Liberty Mutual magically makes things good
Hill, Holliday employs arresting visuals to illustrate that "an accident doesn't have to slow you down" in this pair of Liberty Mutual spots touting new car replacement and guaranteed repairs. In the ad above, a guy convincingly plucks a "spare" vehicle from the trunk of his recently smashed-up car. The ad below follows the impact of a crash along the length of a car and shows the damage repairing itself almost as soon as it happens. The ads are impressively staged and memorable. Still, dealing with insurance companies after accidents can be a stressful, protracted, sometimes maddening experience—and these spots overreach a bit by making the process seem effortless, almost magical. It's probably wishful thinking to expect insurers' practices to be as special as the effects they use in commercials. —Posted by David Gianatasio
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Published on November 5, 2009 | Permalink
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Strap on your video game for extra pleasure
Hill, Holliday group creative director Tim Cawley describes gaming device Immerz this way: "The 'headphones' send low-frequency vibrations into your chest cavity ... and jangle your nervous system. Somehow, you actually 'feel' the game. The slope of the ground underfoot. Danger lurking just out of sight. Bullets whizzing overhead." Here's the thing: If I want my nerves jangled, I'll head to Starbucks. And if I'd like to get caught in a crossfire, I'll enlist. The Boston agency's launch video for the product features a typical violent gaming hero challenging users to feel what he feels during alien battles and such. Hey, tough guy, cork up that cake-hole, OK? Experiencing the terrifying intensity of combat is your job. Mine's reaping the glory of a high score. Plus, you just know someone will claim they got a heart attack using this thing. |
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Published on November 2, 2009 | Permalink
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IM chatting gets heavy in John Hancock ads
As Kenneth Hein mentioned over on BrandFreak, sports fans sit through the same commercials over and over at this time of year. During the baseball playoffs, the new "Cursor" ads for John Hancock, by Boston's Hill Holliday, are among those playing on a loop. The spots, which show people texting and instant messaging each other about their financial situations, are meant to have the same quiet, unassuming vibe as the agency's classic "Real life. Real answers" work for the client back in the '80s. On its Web site, John Hancock says the new campaign "captures the truth and realness of our advertising legacy in a contemporary manner." Maybe it's a bit too contemporary. The format allows for plenty of peace and quiet. But showing life's big conversations happening over text and IM doesn't seem true to life for these characters (except maybe for the sister in the airport), and makes them seem distant from their families—a far cry from the emotional impact of John Hancock's classic Bill Heater/Jenny Katherine spot, one of the best commercials ever made about family and money. —Posted by Tim Nudd |
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Published on October 21, 2009 | Permalink
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St. Jude spot poignant, but won't haunt you
Ads for children's hospitals are often soul-crushingly sad, except in Finland, where they're horror-movie creepy. This Hill, Holliday spot is neither. It promotes Chili's support of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospitals, and is based on a nice simple idea: Actual parents of St. Jude's cancer patients talk about how they're looking forward to moments in their kids' lives—their first speeding ticket, their first date—that parents typically dread. "They'd like nothing more than to be able to witness their children live a normal childhood," says Hill, Holliday's Steve Grskovic. "Even if that means borrowing the car and leaving it on empty." The spot directs viewers to Chili's Create a Pepper site, where they can donate. Via Osocio. —Posted by Tim Nudd Previously on AdFreak: |
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Published on September 29, 2009 | Permalink
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Cereal will resent your Dunkin' Donuts habit
I haven't been a big fan of Hill, Holliday's recent Dunkin' Donuts work, but this latest "Where's Dan?" ad strikes just the right chord. There's a cube-jockey workplace setup, and I figured we were in for some more stale Office-style banter. Not so! The real action's back home in Dan's cupboard, where animated cereal-box characters bemoan their former breakfast mate's newfound love of Dunkin' food. It's a cute idea done well, and it resonates with me, because as a kid I'd hold entire conversations with Toucan Sam, Cap'n Crunch and the Trix rabbit at the breakfast table. But that was 30 years ago, and today I know better. The Cap'n's evil and just wants to escape his cardboard frigate and embark on a bloody quest for world domination. Tony the Tiger's the only one I listen to now. What's that, Tony? I should buy more Frosted Flakes because they're grrrr-eat? —Posted by David Gianatasio See also: |
