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