Dr Pepper Ten appeals to non-woman crowd

Dr Pepper Ten is not for women. This is because only the 10 manliest calories survived the move from regular Dr Pepper. Check the ad below, from Deutsch/LA, where they say women don't enjoy action movies, and tell us to keep the romantic comedies and lady drinks to ourselves. I understand, on an intellectual level, why this campaign has come about. Diet-soda makers, concerned with the perception that diet drinks are only for women, are expanding their market to our nation's many obese men by making diet soda cool again for dudes. PepsiMax and Coke Zero (which I happen to drink) have both gone with this marketing strategy. But on an emotional level, I want to punch the next guy I see drinking a Dr Pepper Ten. I know it's possible to celebrate manliness without denigrating women. I've seen it done many times before. What's sad is when the best thing you have to say about being a man is, "Hey! At least I'm not a woman!" Even sadder, I can see how this is going to appeal in the same way that a "No girls allowed" sign on the clubhouse door appeals to a 7-year-old boy afraid of catching cooties. There is a manchild out there for whom this branding will work. But watch out, manchild. Bring that can near me, and you're cruisin' for a bruisin'.

Filed under Cullers, Deutsch, Dr Pepper, Food and drink, Soda
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VW's Vader ad: bloopers and deleted scenes

Because this story will never die, here's a little video of bloopers and deleted scenes from Deutsch's "The Force" spot for Volkswagen. Sure, many of the bloopers may have been staged, and it's all part of a well-planned scheme to exploit your inability to resist cuteness. Still, you have to watch, yes?

Also, after the jump, a making-of video about the "Black Beetle" spot.

Click to read more ...

Filed under Automotive, Deutsch, Nudd, Super Bowl, Volkswagen
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Volkswagen's Mini Vader meets Darth Vader

The Max Page story continues, as the 6-year-old little Darth Vader from Deutsch's Volkswagen spot meets James Earl Jones, the real Darth Vader. Max to Jones: "What is thy bidding, my master?"

Filed under Automotive, Deutsch, Nudd, Star Wars, Volkswagen
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Battle of VW ads: 'The Force' vs. 'Milky Way'

The runaway success of Volkswagen's "The Force" spot from last night's Super Bowl got us thinking about the last truly phenomenal TV commercial from VW—the famed "Milky Way" spot from 1999, featuring Nick Drake's "Pink Moon." Comparisons may be odious, but we have to ask—which do you think is better? (They're completely different, I know, but just go with it.) Has Deutsch crafted something for the Passat that finally matches, or surpasses, what Arnold did for the Cabrio? See both spots (the 60-second versions) and vote below.

Filed under Arnold, Automotive, Deutsch, Nudd, Super Bowl, Volkswagen
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Volkswagen's kiddie Darth Vader unmasked

The first time we saw Darth Vader unmasked, it was kind of upsetting. This morning on Today, it was more palatable—as the 6-year-old star of Volkwagen's much-lauded "The Force" ad was introduced to the world. His name is Max Page. The Deutsch spot—probably the best commercial of the Super Bowl—was his first national ad. (He has done a lot of TV, though—he's known to soap fans for his recurring role as Reed Hellstrom on CBS's The Young and the Restless.) The best part: He's still never seen Star Wars because it looks "too scary." UPDATE: It turns out Max has a heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot, and a pacemaker. His prognosis is good. This makes him even more Vader-like, if you think about it—he's part machine! You can't write this stuff.

Filed under Automotive, Deutsch, Nudd, Super Bowl
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Darth Vader set to lord over Super Bowl ads

In the old days, advertisers guarded their Super Bowl ads like state secrets. Nowadays, many want pre-game Internet buzz to stretch their big investment. Forecasts are dangerous, but it looks like Volkswagen has a hit on its hands with "The Force." The minute-long Deutsch/LA spot shows a child in a Darth Vader costume trying to use the Force to command objects around the house, from an implacable washing machine to a bored family dog. With "The Imperial March" playing, he eventually is able to use the Force on his dad's 2012 Volkswagen Passat, thanks to Pop using the remote car-start from the kitchen. It's pretty good. Guys will like it because it involves Star Wars, and it should get a 75 percent "Awww" reaction from the ladies. Thoughts?