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Published on September 11, 2009 | Permalink
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Dunkin' Donuts helps plump up the piggies"It's breakfast, not broke-fest, at Dunkin'," the voiceover says in this Hill, Holliday Dunkin' Donuts spot, just in case viewers were conflicted on
that point. Now, the notion of feeding coins to a pen full of shimmying piggy banks is OK with me. In fact, it's a recurring daydream of mine, and I
always start squealing like Ned Beatty in Deliverance. That probably explains why they make me sit all alone in a row of empty cubicles. Still, the
whole "pig" motif, talk of having "more spare change to deal with" and the casting of a chubby actor as the farmer (this has been an expanding trend in Dunkin' ads) reminds me that I should cut back to a single Boston Kreme per day. OK, maybe two. |
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Published on July 20, 2009 | Permalink
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Avoid the creepy park dweller Barry SwitzerAdweek's Eleftheria Parpis enjoyed this cross-promo spot by Hill, Holliday for SpikeTV's Pros vs. Joes and Dunkin' Donuts. I find it creepy. Ex-college football coach and sportscaster Barry Switzer pops out from behind a tree and babbles about "ball protection" and "rocks" to a couple of young guys. He’s also carrying around a football dressed as a baby. One of the dudes IDs Switzer in an awkward fashion, perhaps in an attempt to let the audience in on the joke, but Barry still just seems like a naughty, nutty old man bugging folks in the park. Maybe he had one too many Dunkin' turbo shots before donning the red windbreaker. Those nerds he pesters would be well advised to go long before Coach suggests a huddle. |
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Published on June 5, 2009 | Permalink
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Pedroia defeats Goliath in new Dunkin' spot
American League MVP Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox enhances his performance with a turbo-shot-infused Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee in this spot by Hill, Holliday. The Biblical theme caught me off-guard. It's not like he plays for the Angels or the Padres. And given baseball's doping controversies, the idea of a batter ingesting anything to pump up his prowess seems risky. Maybe it's supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, or edgy. Still, it's great to see Mark McGwire getting some work as Goliath! I guess freakishly bulking up on steroids pays off after all. |
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Published on April 27, 2009 | Permalink
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Chili's: our meals are tastier than cardboard
Commercial directors know how difficult it can be to make food look appealing in ads. That's no problemo in Hill, Holliday's latest campaign for Chili's, which features some intentionally unappetizing visuals for the fictitious rival P.J. Bland's chain. Actually, the entrees are pretty tasty—to the eye, at least—with expertly sculpted cardboard substituting for meat and veggies. The baked potato with butter is especially fine. It's also refreshing to see Chili's stressing taste over low prices, because the whole the "value-sell" approach by advertisers has started to get out of hand. Though if P.J.'s prices are decent, I'd be tempted to give that T-bone a try. It doesn't look any worse than the lunches I make for myself. I thought steak was supposed to be grayish brown (with flecks of green)! |
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Published on April 14, 2009 | Permalink
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Liberty Mutual's quirky ad family needs help
Liberty Mutual poses some heavy questions about "doing the right thing" in this latest ad from Hill, Holliday, part of the insurer's ongoing Responsibility Project. I'd like to save the commercial's fictional Marlowe family and everyone else some time—and hopefully head off more sappy spots—and answer them here. 1) Yes, the family should put the grandfather in a nursing home. He's clearly off his nut and probably dangerous. 2) The older brother should absolutely drop out of college and enlist in the Army, not just to save the family some money but also to get a real haircut instead of that half-assed shag. 3) Of course the family should spy on the sister—enlist the April Fool's software worm or that Chinese surveillance software if necessary. She's clearly up to no good, and a Fling in a boutique changing room can't be far off. Most important: get the kid who narrates the spot some professional help. Judging from the costume and pogo-stick antics, he's headed the way of Grandpa. |
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Published on April 1, 2009 | Permalink
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Are Dunkin' Donuts better for you than TV?
