Sears Does Geek Squad/Real-Time Price Match Thing

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Ho there. Know what we never get tired of? That retail-superhero crap that Best Buy did with Geek Squad and Dell tried doing with Nerd Buddy.

But that's cool, because this is Sears, and you know they're hurtin' for imagination.

In defense of the Sears Blue Electronics Crew, we will say real-time price-checking is neat if it works the way it does in the ad, and we dig how research-intensive purchases, like a new TV, are made to look like a rest-easy impulse-buy process.

The slogan is equally brief: "Sears: Life. Well Spent."

These are the parts we like. The parts we don't: it's derivative, as usual; the piece is too long; and we feel like they tossed in Brett Farve because a celebrity face will ensure at least some campaign love. Also, did they even do the price comparison before Farve OK'ed the buy?

Nice tie-in with the "waffle" joke though. High-five for that, Y&R/Chicago.

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by Angela Natividad    Aug-26-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Celebrity, Online, Video



Discover Gives Cash Back, Advocates Buying More

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...I guess that makes sense, although the five spots featured for Discover's new "Get Back" campaign do occasionally, if feebly, try suggesting you can also "get back" buddy time and family time and youth.

But this really all just comes down to buy more shit.

By the nonetheless well-meaning folks at The Martin Agency. The brand isn't strong in the first place; it's only natural that the message be blurry in equal measure.

by Angela Natividad    Aug-26-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Television



'Sometimes I Think the Polar Bear ... is Just a Myth.'

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The Toronto Zoo has completed a brand-new habitat to accommodate the return of its polar bears. No, not sure where they're returning from, but it must've been some awesome digs because their just-finished gilded cage is 10 acres across and outfitted like the Tundra.

To promote the exhibit, Lowe Roche is disseminating this spot in which a square but well-meaning dude mistakes the habitat for the real thing, then penetrates it and goes off in search of adventure and meaning.

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by Angela Natividad    Aug-26-09    
Topic: Campaigns, Commercials, Promotions, Television



Death by SMS, ABSOLUT Toasts Boston, MSFT Race-Swaps

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- Twitter's new It Guy: "Tennessee is nice. The first time I vomited was in tennessee, I think." The author -- allegedly a 28-year-old loafer just writing down whatever his 73-year-old dad says -- won over 40,000 followers since yesterday. We smell a deeper story.

- ABSOLUT toasts Boston.

- Fan tribute to Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear. It's like falling down a magic CG-woven rabbit hole. See official music video.

- Outcast changes gears.

- Ouch. We will never text-and-steer again.

- WPP revenue numbers, accompanied by potshots of William Shatner, because that's the way real men read charts.

- Microsoft bleaches for the Polish...?

by Angela Natividad    Aug-26-09    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Campaigns



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American Apparel Snatches Tutorial Market Away from Teens with Web Cams

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American Apparel is using YouTube to push a series of tutorials that teach all the different ways you can wear Le Sac, a versatile little sheath with string.

The vids are short, clean and to-the-point. Certainly helps that the demonstrator is easy to look at and listen to. (Can't help going there, but we speculate whether the Infamous Dov ever tried copping a feel. It's an unpleasant thought.)

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by Angela Natividad    Aug-26-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Video