Filed under: Marketing | Tags: advertising, commercial, dog, Marketing, prized possession, Ray LaMontagne, travelers insurance, trouble
This has got to be one of the best TV commercials out there right now. It’s so adorable! But mainly, it does so many simple things right:
- It tells a great, memorable story.
- It is totally relevant to the brand’s key message.
- It has a dog in it. A really cute dog. Yes, including an animal in your commercial is the key to effective advertising.
- Traveler’s Insurance actually makes it easily available on YouTube! A miracle!
- Excellent use of music – the song fits perfectly.
I was watching TV and this commercial literally made my jaw drop and made me shout, “what the ?*$&” – Taco Bell’s Drive-Thru Diet. That’s right, Taco Bell actually put a woman in their TV spot, Subway-Jared style, who lost 54 lbs eating Taco Bell.
I understand people are trying to be healthy, fast food is evil, blah, blah, blah. But this is just ridiculous. Personally, I’m never, EVER, going to order a salad, fruit wedges or anything remotely healthy from McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell or any other fast food restaurant. If I’m at a drive-thru, I’m ordering some kind of greasy, burger-type food, fries, a non-diet pop and maybe another fattening, artery-clogging side.
Let’s just accept that while fast food is unhealthy, it has its place and shouldn’t pretend to be something it’s not!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: paulo coelho, personal legend, the alchemist
Whenever I’m in need of some soul-searching or inspiration, I read Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. It’s such a simple story and quick read, but it has probably impacted my life more than any other book I’ve read (and I read a lot).
The Alchemist follows the journey of a boy looking for his Personal Legend. It shows us how, as adults, we often lose sight of what we truly love to do, and more importantly, lose the courage to actually pursue our dreams. From the Andalusia region of Spain, through the African desert and to the Egyptian pyramids, this boy’s journey teaches us the importance of listening to your heart.
Some of my favorite quotes from The Alchemist:
- “When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.”
- “When you want something with all your heart, that’s when you are closest to the Soul of the World. It’s always a positive force.”
- “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.”
- “Every blessing ignored becomes a curse.”
- “Every search begins with beginners luck and ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”
- “It is said that the darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn.”
- “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
- “People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them.”
- “Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.”
- “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
I strongly recommend reading The Alchemist, whether you’re soul-searching or not!
Filed under: Pop Culture | Tags: christmas, elf, holidays, home for the holidays, movies, rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, the night they saved christmas, white christmas
So I’m trying to get in the holiday spirit. I put up my little fake tree, put up some christmas lights and I may even go ahead and buy myself a present today! One thing that definitely helps me get in the spirit is watching some of those classic holiday movies. Here are my top 5, in case you’re in need of some holiday cheer:
- White Christmas: This is my all-time favorite Christmas movie. It’s got these old-school actors Bing Crosby & Rosemary Clooney, lots of dancing numbers and, of course, the awesome finale of “White Christmas.”
- The Night They Saved Christmas: This 80s movie follows a family trying to save Santa’s North Pole from getting blown up. It’s one of those movies my mom taped for us from the TV back in the day and I hope that VHS is still at her house!
- Home for the Holidays: If you think your family is bad, you should see mine. I mean, you should see this movie. Holly Hunter & Robert Downey Jr. star in this movie, who’s tagline is: ”On the fourth Thursday in November, 84 million American families will gather together… And wonder why.” Ok, it’s more Thanksgiving themed, but it still counts as a holiday movie.
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: Is there a cuter movie than this classic animated movie about our favorite reindeer??
- Elf: Will Ferrell is hilarious as this naive elf that travels to New York from the North Pole. “I’m in a store, and I’m singing!”
What are some of your favorite Christmas movies that get you pumped up for the holidays and give you just enough adrenaline to make it through without sticking a fork in your eye at the dinner table?
This weekend I finally spent three hours watching Jersey Shore instead of being even remotely productive. At least now I can write this blog post.
I’d heard the hype about the show from people on Facebook, but then I read this article, which seemed a little dramatic:
“MTV’s new reality series, Jersey Shore, debuted last Thursday to some hostile reviews from the public, national organizations, and advertisers.”
First of all, I seriously doubt there was a public uprising about another reality show on MTV. Then the political correctness factor comes into play:
“UNICO National, an Italian-American service organization, protested that the show be canceled due to its exploitation of cultural stereotypes and frequent use of the term ‘Guido’.”
I have to agree with MTV’s response that the show clearly follows a very specific sub-segment of an ethnic group and how they self-identify. Just because you’re embarrassed that they’re douchebags, doesn’t mean it’s not an accurate portrayal. But then it gets even better:
“Daniel Cappello, executive director of the Jersey Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau, described the show as ‘one-dimensional’ and failing to represent the cultural diversity and beautiful beaches of NJ’s Monmouth and Ocean counties.”
Ok, this last one I don’t think I can even address seriously. To be fair, I have not been to Jersey so I can’t speak to the accuracy of “beautiful beaches,” but the show at least offers some cute shots of the shore.
