Biz & Andy's TuneUp ad is truly automagical
Rappers Biz Markie and Andy Milonakis have come together to promote TuneUp, a little program that helps fix missing cover art and track names in your music library. Markie is getting a lot of commercial biz this season — he's also in a fantastic spot for RadioShack (the second one down on that page) — most likely because he's hilarious. In this one-off spot (posted below), he stars as Captain TuneUp, whose superpowers include cleaning your music library "automagically" and making little sound effects. In a way, though, Milonakis is also a superhero. It's just that his only power is looking like a 14-year-old when he's actually 33. Don't laugh, it's a birth defect! No really, it's a hormone growth disorder. Anyhow, the point is, the spot is great not in spite of the low-budget effects but because of them. Plus, they used the word automagical! What more do you need? Via Boing Boing.
|
|
Published on December 15, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (4)
|
10 best celebrity computer ads of the 1980s
When geek-culture blog Topless Robot dug up the Prime Computer ads above, from 1980, featuring Tom Baker's classic incarnation of Dr. Who (and his equally classic sidekick, Lalla Ward as Romana), I was shocked to see they were actually great commercials. They're clever, endearing and memorable—even if they do oversell the machine's capabilities by a light year or two. In short, these ads are everything that most vintage computer ads weren't, especially ones that involved celebrities. Click here to check out our picks for the top 10 celebrity computer ads of the 1980s. —Posted by David Griner |
|
Published on November 23, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (13)
|
IBM ad likes the job Mike Bloomberg's done
As if Michael Bloomberg didn't spend enough of his own money trying to win re-election as mayor of New York City, IBM's ad budget seems to have given him a further boost. This new spot in IBM's "Smarter Planet" series opens with a voice saying that "crime in New York City has dropped 27 percent since 2001." Viewers who vote in that city who saw the ad in recent weeks might have assumed at first that it was yet another Bloomberg commercial. As it becomes clear that this encomium to the city's declining crime rate is coming from a disinterested source, it's probably all the more potent as a seeming endorsement of the mayor's stewardship, at least where crime rates are concerned. One more reason to think Bloomberg's opponent in the election, William Thompson, just hasn't caught a break. —Posted by Mark Dolliver |
|
Published on November 3, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (0)
|
PC breaks promises, plenty of fashion rules
Apple is moving quickly to try to dampen the early enthusiasm over Microsoft's Windows 7. And this new "Get a Mac" ad, with John Hodgman breaking his promises through the years, is one of their best yet. UPDATE: Below are two more new commercials from the series. |
|
Published on October 23, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (6)
|
Latest '1984' spoof casts Apple as the villain
Perhaps the most iconic ad of all time, Apple's "1984" has been repurposed a hundred times over. But this is the first time I've seen it turned against its creator. The international crew behind DoubleTwist, a media software that promises to put "your iTunes library on any device," created this animated parody to promote its Oct. 6 launch. (The beta version is available now for free, but lacks features available with the update.) So, how do you feel about Steve Jobs being cast as Big Brother? The open-source community has long felt this way about Apple's "walled garden" approach to its devices. And with more than 220 million iPods sold worldwide, not to mention the 50 million iPhones and iPod Touches, there might be a valid claim that Jobs is indeed the Kaiser of Conformity. But will a cross-device iTunes knockoff really end that? Or will it just tide you over a few more months until you can afford the Apple device you really want? Via TechCrunch. —Posted by David Griner Previously on AdFreak: |
|
Published on September 30, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (6)
|
Dokken battles chicken for Norton anti-virus
Did the Family Guy manatees write this set of ads for Norton's 2010 anti-virus software? Because using '80s band Dokken and a chicken to illustrate how viruses attack your hard-drive may be the most random metaphor I've ever seen. That Dokken air-humps the chicken until it explodes in the spot above wasn't too surprising, but the chicken pulling a switchblade on them in the spot below caught me off guard, though it too supports my manatee hypothesis. (There's also this third Dokken/chicken spot, as well as another series with street fighter Kimbo Slice.) Oddly enough, the least random thing about this campaign is Dokken, who had a comeback album last year that critics liked, although the accompanying tour must not have gone well if they're doing shit like this now. —Posted by David Kiefaber |
|
Published on September 10, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (4)
|
Microsoft ads not quite as diverse in Poland
Don't really want that black guy in the overseas version of your ad? Just Photoshop him out! Compare the English-language version of the company's business productivity infrastructure site with the Polish-language version. The Asian guy miraculously survived, but only a small portion of the black guy remains. They forgot to Photoshop out his hand. Via Engadget. UPDATE: In a Twitter post, Microsoft has apologized for its "mistake" and says it's going to take the photo off the Polish site. UPDATE 2: The same photo, with the black guy, now appears on both sites.
