Vegas.com tries SportsCenter-lite office ads
Vegas.com has put together a less-funny version of the ESPN SportsCenter ads, with a new campaign that shows Sin City entertainers working at the hospitality Web site's offices. According to the press release: "There were no formal scripts or makeup ... just Vegas celebrities interacting with the real Vegas expert employees at Vegas.com." The clips are being posted at Vegas.com/exposed over the next four weeks, and feature everyone from Marie Osmond to the employees of the Treasure Island Hotel & Casino (below) to Carrot Top (above), who could have used both a formal script and some makeup. (At least we now see why he bulked up. He has to carry that giant backpack around.) Viewers can vote for their favorite clips, and the four top vote-getters will be used as the basis for a TV campaign. Hopefully the killer chinchillas from the current Las Vegas ad campaign will show up and whip the less-popular celebs into shape. |
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Published on October 6, 2009 | Permalink
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Rogue resort's racy ad has nudists flustered
You know, one never hears about nudist-colony associations until something weird happens. This time, a clothing-optional retreat in Florida called Paradise Lakes Resort has had its membership in the American Association for Nude Recreation suspended over its racy advertising for a G-string pageant. The AANR says the ad, showing a hot blonde chick straddling a motorcycle, "sexualized the nudist experience." It was probably naive of them to expect anything else from a place that sounds like a strip club and holds G-string contests, but hindsight is 20/20 and all that. Really, we just hope this goes to court. The jury will have no idea where to look. See also: |
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Published on August 26, 2009 | Permalink
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No one told Motel 6 what bands do in hotels
Motel 6 has joined with Primary Wave Music, a song publisher, for "Rock Yourself to Sleep," a promotion that offers bands free hotel rooms while on the road. The Rolling Stones and U2 won't be taking part, no doubt preferring to quaff crème brûlées and make love to supermodels (or in Bono's case, meet with world leaders) at the Four Seasons. Bands that have signed on include Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers, Hit the Lights and Sparks the Rescue. I'm not sure those guys will ever leave once they're ensconced. Motel 6 beats sleeping in the van with the roadies, though admittedly not by much. And consider the situation from the other guests' point of view: You're already bummed because you're stuck in a Motel 6, and now there's a band next door, all charged up on Denny's food, rockin' out at full volume. And they won't share their groupies! Given Ozzy Osbourne's recent career arc, he should be checking in any day now. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on August 21, 2009 | Permalink
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Have we seen this ad before, Mr. Chairman?
This commercial from agency ISM in Boston reminds me of ... something else. I wonder what it could be. I'm just so foggy today, head muddled, not thinking straight. Guess I'd be lot sharper if I'd gotten a great night's sleep and fresh breakfast at a Holiday Inn Express. Which brings us to the clip in question. It's for Best Western, but I kept expecting the exec being grilled to blurt out the Holiday Inn Express punch line. This ad plays out like an execution from that better-known (and all-around better) campaign, which probably says a lot about just how effective those ads have been through the years. The spot reminded Adrants' Steve Hall of something else, too: GoDaddy's naughty congressional-inquiry Super Bowl spot. Of course, lots of things remind Steve of the GoDaddy girls. |
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Published on May 8, 2009 | Permalink
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Country Inns & Suites a hotbed of depravity
Who doesn't like fawning treatment by hotel staff? I just love how it works: They're polite and helpful to me, and in return I'm disrespectful to them and withhold tips. Awesome! Customer service is stressed in Olson's pitch for Carlson's Country Inns & Suites. And the vibe gets kinda hot. That corporate traveler's got bedroom eyes for Ted, a hotel employee, and the mash note proves he's intrigued. Later, the woman gets all hot and bothered for Joan, or at least I like to think so. Looks like someone's gonna get some lovin'. The next time AdFreak sends me out on the road, I'll be sure to stay at a Country Inns & Suites. If an opportunity to mix business and pleasure arises, "getting a room" won't be a problem. Hmmm, I wonder why AdFreak never sends me out on the road. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on April 20, 2009 | Permalink
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D.C. United kicks Fairfield hotels up a notch
Pro soccer players kicking a ball around in a place where they shouldn't really be doing so? That's what we find in this amiable video created by Marriott's PR folks to promote its Fairfield Inn & Suites brand. (It kicks off, so to speak, an integrated campaign that agency mcgarrybowen has created around the brand's "Staying is believing" theme.) Ben Olsen and some D.C. United teammates seem to be having fun as they play an impromptu game in a Marriott lobby. The downside, of course, is that there's already a legendary commercial in which big-time soccer players kick a ball around in an unusual venue: the one featuring stars of the Brazilian national team at an airport, on behalf of Nike in 1998. A new video can't help but invite comparison with the earlier one. And with all due respect to Marriott's effort, which is perfectly pleasant, D.C. United against Brazil isn't much of a contest. But the new video does end with a nice flourish as it offers this disclaimer: "We are professional soccer players. Don't even think about trying this inside a Fairfield Inn & Suites." OK, consider it not done. |
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Published on April 3, 2009 | Permalink
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HoJo brings back claymation, no one cares
Howard Johnson started its "Go happy. Go HoJo" campaign a few weeks ago, and despite it being one of the oddest hotel campaigns out there, no one really seemed to notice. Only 300 YouTube views in three weeks (10 of which are mine)? Maybe it's because the art director looked at all the options and said, "You know what's coming back? Stop-motion clay animation." Once again proving the eerie connection between claymation and hallucinations. See all the spots here. In one, dollar bills skate after a HoJo customer and follow him into an elevator. In another, a man types on his laptop while riding a cheetah into a maid. Thank goodness the molding putty hasn't taken over the Web site yet. Wonder what they were thinking? They'll tell you, in Star Wars style: They're after a younger target audience, the sort who watched frightening claymation holiday specials as children. Well, they caught my attention. I love that each spot is only 15 seconds. And I have to admit the deals seem pretty sweet. But ... claymation? I can't be the only one out there who finds it scarier than clowns. |
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Published on March 11, 2009 | Permalink
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Humor makes giant leap as white guy raps
Is there still any novelty left in the idea of white people rapping? Perhaps, as evidenced by the science dropped in this Holiday Inn Express ad from Fallon. Maybe this loquacious nerd and his homies from Accounts Payable can rent out the Holiday Inn's conference room for a real battle rap tournament against these cocky urban youths. More likely, he'll get the crap beaten out of him if he ever crosses their paths again. |
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Published on October 20, 2008 | Permalink
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Flatulence is a good thing at Extended Stay
You heard it here first: Extended Stay Hotels gives its patrons horrible gas. Well, you actually heard it here second, because the chain demonstrates the gastrointestinal impact of its facilities very clearly in the above spot by Toy New York. They say the rampant farting is a byproduct of maximum comfort, but anyone who can shut a door with his flatulence should see a doctor, or at least someone who owns a circus. And is this something they want to broadcast, anyway? Think how the girl who licks Extended Stay's rooms clean must feel. —Posted by David Kiefaber |
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Published on September 22, 2008 | Permalink
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