America's Pastime

Baseball has one attribute that sets it apart from the other popular team sports such as football, basketball, hockey, and soccer. It has no clock.

In clock-limited sports, games often end with a team that holds the lead by killing the clock rather than competing aggressively against the opposing team. In contrast, baseball is a slow and relaxing game which is not constrained by time. 
 

Budweiser exploited this concept in a recent commercial promoting the Major League Baseball World Series.  From the beginning of the day when workers are watering the grass, raking the dirt and chalking the foul lines, the commercial has a relaxed feeling in preparation for the big game. 

As fans start showing up to the game while batting practice is going on, vender's begin grilling up rows of sausages, peppers, and onions.  Meanwhile, Budweiser displays how their product leaves the factory, carried onto the trucks and finally delivered out to the drinkers.

Just before the game begins, we see fighter jets flying over the stadium with the St. Louis Arch accurately displayed in the background.  Though I am still bitter that my Milwaukee Brewers fell to the St Louis Cardinals this postseason, it was an enlightening commercial to express the endless fun that Budweiser and baseball can offer.

Blind Spot Mayhem

Over the past couple of years, it has been interesting to see Allstate completely transforming their advertising campaigns.   Since 2003, Allstate utilized actor Dennis Haysbert to promote an emotional connection with their target audience usually in a slow, serious and direct manner.  Though in the summer of 2010, Allstate shifted gears in taking an entirely different route in their campaign by signing actor Dean Winters.  

Winters, who plays dark characters in series like “30 Rock,” “Rescue Me” and “Oz,” appears in the Allstate campaigns as the character ‘Mayhem,’ comically personifying the pitfalls like collisions and storm damage that can befall drivers.

In this commercial, Winters illustrates the area around the vehicle that cannot be directly observed by the driver, also known as the blind spot.  As the woman cautiously checks her side view mirror to ensure she can change lanes, Winters offers deceptive advice, “Your Good.”  As she merges into the next lane, she is suddenly t-boned by the truck that was approaching her from the left side.  As the women is frantically sent flying across the road, Winters grins with the upmost pleasure in successfully misleading the innocent women.

Although Allstate has added new life with the advertising campaign, Dennis Haysbert still delivers their ultimate message — dollar for dollar, nobody protects you from mayhem like Allstate agents.

Holy Beetlejuice

During Super Bowl XLV in which the Green Bay Packers shocked the world, Volkswagen promoted their new 21^st century black beetle during a commercial in the second half.  As Packer fans (myself included) nervously watched their teams lead disappear midway through the fourth quarter, it was enlightening to see a unique car commercial stand out from its competitors.  Since car advertisements can become excessively repetitive, it was interesting to see Volkswagen’s clever approach of literally filming a black beetle in the wild for their commercial.  As the small black creature travels through the endless forest, you realize it’s elusiveness as it dodges an enormous centipede and various objects in its path. 

The creative approach reflects strong similarities to William Bernbach’s famous ‘People’s Car’ advertisement in the late 1930’s in which it brilliantly displays the positive aspects in the small and plain Volkswagen beetle. 

As the Black Beetle rules, navigates and out performs all other creatures, the beetle also displays impressive speed as it flies off a log and lands gently on a rocky surface.  Volkswagen’s unusual yet innovative tactic to display their 21^st century Turbo Charged Beetle worked terrifically.   Although the Beetle is miniscule and ugly, Volkswagen continues to exhibit ingenious advertising schemes.

Here is the link for the full video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBk8kstoDss&feature=related

Move over Captain Jack Sparrow, there's a new Captain in town

Captain Morgan recently launched a new commercial that departs from the usual rowdy college guy approach the rum brand has been showing for years.  In a little more of high concept, the commercial was surprisingly directed by Tom Cooper, a recent Oscar winner for The King’s Speech.  By targeting a new calm, and perhaps mature audience, the commercial displays the Captain of the ship awoken by battle.  In the heat of the naval warfare between an enemy ship, the Captain calmly strips down and walks to the plank of the dock. 

In a brave and nonviolent stand, the Captain proceeds to summersault in for a swim instead of partaking in the shootout.  After a jaw dropping silence, both sides applaud and collaborate for drinks as an alternative to continuing the war.  The new commercial still portrays the Captain has always preferred fun to fighting but seems to take a more calm and collective approach rather than an immature ‘frat-boy’ method.

Here is the full commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCRBb-wwIxo

The Web is What You Make It

In a society driven by technology, universities across the country are beginning to require their students to own a laptop.  Being a college student myself, it is very rare to find another student unable to type on a keyboard without looking, or understand how to operate a computer.  Although computers are well known among students and young adults, the technology device is a foreign concept to middle aged and elderly individuals.  In fact, it is exceedingly common for individuals in my age group to have one or both parents who are unfamiliar on how to use the internet.  Taking this into account, Google has recently targeted middle aged individuals with their commercial, “Dear Sophie.” 

In the inspiring advertisement, Google Chrome not only demonstrations how simple the internet can be to use, but also the possibilities the internet can possess.  Through a heart-warming advertisement, Google Chrome shows how you can use their website and various features to create a 21^st century baby book that your kids can read when they’re older. 

I am a die-hard of the Green Bay Packers and the Milwaukee Brewers, and even I have to fight back tears while watching this commercial. 

It is a touching experience to find this father writing to his new born baby Sophie since the day she was born.  In the development of the 21^st century baby book, the father organizes videos, pictures and messages through Google’s numerous accessories—Chrome, Picasa and Gmail.  The adorable advertisement exhibits parents can avoid the hassle of gathering decades of pictures, along with the struggle of stuffing them into a bulky binder. 

Google owns everything, even my emotions.

Don’t Lose a Step

Cell phone features are expanding at an exceptional rate over the past couple years.  It’s astonishing to think that just a few years ago, having the internet on your phone was a foreign concept to society.  Recently, the main problem with cell phones is that users are unable to talk on their phone and search the web simultaneously.  Well thanks to AT&T, the problem has been solved.

In a humorous advertisement, AT&T attempts to shatter the stereotype that men who start a family detach from their ‘guy friends.’  While the father is changing his newborn baby, a close friend of his calls to discuss the football game last night that he has not seen.  Not wanting to sound like he’s out of the loop, he utilizes his iPhone to pull up a recap of the game.  It only takes him a couple of seconds to pull up video highlights from the game and comment to his buddy about the great play that was made. 

Just after watching the highlight reel, his wife walks in at the worst possible time to catch him on his phone instead of attending their baby.  As the guy tries to cover for his mistake, the wife delivers a textbook “my-husband’s-an-idiot” glare at the end.

Only the Best

In the beginning, the commercial appears to be a relaxed nature documentary about bears fishing for salmon when the animal is abruptly interrupted by a John West fisherman.  Running into the scene like a chicken with his head cut off, the fisherman is determined to challenge the bear for the best fish available.  The fearless fisherman then starts sparring with the grizzly bear to fight over the giant salmon. 

The grizzly bear demonstrates fancy footwork in a Muhammad Ali-like shuffle before delivering a roundhouse kick to the fisherman. 

Right when it looks as if the fisherman has no chance to win the fight, he sends a brutal kick to the private of the grizzly bear which knocks him unconscious.

The John West fisherman walks away with a victory and the grand prize of the best salmon in the wild.