|
|
Published on August 25, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (17)
|
HP crowdsources its headless ad campaign
Few social-media marketing ideas are as hackneyed as inviting people to upload their own commercials. But it seems like a good fit for Hewlett-Packard with the new "You on You" campaign. The computer maker is inviting the public to make homemade versions of the "Personal Again" HP ads that feature celebrities (their faces hidden) talking about their digital lives. The effort, aimed at promoting the HP Artist Edition Notebook, is about halfway through its life span, and some of the submitted work has been pretty impressive. Above is one of my favorites. (How can you not like a gymnast who moonlights as a zombie slayer?) The reason I like this campaign more than most of its kind is because the original ad concept seems custom-made for a crowdsourcing project like this (versus, say, asking people to make up their own "Priceless" scenarios for MasterCard). Even without the slick digital production, many of the HP submissions still convey the charming, hyper-personalized feel of the originals. If you think your torso and editing skills are up to the challenge (and you wouldn't mind winning up to $40,000 in cash), you've got until Sunday to enter. —Posted by David Griner |
|
Published on August 25, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (1)
|
Outrun the other rats with Toshiba's laptops
This Toshiba ad from Young & Rubicam in Irvine, Calif., shows what happens when you buy the wrong laptop: You end up sprinting in a panic through an empty city, trying to keep up with the rat race, only to get sucked violently into the air, legs flailing, or bump headfirst into an invisible wall, foiled by the more technologically advanced rats who were "set free" by their Toshibas. The ad is a weird combination of goofy and deadly serious, which is a bit of a disconnect. Special effects like these sometimes work a little better when they're balanced out by a more lighthearted tone, as with the classic Katamari-inspired Travelers Insurance spot from Fallon. |
|
Published on July 31, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (9)
|
This year's desktop-computing blockbuster
I've been excited for this since the teaser came out, and hoping Jerry Seinfeld wasn't going to star in it. Now, Traffik and Microsoft have finally released the full trailer for the spy-themed Office 2010: The Movie. The plot? Our agent's partner, Clippy, is dead. The people responsible have released a new rogue font! It's up to our hero to find it. They've clearly been influenced by some sources, like CollegeHumor's font conference and the original spy-themed Windows 386 ad that had everyone singing, "I'm using Windows, Windows, Windows 386!" (at 2:19, Bond music at 6:16). But basically, I think it's awesome. Unfortunately, the Web site doesn't live up to the hype. If you ask me, Microsoft needs to fully commit to this concept if it's going to work. Do all the tutorials in action-movie style—it will actually make people want to watch them. Turning boring office work into the action movie we wish we were living is a big idea for those of us using Windows for eight hours at a stretch, disconnected from the effects of the data we crunch. So, go ahead and make that moronic video on how to run Text to Columns more entertaining. It's really the least you could do. —Posted by Rebecca Cullers |
|
Published on July 17, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (2)
|
Dell's laptop factory sure is a magical place
Mother in New York more or less goes the Coca-Cola "Happiness Factory" route for Dell in this musical spot. The Dell factory's a bit too wacky-forced-happy for my taste, with burly hardhats shufflin' and singin' about lollipops as multicolored Dell notebook computers roll off the confection/assembly line. Why should I care that these dudes are happy in their toil? Does that somehow make the product better or more desirable? The upside: If these computers crash, you can always just eat them. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
|
Published on June 23, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (8)
|
A chilling hello from Opera's Unite software
Opera Software says it's reinventing the Web. That's pretty much what it'll take for the Norwegian company to boost its abysmal browser share (zing!). This week it unveiled Opera Unite, a data-sharing technology that, if the firm's to be believed, turns every computer running the Opera browser into a Web server. That's not many computers, so why bother writing about it? Well, to note the oddly off-key introductory video, which plays like a cross between a grade-school educational film and an Apple iPod silhouette ad gone wrong. Those servers lined up behind the couple in the park are scary. The whole thing has a frosty, foreboding, Big Brother feel, which is fine for depicting the problem (a lifeless world metaphorically stemming from a lack of communications) but does little to illustrate the solution or help viewers like the product. Microsoft's Bing campaign looks brilliant by comparison. Eh, they're a mixed-up bunch in Norway. |
|
Published on June 18, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (1)
|
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. |
|
Published on June 3, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (5)
|
Samsung creatures scuffle on N310 laptops
