Cell Phone Habits, Lincoln Fries, Handjobs and Cadillac

Ameriquest, in a spot that really calls attention to how idiotic people look when they use an earpice/microphone device while talking on their cell phones, gives one cell phone user his due as he talks to his friend about being robbed in front of a convenience store clerk. Funny.

McDonald's creates and promotes a website whose sole purpose is to feature a French fry that is shaped with the profile of President Lincoln. There's a long form commercial and even an auction.

A very odd looking spot for Degree deodorant goes through this elaborate plot which even contains visuals of a wife giving a handjob to her husband the Mama's Boy In-Action Figure and his mother giving him what looks like a handjob while pushing him in a shopping cart. Very weird. Why that didn't get banned, we'll never know.

And here's the Cadillac spot we got a glimpse of earlier today.

6-Feb-05 » File under: (0)

Fedx Provides Ten Tips For Great Super Bowl Commercial

Diet Pepsi ran a spot that reminded us of the dueling, tricked out FedX/UPS truck commercials. It featured P Diddy, Carson Daly and Eva Longoria. We liked it. During the same break was an iPod imitator style spot promoting an iPod-like device - the Olympus Mrobe personal video player. It had some funny Asian middle aged dancers. UPDATE: A different version of this spot ran in the second half and was a bit better including some better dance freakiness.

The best commercial so far comes from FedX whose commercial centered on the ten thing which make a successful Super Bowl commercial. From celebrity (Burt Reynolds) to hot chics to animals to cute kids, it was quite humorous in an insiderish way.

This just in: GoDaddy runs "toned down" spot. It was just as racy as the banned spot so we don't know what the big deal was about except for the fact that it was all just a publicity stunt.

6-Feb-05 » File under: (0)

DirecTV Travels TV Generations in Super Bowl Spot

DirecTV ran a spot during the pre-game show, called "Rethink," which followed an man through the early days of TV with Lucille Ball all the way up through current day when the man sits down to watch TV with his grandson. Sure it's the saccharine, emotional approach but it conjures DirecTV's understanding of television's place in life. See it here.

6-Feb-05 » File under: (0)

Cadillac Super Bowl Ad Sneak Peek

It's not much but here's some footage from one of the Cadillac spots to air in tonight's Super Bowl game.

6-Feb-05 » File under: (0)

Many Sites Post Super Bowl Commercials

There are many sites hosting this year's Super Bowl commercials. Ad-Awards is one of them. Adland is another where you can also find 32 years worth of commercials. SuperBowlAds is another perennial collector which actually uses iFilm to host. These sites will add spots as they air.

6-Feb-05 » File under: (0)

Alternative Marketing Brings Trust to the Forefront

Oh we can't help but gloat a bit when we get a little press so bear with us as we point you to an article in the Hartford Courant about the decline of the :30, the rise of guerrilla, buzz, viral and word of mouth advertising and how that has effected people's trust of marketers.

Referring to the Super Bowl, Hartford Courant reporter John Jurgensen writes, "...operating under the surface of that ad extravaganza will be the mechanics of an industry trying to reinvent itself in order to reach a fragmented and indifferent population of potential customers."

He's right and we're just at the tip of that sea change. As the vicious circle of people's increasing avoidance of advertising collides with advertiser's attempts to circumvent that avoidance, establishing trust will become and ever important consideration when planning a campaign.

5-Feb-05 » File under: (0)

Jerry Orbach's Wife Miffed Hubby's Ads Not Pulled After Death

Elaine Orbach, wife of the late Law and Order star Jerry Orbach, who died December 28, is upset the ads for Senior Lending Network featuring her husband are still running. SLN President David Peskin said, "Yes, it's true that one or two ran as many as 10 more days (after Orbach's death). But we asked the stations to pull them, and they told us they couldn't be pulled out of rotation."

Somehow we think every broadcast traffic manager in the country has heard of Jerry Orbach and would have had no problem slotting another advertiser or station promo. For SNL's sake, let's just hope it was human oversight and not one last morbid grasp at capitalizing on the star.

5-Feb-05 » File under: (0)

See The Banned GoDaddy Super Bowl Commercial

In case you haven't already seen the banned GoDaddy SuperBowl spot, you can view it here.

There was no way it was going to run and GoDaddy new it. They played up the PR for all it was worth and still ended up running a spot as racy as the banned spot. GoDaddy will be one of the most talked about companies following this year's Super Bowl.

5-Feb-05 » File under: (0)

Blog Ad Network Founder Profiled

Jim Kukral, founder and BlogKits BlogMatch Network is profiled in this Internet Week article. The company plans to match bloggers with marketers and has also proposed banner ad size standards specific to blogs. BlogKits joins more established BlogAds as a means to harness blogs as an advertising medium. While blogs have already become valuable channels for marketers to tap, it's unclear whether a new set of standards will help. BlogKits argues their proposed standards cater to common blog layouts but many IAB standard banner sizes work equally well. Having been involved in the creation of multiple ad sizes for online campaigns, we can safely say standards that require campaigns to be resized more than they already are will not be met with a smile.

5-Feb-05 » File under: (0)

Super Bowl Advertising Facts And Figures

Ad Age has put together a comprehensive chart containing data for 38 years of Super Bowl broadcasts. Included in the chart are prices paid for spots, broadcast network, game ratings, and cost per thousand figures which indicate the rising cost of the Super Bowl as an advertising channel. In 2004 dollars, the CPM in 1970 was $8.88. In 2004, the figure was $25.06.

5-Feb-05 » File under: (0)