Filed under Automotive, Deutsch, Morrissey, Star Wars, Super Bowl, Volkswagen
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Donny Deutsch becoming Bravo's love guru

Bravo is getting another millionaire matchmaker in sometime adman Donny Deutsch, who will reinvent himself as a relationship expert as host of an upcoming show called Love Live. The live, half-hour program will premiere as a special at the end of January, with the potential of becoming a regular series, reports the New York Post. As the paper points out, Deutsch's expertise in terms of relationships may derive mostly from having been in lots of them. (He's been married twice, for starters.) On the new show, the 53-year-old ex-host of MSNBC's The Big Idea will field questions from Skype, Twitter and e-mail and dispense wisdom to the lovelorn. In that regard, we presume he'll return to a favorite mantra repeatedly: When in doubt, take off the shirt.

Filed under Deutsch, Nudd, Speedo, TV
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PlayStation's Kevin Butler now unstoppable

He was powerful before, but PlayStation's vp of everything, Kevin Butler, has found new reserves of awesome thanks to a deal with Best Buy to sell a Sony Bravia TV and PlayStation 3 bundle (console, games and movies) together at a steep discount. This allows the "boombassador of deals" to disarm a bomb, solve the energy crisis and help a woman give birth on a plane. Not to mention, he can now dunk. Lots more Kevin Butler goodness from Deutsch over at YouTube.

Filed under Best Buy, Deutsch, Electronics, Nudd, PlayStation, Video games
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Deutsch trumps Advertising Week with app

It's almost time for Advertising Week, that orgy of panels, parties and back-slapping which thankfully happens just once a year in New York City (and begins a week from Monday). Keeping track of all the events is a hassle. Deutsch has stepped in to fill a void left by the Advertising Week organizers with an iPhone app, built with developer Twin Particle, that makes the schedule handy (and pimps the Deutsch Twitter feed), allowing you to plan your week's worth of adsturbation. This is a nice thing, since the Advertising Week site, chockablock in Flash, is unusable from the iPhone. That isn't a surprise, considering this depressing analysis of the mobile capability of agency sites, made by many of the same people who are advising their clients on mobile strategies. Deutsch itself made the list, as its own Flash site is worthless on an iPhone.

Filed under Advertising Week, Deutsch, Morrissey
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Kevin Butler goes epic for PlayStation Move

PlayStation's vp of everything, Kevin Butler, returns in this new Deutsch spot promoting the PlayStation Move, the forthcoming motion-sensing game controller platform for the PS3, due in U.S. stores Sept. 19. Everything about the Move is epic, and by the end of the spot, Butler looks like he stepped out of a Capital One commercial. PlayStation shows off the Move a bit more in this earlier Butler-less video.

Filed under Deutsch, Nudd, PlayStation, Sony, Video games
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TV network blatantly clones Kevin Butler ad

Kevin Butler's next job title at PlayStation might be vp of retaliatory ass kicking, now that one of his Deutsch commercials has been shamelessly reproduced—in practically a carbon copy—by a New Zealand television network. Apparently New Zealand is unaware that ads can be uploaded to the Internet and watched in other parts of the world that might not look kindly on such an homage. See the original PlayStation spot below, and the TV3 ripoff below that. Two words: Un cool. Via Joystiq. UPDATE: @TheKevinButler weighs in on Twitter, saying, "Dear TV3: You could have at least put my photo on top of the amp. Sheesh."