That advertisers would pull out from the show seems a little over the top. I have to say, after watching the show (and I did kind of get into it), it’s really not all that risque. It’s pretty comparable to the drunken debauchery, irresponsible decisions and potty-mouth language you’ll find on any MTV reality show. And despite all the talk of hook-ups, there’s barely even any sex on the show (yet), it’s all just drunken making out. Give me a break, this show is hardly worth all this controversy.
And for advertisers wary of being associated with the show, maybe they should check out Jersey Shore’s Facebook fan page, which has nearly 100,000 fans as of right now. That’s more than any number of brands currently on Facebook.
What do you think of Jersey Shore?
Filed under: Marketing | Tags: advertising, best buy, cloudy with a chance of meatballs, commercials, justin timberlake, payton manning, ping pong, play station 3, ps3, sony, sony reader
I love the PS3 commercials with this corporate guy talking to different customers. His different titles are spot on, and he just has the perfect delivery. In this first one, he consoles a distressed girlfriend.
An annoyed kid gets mad at his grandma. “A stick!”
PS3 guy consoles a distressed father’s wife.
PS3 and Best Buy team up….BOOM!
My other group of favorite ads are for Sony. Payton Manning and Justin Timberlake are hilarious together. I don’t know about Justin as a serious actor but he is freaking funny.
The other weekend, my friend and I decided to go out for a night on the town. After a long night of being the classy, social butterflies we are, we hopped in a cab and headed home. Apparently, my friend overindulged herself, because she couldn’t stop hiccupping the entire ride home. As we neared my house, I asked the cab driver to stop at a McDonald’s drive thru so my friend and I could satisfy our late-night hunger. Who can resist the call of the golden arches after a night on the town??
Imagine my surprise when the cab driver threw a fit about our request to stop at McDonald’s. Excuse me, but if I’m paying you to drive me somewhere, I don’t see why a trip to McDonald’s should be any exception. It’s not like I asked him to stop the meter as we waited at the drive thru – he was still getting paid for it! Not to mention it was literally right on the way to my house. And the entire stop took a good three minutes – nothing to cry about.
Then again, if I was stuck in a cab with a girl hiccupping non-stop (oh wait, I was), I might lose my patience also.
Speaking of late night stops at McDonald’s, if I can get a mini-charter bus to make a pit stop and squeeze through the drive thru with a certain hungry newlywed screaming “double-cheezy!” in the back, it really shouldn’t be an issue for a cab.
This morning on the train I sat next to quite possibly the most annoying woman in Chicago. Well, technically, she sat down next to me. She plops down and is huffing and puffing until she huffs and puffs herself to sleep. Then, she starts snoring. Loudly.
I think she woke herself up because then she started to put on lip gloss – as if that was going to fix the graceful image of her knocked out with her head back, snoring, in front of a trainload of people. Next thing I know, I hear a snort. Apparently she’s asleep again. Lip gloss still in hand. As she slips in and out of consciousness, she’s also making weird moaning sounds and humming to herself. I couldn’t get off the train fast enough.
But all that is not the main point here. This was just the inspiration for my post: my top 3 pet peeves about people.
- Rude & inconsiderate people. Sometimes its hard to tell if they’re rude AND inconsiderate or if they’re just inconsiderate and too ignorant to realize they’re being rude. This includes, but is not limited to, people who: push past you to get on the train, are loud and obnoxious, take up two seats on the train (or just the outside seat when the inside one is empty) and basically just don’t think there’s anyone in the world more important than them.
- People that breathe loudly. I’m sorry if you have a medical condition, just ran up a flight of stairs or have some other legitimate reason for huffing and puffing next to me. It’s just something that always completely annoys me.
- People that don’t understand the definition of personal space. Please don’t push up against me when you have room to be at least two feet away from me. I don’t like strangers and I don’t like crowds.
So, if you’re one of these people, don’t worry, I’m not going to confront you about it. I’m just going to be my passive-agressive self and write a blog post about it.
What are some of your pet peeves?
Filed under: Marketing | Tags: advertising, ikea, meowmix, miracle whip, stephen colbert, tv spots
These are some of the TV ads I’ve seen in the past week that have really caught my attention.
1. IKEA’s Kitchen Commercial
Hilarious spot that shows a couple going into the kitchen after dinner and giving the appliances a pep talk, locker room style. Love the guy giving the fridge a chest bump at the end. (Unfortunately, I could only find this crappy video of the ad)
2. Meow Mix Piano Commercial
Ok, obviously anything with a cat in it gets my attention, but this ad really is funny! Love how the cat is just chillin, all nonchalant, as this lady tries to catch him in the act.
3. Miracle Whip shows Stephen Colbert who’s boss
If you’ve seen the Miracle Whip TV spots, they are kind of silly – very lifestyle-driven and ending with the tagline, “Don’t be mayo” (meaning, don’t be boring).
When Stephen Colbert saw these ads, he came to mayo’s defense, stating for the record that he loves mayo. The war of words between Colbert and Miracle Whip culminated this week as Miracle Whip took out a full-page print ad to announce they had bought a spot in every commercial during the Stephen Colbert show. And this is what showed up during every commercial break:
