All Work And No Play Makes This a Great Ad

Company: Bing
Aired: November 5, 2009
Channel: CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC, ESPN, TBS
Appeal: Parody, Humor

This commercial gave me chills. Lets just say I will never walk the hallway of a hotel again without picturing those two twin girls standing at the end of the corridor. I’m serious! I first watched The Shining with my family when I was nine and was terrified. Maybe the fact that my father resembles Jack Nicholson and would burst into my room screaming, “Here’s Johnny!” Yeah, that definitely had something to do with it.


For all you Google loyalists, Bing is a search engine similar to Google from Microsoft. Bing first broke out onto the internet scene on June 3, 2009. The company has already invested $80 to $100 million into their advertising campaign. The ads never mention their competitors by name but simply try and convince the viewer to switch over by claiming Bing does a better job of finding more relevant, higher quality results at a faster pace. I’ve come across many of their television ads before but their spoof on The Shining is hands down my favorite.

The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film based on the book written by legendary author Stephen King. The film is about writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) accepting the caretaker job of an extremely isolated hotel during the winter months. His son Danny (Danny Lloyd) has psychic abilities and is able to see ghosts from the past. A combination of cabin fever and supernatural events inside the haunted hotel eventually get the best of Jack. In this state of complete madness he attempts to murder his wife and son. Here is the Bing parody on this classic film.



This ad only appeals to people who have either seen the film or know enough about it to distinguish it as a spoof. It begins with a distant shot of the entire hotel as creepy music plays in background. We are then taken inside to the hotel main lobby, which looks identical to the set from the movie. The little boy on the tricycle also bears a striking resemblance to the actor who played Danny. He does his best “Redrum” impression and suggests to his mother to, “use Bing.” The twin girls in matching dresses appear along with Lloyd the bartender. The highlight of the entire thirty-second spot is obviously the end when the husband smashes through the door and exclaims, “Hey Hun! They got a maze out back!” This is the most famous scene from the movie and was a perfect way to end the commercial. Here is that famous clip which has petrified me for the past decade!

Situational Training

Company: Vitamin Water
Aired: April 8, 2010
Channel: N/A
Appeal: Humor, Endorsement


Vinny, J-Wow, Pauly D, Ronnie, Sammi, Snookie, and of course Mike “The Situation.” I thought long and hard about these seven, eh hem… people (Angelina doesn't count, she was off the show by the time it got popular). All I could think was, who is more deserving of all this money and fame than these class acts? The answer is surprisingly no one. They deserve every dime and moment in the sun they are getting. You know why? Because they are making complete fools of themselves. I’d be embarrassed if I were any of them let alone these people on Staten Island who go around bragging about how they know one of the cast members. Is that really something to be proud of?

MTV has a unique skill most other TV networks have yet to acquire. They are capable of finding the absolute scum of the Earth for all of their reality TV shows. Now don’t get me wrong, I tuned in each Thursday night like every one of you to gaze at these people’s crazy antics and pure stupidity. I ate it up. Watching them actually made me feel better about myself. From the fist pumping to the “grenade,” to Ronnie and Sammi falling in love (give me a break) and Snookie getting punched by a guy at the bar; I loved every episode. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from my favorite cast members: Snookie and the Situation.

“My ideal man would be Italian, dark, muscles, juicehead, Guido. If I found that guy, I’d snatch him like that.” - Snookie

“Everybody loves me, babies, dogs, ya know, hot girls, cougars. I just have unbelievable mass appeal.” Mike the situation

MTV announced on January 29th, 2010 that a second season of the series will air this upcoming summer. The show will consist of the same cast members but will be shot in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami, Florida. During this downtime, some of them are busier than others.

A new commercial that has created a lot of buzz is one starring none other than Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino and New York Mets star third basemen David Wright. It’s only fitting a Met would team up with one of these clowns. Enjoy!



The ad begins with Wright explaining his new workout routine during an interview. The whole commercial is a parody to my favorite movie Rocky, technically Rocky III. We discover that the Situation acts as Wright’s Apollo Creed as the Rocky theme song plays in the background. They train and push one another to the limit. David Wright takes practice swings into the Situation’s abs while he talks on his cell phone and later Mike slides on a Slip-N-Slide into a couple of women in bikinis. Overall the commercial was amusing and ended with a high-five in the sunset. My only concern is how lengthy it is. I have yet to see it on television, just heard about it by word of mouth and through Facebook. With this idea, it would be difficult to cut the now two minute ad down to a presentable thirty-second TV spot.

Burning on Mascots

So I was watching my daily sports talk show Jim Rome is Burning on ESPN, when he began to "burn" on mascots! I thought this was hilarious especially since I recently posted about the Mascot Olympics. Here is the clip of Jim Rome. Enjoy!

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The Worst Commercial Ever.

Company: Head On
Aired: N/A
Channel: TBS,TNT & more
Appeal: Repetition, Testimonial


I can confidently say not many of you have ever seen this commercial, and for those of you who have… I feel your pain. It is without a doubt the most obnoxious, annoying and irritating thirty seconds you will EVER have to sit through. I had no clue what Head on actually was for the past past seven to ten years until five minutes ago when I finally decided to look it up online. It is a topical product that claims to relieve headaches (headaches probably caused by watching their idiotic commercials). Their slogan “Head On, apply directly to the forehead” is stated three times, one after the other. Although it sticks in your head long after the commercial, you will inevitably despise the commercial for the mere fact that without doing the necessary research… you don’t even know what the product actually does! For once, I side with the Tivoists.

Endure!

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ART & COPY Documentary Review

“ART & COPY is a film about advertising. Not all advertising. It’s about the greatest advertising?”

- Doug Pray, Director of “ART & COPY”

This documentary reveals the work and inspiration that fueled some of the most influential advertisers of our time. These people strongly impacted modern culture and for one reason or another, are virtually unheard of outside of the marketing industry. These people were able to not only grab but also hold the attention of millions of viewers, which in anyone in the business will tell you is no easy task.

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“What's different and perhaps surprising about this movie, is that it isn't about bad advertising, that 98% which so often annoys and disrespects its audience. I didn’t want to make a doc that just trashes trashy advertising. Too easy, too obvious, and why bother? Instead, granted access to a handful of the greatest advertising minds of the last fifty years, I felt it could be a more powerful statement to focus the film only on those rare few who actually moved and inspired our culture with their work.” – Doug Pray

Ever wonder where the phrase “Got Milk?” actually came from? Well “Got Milk?” is an advertising campaign encouraging the consumption of cow’s milk. It was created by ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners in 1993. In the documentary they show the original commercial with interview clips from the people who came up with the phrase and other expert’s feelings towards the ad. “Got Milk?” is one of America’s most popular catchphrases in advertising and has been ever since this commercial first aired back in October of 1993.

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Another groundbreaking commercial is one by fast food restaurant chain Wendy’s. They came up with the catchphrase, “Where’s the beef?” in a television ad in 1984. During the commercial three elderly women stand around an exaggeratedly large hamburger bun topped with a minuscule sized hamburger patty. This prompts one of the ladies to angrily question, “Where’s the beef?” Entertaining commercial which became popular at the time but never truly took off like ‘Got Milk?” had.

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The last commercial I want to talk about from this documentary is an ad by Apple, which is considered to be the most influential and successful commercial in the history of television. “1984” is an American TV commercial which introduced the Apple Macintosh personal computer for the first time. The ad initially aired on January 22, 1984 during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. The commercial depicts a woman running with a sledgehammer being chased by masked guards. As countless people march single file into an theater, all dressed the same, and being brain washed the “hero” hurls her hammer towards the screen shattering it. The message of this ad is that this woman (or Macintosh) is saving humanity from conformity and conventionality. As the commercial is ending the words, “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984.’”

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The film is great for college students aspiring to eventually work in the marketing/advertising industry. Doug Pray dove right into some of the greatest advertisements in the past half-century, most of which were well before my days. I highly recommend this documentary to anyone who enjoys commercials as I do. There is going to be screenings in New York from May 12 - May 16 2010 at The Paley Center for Media. For screening times please visit the ART & COPY website.

http://www.artandcopyfilm.com/screenings/