Filed under Deutsch, Nudd, PlayStation, Video games
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Fake kids are the only kids who don't booze

The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) takes on underage drinking in new PSAs from Deutsch showing parents in denial who refuse to acknowledge that their teenage kids might consider trying alcohol. The teens are portrayed by mannequins to underscore the unreal view their folks have of them. In the best spot, "Julia," a mannequin arriving at a party gets a text that reads, "Jay brought a bottle :)"—as the adults prattle on in the front seat. The parents, of course, are the real dummies here. Maybe they killed so many brain cells while drinking as teens themselves that they can't remember what it was like to be wasted and puking under the bleachers as M.C. Hammer's beats wafted out from homecoming dance in the gym. Ultimately, I wouldn't worry about the kids here. Even with a drinking problem, they can always find work in department stores. Via Osocio.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Ad Council, Alcohol, Deutsch, PSAs
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PlayStation has no time for baseball's MVPs

Sony PlayStation's "director of game accuracy," Kevin Butler, has returned to his favorite hobby: insulting American League MVPs to help promote the baseball video-game series MLB: The Show. In one of the best ads of 2009, he won a showdown against Dustin Pedroia without breaking a sweat. This time, he squares off against a more formidable foe: catcher Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins, who seems to have found the fictional Sony exec's weak spot—an off-the-books vacation in Cabo. We're glad to see Deutsch and Sony bringing new life to the series, though we're unclear on whether it's been a good or bad year for smirking spokesman Butler. His title seems to have changed to "VP, PS3 softball team." Sounds like an all-star level of wasted executive pay that would fit right in with most ad agencies—or the MLB for that matter.

—Posted by David Griner

Filed under Baseball, Celebrity endorsements, Deutsch, Griner, PlayStation, Sony, Video games
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Donny Deutsch is caught up in coconut flap

Donny Deutsch keeps offending people lately. Just a few weeks after telling ManCrunch it shouldn't advertise on the Super Bowl, presumably because not enough gay men care about football, the adman raised eyebrows during an appearance on The Joy Behar Show by calling Florida senatorial candidate Marco Rubio a "coconut." Rubio is of Cuban descent. Conservative watchdog NewsBusters jumped all over his Donnyness, noting that the term is considered an ethnic slur for someone who's tan on the outside but white on the inside. I'm not sure that fits what Donny was saying, which was basically that Rubio is a bit of a nutcase. Deutsch issued an apology on Twitter anyway, saying he meant no harm and didn't realize the term coconut can have racial overtones.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Controversy, Deutsch, Morrissey, Speedo
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VW gets punchy with Sluggy Patterson work

Crispin's Volkswagen work wasn't for everyone, including the client, which parted ways with the shop last August. The sometimes-bizarre vibe of the "Das Auto" days is long gone in Deutsch's first work, a series of faux documentaries about Sluggy Patterson, who purportedly started the road-trip game "Punch Bug" (rechristened here as "Punch Dub"), where you punch the person next to you when you see a VW Bug (or in this case, any VW). Sluggy, as you'd expect from his name, is your typical old codger, employing some salty language in an interview given in a diner. He's tech savvy, though, since he's got a Twitter account and blog. VW is running ads on the Super Bowl this year, most likely featuring Sluggy. Will Punch Dub sweep the nation? Probably not. For every "Whassup?" that gets ingrained in pop culture, there are an untold number of failed attempts by advertisers to gin up some kind of "cultural movement." But keep your guard up in case someone drives past in a Jetta.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Automotive, Deutsch, Morrissey, Super Bowl, Volkswagen
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Donny Deutsch gives in, gets a BlackBerry

Until recently, it shouldn't have come as a surprise if Donny Deutsch was late responding to your e-mail. The talk-show host and chairman of the agency that bears his name was a staunch technophobe who shunned the BlackBerry, he told the CMO Executive Summit on Tuesday. But Deutsch recently gave in to the inevitable, after a pretty incredible streak of going without a smartphone. Deutsch admitted he's ambivalent about technology. As a self-described "late adopter," he feels "we're too connected as a society." That's an interesting take from someone in the communications business. But Deutsch is a Big Idea man. He told marketers not to get caught up in all the latest and greatest technology. The fundamentals of marketing, he said, are still about coming up with an "anthemic truth" and plugging in the rest.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Deutsch, Morrissey, Speedo
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DirecTV uses only living people in new spot

The DirecTV commercial with Chris Farley (for which David Spade was reportedly paid $200,000) seems to have disappeared from the airwaves, and has been replaced by the Wayne's World 2 spot above with Dana Carvey and Kim Basinger, neither of whom perished years ago from drug abuse. I wouldn't classify this as a famous movie scene. Garth was always an annoying, second-rate character. Still, Basinger is pretty captivating, and overall it's an improvement over the Tommy Boy fiasco. Some people are hard to please, though—like Matthew Kelley, who says he finds the Basinger/Carvey ad "offensive because both their careers are dead."

