles — Apple will soon run loads of Google ads on its online properties, according to an outside source.
When the little dot-coms blow up, says marketing/PR blogger Steve Rubel, the sites funded by their advertising will go under too. Rubel names social news site Digg as one potential victim. How does it stack up against other Web-2.0-supported sites? Above the fold, we analyze Digg and tech blog GigaOM. Below, GigaOM competitor TechCrunch sets off a red alert.
