Tiny giraffes from DirecTV ads now for saleBy David Griner on Thu Mar 24 2011Gregor the Russian billionaire might be the lead in DirecTV's "Opulence" and "Epic Win" ads from Grey New York, but we all know who the real star is—the miniature giraffe. And now you can reserve your own over at PetiteLapGiraffe.com, a brilliant site created for the (sadly, fake) Sokoblovsky Farms, "Russia's finest purveyor of Petite Lap Giraffes." You can watch a live cam of their "bull" giraffe, Vladimir, or look at photos of the cute little critters relaxing in the bubble bath. It's a great example of taking an awesome random detail from a TV campaign and running with it online. The site, concepted and built by Grey (with The Mill in New York handling special effects), offers lots of great tips on owning a tiny giraffe. "PLG's love being indoors in filtered air conditioning. If they can listen to music of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov it is dream," notes the copy, which is all humorously written in broken English. And look, they're tidy: "PLG's are very clean. With training they will go in box like cats. Allergies never a problem." Well, I'm sold. Too bad I'm No. 14,870 on the waiting list, with an expected delivery date 21,000 years in the future. Opulence—eventually, I will has it. Hat tip to Kristen Heptinstall on Twitter. |
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Filed under Animals, DirecTV, Grey, Griner, TV
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DirecTV's opulence czar flexes his 'epic win'By David Kiefaber on Thu Mar 17 2011Gregor the wealthy Russian and his miniature giraffe have returned for a follow-up to DirecTV's “Opulence” ad from last August. (The only thing missing is the awesome "More on The Facingbook" tag, which has been dumbed down to just "The Facebook.") This spot, again by Grey New York, seems just as concerned with physical fitness as with materialism. Heck, even the giraffe has a treadmill, though they still make time to watch a nature show on the portrait-framed flatscreen. In fact, I wish they focused more on the actual product and less on his disgusting workout regimen-by-proxy. When his biceps explode from the pressure, I hope he has the grace to get new, gold-plated ones. |
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Filed under DirecTV, Grey, Kiefaber
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DirecTV's robots make a mess of your homeBy Tim Nudd on Tue Nov 9 2010This DirecTV spot from Grey New York, with the robots rampaging through a guy's house as he quietly fetches a bowl of ice cream, is visually awesome—and expertly highlights the product feature of watching and pausing live TV from room to room. Imagine how great it would be, though, if these cyborgs trashed the "Opulence, I has it" guy's house. You'd have gold busts, poker-playing dogs and mail-order brides flying everywhere. MJZ's Rupert Sanders, whose previous credits include the Halo 3 "Believe" spot, directed the new ad.
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Filed under DirecTV, Grey, Nudd, TV
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DirecTV's 'Opulence' ad is rich in subtletiesBy David Kiefaber on Tue Aug 3 2010Grey New York and director Tim Godsa filled this "Opulence" DirecTV spot with awesome subtle details, like the actual dogs playing poker (one of whom has an ace in his paw) and what appears to be a Van Gogh on an easel behind couch. And there's the miniature giraffe, of course, which is so cute we'll forgive the otherwise unpardonable sin of Twilight playing on his TV. The best part is the song clip at the end, though; it's a Russian folk song called "Korobeiniki," better known over here as the Tetris theme.
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Filed under DirecTV, Grey, Kiefaber
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DirecTV uses only living people in new spotPosted on Mon Nov 2 2009
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: |
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Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Deutsch, DirecTV, Nudd, TV
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DirecTV's Chris Farley spot just feels wrongPosted on Fri Oct 23 2009
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: |
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Filed under Deutsch, DirecTV, Nudd, TV
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Deutsch whips out DirecTV's 'Coucha Sutra'Posted on Mon Feb 9 2009Various 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." |
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Filed under Deutsch, DirecTV, Nudd, Television
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Scene suggestions for the next DirecTV adsPosted on Fri Oct 24 2008
—Posted by David Kiefaber |
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Filed under Deutsch, DirecTV, Kiefaber, Television
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Is DirecTV's 'Poltergeist' spot in bad taste?Posted on Mon Oct 13 2008
—Posted by Tim Nudd |
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Filed under Controversy, Deutsch, DirecTV, Film, Nudd
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