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Previously on AdFreak:
DirecTV's Chris Farley spot just feels wrong
Is DirecTV's 'Poltergeist' spot in bad taste?

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Deutsch, DirecTV, Nudd, TV
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DirecTV's Chris Farley spot just feels wrong

I've generally been a fan of the DirecTV ads by Deutsch with the actors breaking character from classic TV and movie scenes to deliver the pitch. But the series has gotten dicey with the introduction of dead celebs into the mix. Last October, we had the spot with with Craig T. Nelson and Heather O'Rourke from Poltergeist, which was unfortunate, given that O'Rourke (who played Carol Anne) died tragically in 1988 at age 12. Now, a year later (hey, Halloween's coming up again), we get this Tommy Boy homage, with Chris Farley and David Spade. Farley, of course, died of a drug overdose in 1997. The whole dead-celebs thing is a gray area in advertising. Sometimes it seems less off-putting than other times. But you know there's an issue when an ad finishes and you hear audible groans from around the room. UPDATE: Asylum.com procured this statement from David Spade: "When DIRECT TV came to me and the Farley family with this idea about 'Tommy Boy,' we talked and thought it would be a cool way to remind people just how funny Chris was. It is a clever homage to my friend and a movie that we loved doing." Meanwhile, a rep for DirecTV tells Asylum: "We should look to Chris' family and friends for the ultimate opinion on this subject. They were involved from the beginning of this project and felt that the spot was a great to tribute to Chris."

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Previously on AdFreak:
Is Direct TV's 'Poltergeist' spot in bad taste?
Ripley fights Alien Queen ... for the remote

Filed under Deutsch, DirecTV, Nudd, TV
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Diet Dr Pepper guy just wants you to believe

Since the invention of diet soda, advertisers have tried hard to convince consumers that it tastes just as good without the 10 tablespoons of sugar. The latest to try is Diet Dr Pepper, courtesy of Deutsch, whose whimsical effort harkens back to childhood Claymation specials, which, as you may know by now, normally scare the bejesus out of me. But despite the moving clay, this commercial isn't that frightening, with the notable exception of one trippy part when the Easter Bunny starts shouting out flavors, like he just downed a bag of Jelly Bellys. The spot is actually kinda cute, with all the holiday icons along with Bigfoot and the Tooth Fairy in a therapy group called "I Exist," whining about how no one believes in them. When the Diet Dr Pepper guy shares that he wants people to believe in a good diet soda, they all laugh at him. Of course, remember how heartbroken you were when you found about Santa? You might as well prepare for a similar disappointment if you think diet soda will ever taste like regular.

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

See also:
Nicole Richie set to bathe New Yorkers in Diet Dr Pepper
Pepper ads are missing a few good doctors

Filed under Cullers, Deutsch, Dr Pepper, Food and drink, Soda
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CiCi's pizza better than fast-food greasebag

After setting a commercial in a morgue and dropping pennies onto our nation's filthy streets for the hungry masses to collect, CiCi's Pizza turns things around with some decent new ads from Deutsch/LA. A wisecracking spokesbag tells it like it is in a hoarse, Borscht-belt-style delivery that works way better than it should. The bag has a real in-your-face attitude, and it rants so much about beef and pickles and cheese, I was hungry for an Angus 1/3-pounder by the end of the second spot. So, congrats, CiCi's, for the best McDonald's campaign I've seen all year.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

See also:
New CiCi's Pizza campaign is penny foolish
CiCi's sprinkling death, disease on its pizzas

Filed under CiCi's, Deutsch, Food and drink, Gianatasio, Restaurants
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New ads say PlayStation 3 'does everything'

Deutsch/LA is back with a new campaign for the Sony PlayStation 3, and it doesn't underpromise. The new tagline is: "It only does everything." There'll be nine spots altogether heading into the holiday season. Here are the first two, promoting the PS3's online capabilities and new $299 price point. They star one of our favorite actors, whale-noise maker Jerry Lambert, last seen brushing off a peeved Dustin Pedroia as "director of game accuracy" for MLB '09: The Show. Lambert is moving up through PlayStation's management food chain. Here, he serves as "director of rumor confirmation" and (a truly enviable position) "vp of enough is enough."

