Broadcast

What greater compliment could there be than someone knocking off your commercial to hype The Simpsons?

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[via adverblog]

Submitted for your Friday fun approval is the recruitment ad above. The message: join the Ukrainian Army and get girls. Why not? Perhaps the US Armed Forces would get more recruits with such a concept. That and you know, not being actively engaged on two fronts in the Middle East.

According to YouTube the translation goes a-something like this:

Girl 1: Would you take us for a ride on your BMW?
BMW-driver: Even to the end of the world!
Soldier: Hey, i'd like to down some water, girls!
Girl 1: Just a second!
Girl 2: Where do you live?
Soldier: Right here- daytime at work, and at night in the clubs!
Girl 1: Which work???
Soldier: Contract of course!
Blonde girl: Contract?? Marriage contract or what?
Girl 3: Marines contract, silly!
BMW driver: Hey, don't you wanna ride on my car?
Girls: Forget it, take your grandmother for a ride!
Narrator: It's about time for new heroes! with contract based service in ukrainian armed forces!"

PETA? Come on. The animal rights group has released their banned Super Bowl spot. They're kind of the non-profit GoDaddy. They pull this stunt every fricking year. The ad centers around the pitch line: "Studies Show Vegetarians Have Better Sex." A scantily clad chick rubbing herself against a stick of broccoli is so unappetizing and um... as much as you guys want animals to stop being exploited, you'd think that exploiting women's sexuality would also be taboo. You might want to think about that one.

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If you recall, Miller has decided not to air a full $3M spot during the Super Bowl. Instead, it has opted for a stunt - a one second spot. In support of that effort, the brand has launched a run up campaign. Included in that is this video above featuring the one-second ads that did not make the cut. Enjoy.

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An email from the Hulu team of NBC Universal and New Corp. has announced that the channel will be advertising during the Super Bowl. Considering that the game is going to be broadcast on NBC, how much do you think this spot cost for the online content service? Nothing? Probably.

Hulu said that: "Finally, we'll reveal the secret behind Hulu." Wait. Isn't the secret of Hulu that they offer great content (30 Rock, Arrested Development, St. Elmo's Fire, etc) with limited commercials? Hmmm.... anyone want to take a guess at Hulu's big surprise:

Is anyone excited about the Super Bowl ad spots this year? Anyone? While press releases from the brands keep coming, we're pretty sure that no one is getting wet. And really, all of them are just what you expect big, bad, bland or just ridiculous. Here's the latest round-up of news you don't really care about:

- Danica Partick, only kind of takes a shower in the GoDaddy ads, despite what you've heard. Watch above.

- Audi is putting the poor man's Bourne, Jason Statham, in its Super Bowl ad. You got a copy? Would love to see it. Um, please?

- MillerCoors bought time for a one-second ad for its High Life brand during the Super Bowl broadcast due to an economic crunch. Okay. Well, at least this is one ad that Saatchi & Saatchi could just phone in. Instead, the company will be running pre-game ads in the days leading up to Da Bowl, as well as online ads mocking their rival, Anheuser-Busch's for spending $3M on the big day.

- TBWA has convinced their client, Pedigree dog food, to run their first ever ad spot during he game. Wozee-woozer. What a groundbreaking move from the agency of the year.

We're sure more news will be released in the run up to the game. However, advertisers better be sure that creative is darn special. According to Gallup & Robinson's 12-year study of the Super Bowl: "there is a direct relationship between the confidence people have in the economy and the attention they pay to Super Bowl commercials. When consumer confidence is weak, recall is 11% lower than average and 36% lower than in good times."

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Seriously. Microsoft needs to slow their roll. How many ads have they put out in the last three months? And here comes another one. This time, the software giant has tapped CMOs to be their spokeswhore rather than lying liar celebrities. Coca-Cola North America CMO Katie Bayne, Quicksilver CEO Robert McKnight and some other business types have been tapped to make the Microsoft case to businesses. Check out Katie's above. I'm surprised that Coca-Cola was just like, "sure Katie. Go make some extra cash."

Perhaps Microsoft is trying to head off the lack of excitement from the computer industry about the upcoming launch of Windows 7. Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes has reported that none of the computer makers with which he met at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas cited Windows 7 as a potential sales driver. They feel burned after the Vista mess and aren't feeling like Windows 7 has a chance in hell in driving dollars. Not too surprised are you?

Now, these business themed commercials were made by JWT. Not Crispin. According to Rob Reilly, co-executive creative director at Crispin, the Seinfeld ads they created were meant to startle you.

"So, when 'I'm a PC' came, you were ready for something different. It was always designed to be two weeks. It did exactly what it was supposed to do."

Well you know, those "I'm a PC" ads didn't really feel so different. They felt like ads. From a giant software company. Personally, I wish they had just let those Seinfeld ads run. Watching those ads was like getting half way through Tropic Thunder or something. Where was the pay off? What the hell happened next? Did Bill and Jerry work their way through the rest of America? Did they get in a terrific boy fight at the journey? What?

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Doritos has announced the five finalists from nearly 2,000 entries in their third annual Doritos "Crash the Super Bowl" campaign. As usual, the winning ad will not be revealed until the Super Bowl broadcast. Entires have been posted on their website, which is built like a little city. I find the whole thing annoying. I can never find anything. So, here's the shortcut to the correct section of their site if you want to vote. The entry above is called "Too Delicious" by Michael Goubeaux of Los Angeles, Calif. However, you can watch all of the entries from the five finalists after the jump. Enjoy!

continued...

The new spot for The Ladders from Fallon US is a bit of a planning and buying train wreck. Sorry, but this ad is definitely making us believe the hype - 2009 is going to suck balls.

The ad above played during The Fiesta Bowl last night, which makes you wonder about the media buy that went down. The Bowl clocked 12M viewers. However, in 2006, the US Census reported that only 5.6 percent of individual income earners made $100+ year. And in this climate with Madoff and mortgages going belly up that number has definitely dropped. Sure, college football rakes in recent college grads as well as die hard, more affluent alums, but one has to wonder how many watchers are bagging the really big dough?

This begs the question - do you really need to shit all over those folks at the middle of the ladder or even, the bottom? Previously, the job site ran an ad that featured a tennis player. It achieved the same message without crapping on the little guy. In tonight's spot, we see little godzillas who can't get the attention of a sales clerk. What happened?

How many people were turned off by the message? You could argue it doesn't matter if 10% (1.2M) now feel badly about the site. They weren't going to use it anyway, right? But the trick with luxury is to create a feeling of aspiration. Not aversion to your brand.

Hope all that dough you guys coughed up for media time was worth it. Seems like there would be better avenues to tap the folks you want than a straight up media blitz. Silicon Alley Insider estimates the site will generate $60 million in revenue in 2008, up from about $35 million in 2007. The Ladders didn't start using broadcast campaigns until just this year. They were doing just fine. Hope this turns out to be worth it. According to Alexa, there was no spike in traffic for The Ladders tonight, so perhaps not. Of course, we'll check back in on these stats in a few hours.

Oh yeah. This commercial also just badly, badly executed. To quote David Ibsen: The ads are lacking "a clear or effective strategy, are not entertaining, nor are they memorable, or seem to tie to the brand promise."

Total. Fail.

Gotta say though - as far as the monster themed commercials go, I'm generally a fan. I adored Garmin's take. Check it out below.

Check out this 1991 British ad spot encouraging brands not to cut their budgets during the 90s recession. History is so tiring. It's always repeating itself. When will these darn brands learn?

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