When Samsung last ventured into the realm of Web video, Welsh sheep in LED vests were involved. The result was "an Internet sensation," according to my AdFreak colleague Dave Kiefaber, who knows a bit too much about the Internet and sheep for my liking. Which brings us to Samsung's latest effort for its N310 mini notebook. At a Samsung trade show booth where the units are on display, male and female Gumby-type characters spring to life (I think they're supposed to be holograms) and battle in a bloodless imitation of Itchy and Scratchy. It's gotten nearly 200,000 views on YouTube in less than a week, and it certainly held my attention. But I'm not sure what it's trying to say about the product. And as for it being another "Internet sensation" ... baaaaaaaah! —Posted by David Gianatasio |
|
Published on May 27, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (1)
|
Adobe CS4 film looks nice, makes no sense
New York studio Blacklist and director Cisma were given almost free rein in making this ad for Adobe CS4, commissioned by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. The only restriction was "to do everything using Adobe Products exclusively." The result is Le Sens Propre, aka nearly four minutes of something I mostly stopped watching after one minute. So did the rest of YouTube, if comments like "wtf this is so pointless and gay" are any indication of how it went over. Cisma's idea was "to hold the attention of the viewer by the way the story is told, rather than centering on the narrative, and keeping the audience guessing how the film will end." He misfired somewhat, though, as the only thing the audience wonders is why the film was made, and when it will end. |
|
Published on May 26, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (3)
|
KG out of the playoffs but has a nice laptop
Perhaps if Kevin Garnett had paid more attention to what was happening on the court and spent less time daydreaming about the functionality of his Hewlett-Packard notebook, the Boston Celtics wouldn't have been booted from the NBA playoffs. Maybe if he'd studied the moves of some Orlando Magic players on that screen instead of looking ahead to the L.A. Lakers, he'd still be playing some hoop. Lucky for Kevin, he'll now have plenty of free time—an entire off-season—to indulge his globetrotting online and offline pursuits. Enjoy the business trip to China there, Kev. No need to book a flight to Cleveland, where the Magic are heading. That town's for winners. I just realized that the word "globetrotting" has a hoops-related double meaning. That's apt. Wordplay is likewise for winners. So are Macs. Crashtastic, virus-prone HPs, like the one Garnett uses in this spot from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and Psyop, are not. UPDATE: Oh right, KG was injured, wasn't he? Ignore me. Go Yankees! —Posted by David Gianatasio |
|
Published on May 21, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (4)
|
Has Microsoft paid for your new laptop yet?
Here's yet another new "Laptop Hunters" ad by Crispin Porter + Bogusky for Microsoft. It shows soon-to-be law student Lauren (a different Lauren than the one in the first ad) and her mom Sue, who want something fast and portable, with a good battery, for less than $1,700. Given that they're looking for the most basic possible elements of a laptop computer, finding one shouldn't have been hard. But again, they were turned off by the Mac's steep price. After somehow passing up on a pink computer, Lauren ends up with a Dell, which is quite portable, as she'll find out when the hard drive and memory cards give out and she needs to send it back for repairs. |
|
Published on May 15, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (7)
|
Intel eyes doomsday play date with humans
This banner ad, running on CNN.com and elsewhere and part of Intel's vaunted new "Sponsors of tomorrow" campaign, reveals the initiative for what it is: a fiendish plan by Intel-chip-powered robots to subjugate humankind by snatching kids from playgrounds. In the first image, we have some kids on a teeter-totter—bratty, perhaps, but flesh and blood just the same. There's some decidedly sinister copy about how Intel's playground "isn't like" ours. Then the youths are replaced by disembodied cybernetic arms. Intel's playground "isn't like" ours, all right. It's a heartless, high-tech holocaust where the machines rule and living beings wind up buried in a sandbox ... or something. Our fate's unpleasant, that's for sure. And now we know the real reason Intel used "actors" to portray its engineers in the TV spots: The real ones have been replaced by cyborgs. Dig behind the lab if you want proof! |
|
Published on May 12, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (1)
|
Real or not, it's nice to see the faces of Intel
Intel's new "Sponsors of Tomorrow" ad campaign by Venables Bell & Partners puts a face, or several, on the technicians and researchers behind the company's many innovations. As it turns out, at least one of these faces is impersonated. Ajay Bhatt, who helped develop the USB, is portrayed by an actor in the "Rock Star" ad above, which takes place in a much trendier version of Intel's Hillsboro, Ore., office. It's probably safe to assume central casting sent over a couple of people for the crowd shots in the "Oops" ad below. While it's tempting to rake Intel over the coals for not delivering on its pledge to humanize its product, tearing employees away from important work to make silly ads wouldn't be the most effective use of their time. Besides, Intel's heart is in the right place. Guys like Ajay rarely get the praise or recognition they deserve, so why not give them their moment in the sun? It's not like there are any interesting actual rock stars left to reserve that spotlight ahead of time. —Posted by David Kiefaber |