Hill, Holliday calls this Dunkin' Donuts spot "Tractor Beam," but that freaky TV seems to be channeling (ha!) Poltergeist more than Star Trek, as it pulls the kids toward the screen. When Dad opens a box of Dunkin' treats on the kitchen table, the spell, or beam, is broken. The voiceover explains that it's all about "getting the family together with a tasty doughnut." That's an oddly Homer Simpson-esque sentiment that assumes eating sugary fried dough is somehow preferable to viewing televised fare. The proposition may hold true if the kids were watching Bill O'Reilly or that cinematic crap on AMC, but otherwise I'm not so sure. Consider the round-faced, solidly built (wink, wink) father in the spot. He should lay off the chocolate frosteds and serve up some salad. He should at least switch stations to an exercise show or, better yet, take those kids outside so they can work off all the calories he's stuffing down their throats. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on March 31, 2009 | Permalink
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In down times, the lottery's bigger than ever
Could the slumping economy drive a renaissance in lottery advertising and spur sales as the newly unemployed seek quick fixes for their money woes? The question hadn't crossed my mind until the folks at Hill, Holliday sent me their latest work for Massachusetts' Billion Dollar Bonanza. It's touted as "Our biggest game ever," with giant scratch tickets providing the salient visuals. Some hardhats use their shovels instead of a dime to see if they've won. At least they're employed and have an extra $20 to waste—er, I mean, invest—in a ticket. Actually, the way the markets are performing, they might be better off. Hill's become the "big idea" agency. First there was the giant chili pepper for Chili's, now these lottery tickets. A giant chocolate cruller for Dunkin' Donuts would sure be appreciated. Though I really can't afford snacks if I'm blowing—I mean, spending—$20 a pop on the lottery. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on March 24, 2009 | Permalink
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Hit 'print' and you'll kill a cute leaf turtle
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Published on February 20, 2009 | Permalink
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'You kin' do it,' says a giddy Dunkin' Donuts
Hill, Holliday's latest advertising for Dunkin' Donuts introduces the rallying cry, "You kin' do it!" Thankfully, there's a press release which explains that "kin' do" is literally part of the DunKIN DOnuts name. Without seeing the ads, I never would have figured that out on my own, at least not before my large with six sugars. See three more new commercials here. The press release says the new campaign "cheers on the everyday people who keep America running by reminding them they can take on any task: you kin' make it through the workday, you kin' shovel out that driveway, you kin' pass that exam, you kin' finish that paperwork." Well, you kin' also join a gym to work off that bulbous butt after quaffing all those chocolate frosteds, though I doubt that iteration will make it into the campaign. Frankly, after eating a bunch of donuts, I don't feel like I kin' do much of anything. I usually just need a nap. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on January 5, 2009 | Permalink
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Talk to the hand in Boys & Girls Clubs ads
Hill, Holliday's pro-bono effort for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston is clearly well intentioned. The work is themed "In these hands," and in a rare example of truth in advertising, we do indeed get images of young peoples' hands—in this case, covered with copy. I think the kids got a little sweaty, because some of the text seems smudged, and it's hard to read in spots. No matter. Let's just assume the tales are wrenching, gripping and "real," ... yadda, yadda. Frankly, I'm just gonna hop online right now and make a donation before giant billboards start popping up all over town and those huge, inky hands reach down from the sky and make me feel even guiltier about my soft suburban life. |
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Published on October 30, 2008 | Permalink
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Dunkin' claims taste-test win vs. Starbucks
Hill, Holliday has created a new commercial and Web site touting blind taste-test results favoring Dunkin' Donuts coffee over Starbucks. I conducted a test of my own, pounding down Dunkin' coffee non-stop all day yesterday and Starbucks today to see which buzz is more righteous and "far out." For kicks, I also wore a blindfold. The Dunkin' coffee made me hallucinate that the sexy field researcher in the ad morphed into a giant Dutch man-cat who got my doughnut order wrong over and over, just like the counter help at Dunkin' in real life. After my first dozen Starbucks lattes, I stripped to my shorts, adopted the nerdy mannerisms of John Hodgman and tried to convince co-workers that Vista's not really that bad, all while standing on my head. AdFreak's lawyers have advised me to add: Do not try drinking this much coffee at home! I am a professional blogger and do stuff like this all the time! (Or at least I say I do.) Now, what's a guy gotta do to get a refill around here? |
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Published on October 21, 2008 | Permalink
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America plods along laboriously on Dunkin'
Compare Hill, Holliday's latest Dunkin' Donuts spot, "Uphill Battle," with the chain's "Doin' Things" ad from a few years back. The new spot's coffee addicts seem kinda pokey, while their 2006 counterparts rush here and there, doing things. Even after sipping, the current crew are awfully mellow, and their uphill progress is plodding at best. They're drinking coffee, and Dunkin' doesn't use heavy trans-fats anymore in its baked goods, so these worker bees should really be energized. Heck, that guy lazing on the tire should be rolling himself to work in that thing! The tagline's not, "America plods on Dunkin'," unless they've changed it, which is possible, because I was too jazzed on Starbucks to sit through the last five seconds. Lord, I miss those trans-fats. And what happened to They Might Be Giants on the soundtrack? That tune really sticks in your head. "Doin' things is what I like to do!" Oh man, where's my air guitar? —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on October 2, 2008 | Permalink
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Liberty Mutual puts you in the driver's seat
—Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on August 18, 2008 | Permalink
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