Leo Burnett distances itself from Buick adsIn the ad industry, there's no shortage of desire to mock the misfortune of agencies like Leo Burnett, which is reportedly being criticized by GM's top marketing executives for the lame new Buick campaign shown above. But AutoBlog makes a compelling case for the agency, which it says is being pilloried for ads actually created by a subcontractor that Burnett was forced to work with: "Mark LaNeve, GM's head of marketing, allegedly instructed Burnett to hire Gary Topolewski, a former creative director at Burnett who worked with LaNeve on Cadillac's Break Through ad campaign, and who now runs another ad agency." So who's in the wrong here? My money's on Buick VP Susan Docherty, mainly just because she apparently thinks the campaign is good. —Posted by David Griner |
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Published on July 22, 2009 | Permalink
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Ad parody gets even more honest about GMApparently, a slick video montage doesn't quite convince everyone that General Motors can claw its way out of the abyss and return to its former glory. Current TV's "InfoMania" show created this spoof (which has a bit of salty language up front) to highlight just how much random window dressing GM puts on an ad that's supposed to be frank and to the point. I'd love to see what clips got cut in editing. I think it could have ended a lot stronger with Mount Rushmore, sad clown, iron girder, Woody Guthrie, gold miner, tombstone, zombie hand. —Posted by David Griner |
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Published on June 16, 2009 | Permalink
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Microsoft's Bing prepares to save the world
Here we have a breaking campaign from a giant global company that's struggling to compete in a brutal market. It talks about making "decisions that help us get to the right place at the right time." Out with the old, in with the new. Reinvention. Revving a shiny new engine. But this isn't one of GM's "We're not dead yet!" spots by Deutsch (though there is car footage). No, it's introductory spot by JWT for Microsoft's Bing search engine (sorry, decision engine). Oh, I know the campaigns have vastly different purposes and can't be fairly compared, yadda yadda. It's just the similarity of the images and approach ... big-time drama by way of (mostly) stock footage. The Bing ad uses a snippet of Clockwork Orange-style wide-eyed thought-control footage—you know, where the subject is forced to keep his eyes open as images whip past on screen. That represents the chaotic state of digital information overload. A new search engine (sorry, decision engine) and a bunch of new commercials won't add to that, surely. |
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Published on June 3, 2009 | Permalink
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Slater, NBC and GM drive right off the road
NBC has canceled My Own Worst Enemy, Christian Slater's product-placement-riddled TV series, proving once again that you can't polish a turd. Abysmal ratings put NBC in fourth place for the hour—an unacceptable situation. Four episodes have shown, and at least five more will air as NBC honors its contract with General Motors, whose Camaro and Traverse brands were "integrated" into the show. I can understand how it seemed like a sure bet. Those little BMW films with Clive Owen were brilliant, and Christian Slater is a pretty big name for network TV. The brands even marginally fit with the plot of Slater as a secret agent who is also a loving father. You may recall that the Traverse is the whipped-man-mobile, and the Camero is ... well, bitchin'. But the GM promos claiming that the cars were the real stars of the show, and the heavy PR campaign touting the partnership, removed any trace of integrated, seamless product placement. Despite the show's fall, GM and NBC remain characteristically optimistic and open to new partnerships, so don't be surprised if the suicidal robot gets its own talk show. —Posted by Rebecca Cullers |
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Published on November 17, 2008 | Permalink
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