|
Published on May 7, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (5)
|
Not even sex could save these technologies
For a fun visit to the vaults, check out Brainz.org's compilation of 12 "Dead Technology" Advertisements. What's a little spooky is that if you're over 30, each of these technological wonders has come and gone in your lifetime. Some, like the Walkman and the VCR, were tremendous successes. Others, like Betamax, Laserdiscs and MiniDiscs (the latter shown here with the not-so-subtle tagline, "You know you want it"), never really got off the ground in the U.S. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a strange craving to devour a NeoGeo. Via @JeffreyJDavis. —Posted by David Griner |
|
Published on April 22, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (1)
|
More Microsoft laptop hunters on the prowl
In its ongoing effort to rehabilitate the nerdy, bureaucratic image cemented in consumer minds via the Apple ads, Microsoft has released a couple more "Laptop Hunters" commercials from Crispin Porter + Boguksy. (The first one starred "Lauren" and took place mostly on a grassy knoll.) The spot above achieves its everyperson vibe by featuring an 11-year-old boy whose mom calls him "dude." Well, at least he's a wholesome-looking kid with a healthy aversion to "cute" laptops that have software compatibility issues. Normally, anyone under 17 who's seen asking about a good gaming computer does so in between calling people "fags" over his Xbox Live headset. I can't see little Jackson behaving that way. I still feel bad for him, though, because middle school can't be easy when your mom's that hot. |
|
Published on April 13, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (1)
|
Microsoft vanquishes hoops-playing beasts
This Microsoft Visual Studio Team System ad, in which a group of developers challenge the Dread Cthulhu Youth League to a game of basketball, certainly didn't endear itself to Copyranter. Or us, really. Saying that "Fast teams score often and deploy early" is all well and good, but it doesn't really apply to what we're seeing, or make much sense on its own. They should develop this into an Xbox 360 game, though. I'd play it. |
|
Published on April 1, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (2)
|
Dell plays fashion accessory in Enfatico ads
In these times of austerity, people are skimping on fashion apparel. All the more reason, then, to buy a computer that can multitask and fill this role in addition to, you know, computing. A campaign by Enfatico certainly gives Dell's Adamo laptop the full fashion treatment. (The Web site adopts the manner of a runway show.) Looking at the larger ad from which this image was taken, you should be grateful to Enfatico for clueing you in that bell-bottoms have made a comeback—with cuffs, no less! |
|
Published on March 30, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (3)
|
HP gets caught in crossfire of PC-Mac battle
This new Microsoft ad by Crispin Porter + Bogusky makes a pretty compelling case for the affordability of PC laptops versus Macs. But it has also riled Apple lovers, and they're taking out their vengeance on the HP Pavilion Notebook that "Lauren" ends up buying in lieu of a costlier Mac. "It is the epitome of what people dislike about PCs," writes Computerworld's Seth Weintraub. Specifically, he takes issue with the $699 laptop's processor speed, screen quality, wireless networking, battery life and nearly eight-pound weight. TechFlash's Todd Bishop wants to interview Lauren to see what she thought of the laptop in the weeks after making "one of the most high-profile purchases in the history of the PC industry," but he says Microsoft is turning down requests to talk to the office manager/aspiring actress. This spot is the first installment of a campaign featuring real people who didn't know they were involved in a Microsoft ad. For their sake, I hope Crispin's listing on Craigslist said: "Volunteers wanted for free computer and lifetime of second-guessing by every Apple fanboy on the planet." UPDATE: Oh, but wait. Did Lauren even really go into the Apple Store? —Posted by David Griner |
|
Published on March 30, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (12)
|
If a 4½-year-old can work Vista, so can you
Here's the latest Microsoft commercial, which premiered last night during the Grammy Awards on CBS. It's the first spot in what might be a new series of ads from Crispin Porter + Bogusky focusing on "rookies" who are new to computing but who master the programs with Mac-like ease. This ad stars Kylie, a kid who makes mincemeat of Windows Live Photo Gallery. "I'm a PC, and I'm 4½," she says with a grin at the end. (This little girl might just be pirating Disney movies by the time she turns 5.) As The New York Times reported last week, the "I'm a PC" campaign seems to finally be helping Microsoft to lift PC users' perception of the brand as technologically and environmentally advanced. |
|
Published on February 9, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (4)
|
