How to tell a story in 30 seconds
A wonderfully concise Honda commercial:
Archive for the ‘TV commericals’ Category
Tue 17 Jun 2008 4:23 pm
// Posted in:
TV commericals
Tue 10 Jun 2008 8:00 am
// Posted in:
TV commericals
This is one cool lottery commercial
Logically, there’s no good reason to play lottery. Which is why lottery commercials have to be so good at appealing to our dreams. Aren’t we all flightless birds?…
Wow, right? State lottery ads are often considered showcase pieces for ad agencies. This one is by Publicis Seattle.
Slightly more productive
They Might Be Giants have recorded a whole series of Dunkin’ Donuts commercials. Here are two of the latest ones.
iPod commercials and the 30-30 rule
Some people think 2:42 is the perfect length for a song. On further consideration, I’m thinking 30 seconds.
Gradually, maybe over ten years, TV commercials have emerged as the best way to debut new music. Not radio (Over!), not MTV, not AOL, not MySpace. It’s great if you can get your song into an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, but it’s even better if you can get your song into something like a car commercial. Years ago, music fans would turn against bands that they thought were corporate sell-outs. Now I think audiences are so wise to the entertainment marketing machine that nobody is shocked to learn that some musicians are in it for the money.
For a few impossibly lucky bands, success comes in the form of an Apple commercial (like the two videos above). It’s a safe bet that Apple doesn’t have to pay these bands a dime to license their music. The labels probably lobby Apple pretty hard to get songs into these ads.
Apple advertising songs are their own genre. The tunes are happy, upbeat. They are from bands that sound familiar but that you’ve never heard of. They have a uniform volume level, so they sound good through a set of uninsulated iPod headphones in a train or on a treadmill. And most of all, they sound absolutely tight the first time you hear them in a 30 second commercial (which, coincidentally, is the length of a song preview on iTunes). But these songs aren’t destined to become classics or outshine the product they are advertising. The novelty wears out and they get tiresome just in time to make room for the next song — and the next Apple product.
Let’s coin a 30-30 rule for iPod commercial songs: They sound great in 30 second clips, and they wear out after 30 plays.
Today, I can’t get enough Yael Naïm’s “New Soul” and The Ting Ting’s “Shut Up and Let Me Go.” Ask me in six months if I can even remember the names of these artists.
Wed 2 Apr 2008 1:00 pm
// Posted in:
TV commericals
Pop!
Another great TV commercial you’ll never see on TV….
Wed 19 Mar 2008 11:10 pm
// Posted in:
TV commericals, Videos
Fri 14 Mar 2008 11:00 am
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Planet earth, TV commericals
General Motors isn't actually saving the planet
General Motors spends a good chunk of its marketing budget promoting Chevrolet as an environmentally friendly brand. They’re even running ads for the Chevy Volt – an electric car that does not yet exist.
That ad seems awfully cynical and two-faced when you look at how GM promotes its other brands, like Hummers, Cadillacs and GMC Trucks. The message: Ginormous cars are patriotic and sexy.
Once in a while, the two messages collide. The clash of ideals is enough to make your head hurt. Behold: the Tahoe Hybrid!
Tue 19 Feb 2008 8:00 am
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TV commericals, Videos
All fall down
Over-done TV commercial concept: Dominos!
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