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Deutsch, Jerry Lambert, Nudd, PlayStation, Sony, Video games
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New CiCi's Pizza campaign is penny foolish

CiCi's Pizza is dropping a million pennies in streets near its restaurants nationwide as part of a promotion launched by ad shop Deutsch. Patrons who find the specially marked 1-cent pieces win free meals. The big negative, of course, is that you have to eat at CiCi's. I guess no one could afford, or was willing to pay, "five bucks and change," the price-point CiCi's extolled in its ads in November, so the chain drastically lowered the bar. Seriously, there's something a bit crass and mean-spirited about asking consumers to fish pennies out of the gutter for a few slices of pepperoni pie. What if a fight erupts over the tokens and someone winds up in the hospital, or worse? That's a PR debacle just waiting to happen. Worst of all is the imagery of schlubby looking patrons mounting pedestals to celebrate their penny-ante finds. Is that how CiCi's sees its customers? Maybe someone should take those pennies to the chain's corporate HQ and tactfully tell the marketing poobahs exactly where they can spend them.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under CiCi's, Deutsch, Food and Drink, Gianatasio, Restaurants
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PlayStation thinks Dustin Pedroia is a hack

There's so much to enjoy in this new "Dustin vs. PlayStation" campaign by Deutsch for the MLB '09: The Show video game. First, it's got Dustin Pedroia, the unlikely American League MVP and just-as-unlikely pitchman, arguing with the makers of the game over how it's been programmed: namely, that his avatar can't hit the high-and-inside fastball. The Red Sox second baseman insists he can indeed hit it, and he wouldn't be polishing his MVP trophy if he couldn't. Even better: His nemesis in the campaign is PlayStation's "director of game accuracy," played by the hilarious dude from the Holiday Inn commercials—the one who tells his buddies to "bring it down a notch" when they're hassling Joe Buck in the hotel bar, and who later falls asleep in the tanning bed. The PlayStation channel on YouTube currently only has these two spots: the "Dustin vs. PlayStation" ad above and the "Joe the Fan" spot below (possibly starring David Gianatasio in the role of Joe). There are a bunch more on the way. Hopefully the Holiday Inn guy will make whale sounds in at least one of them.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Baseball, Deutsch, Jerry Lambert, Nudd, PlayStation, Sports, Video games
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Tylenol PM wall-sheep will help you drift off

Deutsch is doing some pretty clever projection advertising for Tylenol PM around New York City. The video here, from Flickr users Steve and Sara, shows a parade of sheep bouncing off a "Sleep tight" headline on a blank wall in Brooklyn. The New York Times has a short piece on another execution in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood: The projection there shows a bunch of apartment windows; the closed ones represent Tylenol PM users, while the open ones show people trying like hell to will themselves to sleep. It's a cool idea and effect. The only downside, according to the Times, is the roar of the portable generator needed to run the projector—not itself something conducive to sleep.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Filed under Deutsch, Kiefaber, Pharma, Tylenol
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Deutsch whips out DirecTV's 'Coucha Sutra'

Various studies over the years have suggested that people enjoy watching TV almost as much as they like having sex. Thus, maybe the notion of a "Coucha Sutra" is long overdue. Deutsch L.A. has created just such an instruction manual for DirecTV in a print ad running in the latest Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, which hits newsstands Tuesday. See the full Coucha Sutra ad here. "What is Coucha Sutra?" asks the press release. "Consider it Modern Man’s Kama Sutra. The ancient Indian spiritual text, composed in the 2nd Century AD and famous for its detailed illustrations of human sexual behavior, has been revolutionized by DirecTV to depict the multitude of 'positions' assumed in the most sensual and spiritual of places in our time … the couch."

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Deutsch, DirecTV, Nudd, Television
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