Commercial Appeal

I love good commercials. They can be 30 seconds of pure brilliance. Bad commercials can warp time to where you can't wait another 20 seconds to see them gone. Everyone has different tastes, but it seems that more than a few people I know agree with me that certain ad campaigns suck and others are good. I wonder how much focus group testing some of these campaigns get, since I often wonder "Why don't they hire the ad agency that did that other spot"

You mention Alaska Airlines and the first thing that comes into my head is the commercial with the guy hopping around looking for change to get into the bathroom. Alaska had a great ad campaign and it still resonates. Other's that have had solid ad campaigns include Anheuser-Busch, Jack-In-The-Box, Nike and Pepsi and Coke have had their moments. Crappy ad campaigns include McDonald's, Carl's Jr., Old Navy and oh so many others.

Aspects that make a good commercial for me? Some restraint in pushing how great their product is. In-N-Out Burgers can bite me, their radio ads are incredibly lame. They violate the first rule by having people want to drive through several states, leave their spouses, etc for a fucking hamburger. And it's done in a simplistic manner that has zero personality. Companies that can be a bit self deprecating like Jack-In-The-Box are so fun since they are a change of pace from the usual bloated self important ad most people throw at you. Throwing the product in the middle of a ridiculous situation works well if doneright which is what Anheuser-Busch has gone for with most of their Budweiser ads.

Commercials I don't like include the aforementioned overly self important type, big dick mentality ads, the Artist ad and the something for everyone ad.

Some of the other self important ads that piss me off are those commonly seen for men's razors, hair products and cologne. Use our razor or our cologne (generally cheap one) and buddy, she's going to go down on you before you can say Gillette. Just For Men hair color makes the same type of boast but it's a sad little product that you just can't take seriously. Oh, and it's not just for men.. Herbal Essence.. the shampoo that will make her uncontrollably orgasm. Yea, if it was that good it would be doing double duty as lube

Carl's Jr. falls into the big dick mentality ad. Their ads have often had this overly macho tone to them. It's as if they are shoving this testosterone fueled attitude in your face to divert your attention from some inadequacies elsewhere. These ads are always self important but separate themselves from the pack by being especially obnoxious.

The artist ad is an overly mannered production that aspires to deliver a visual sense of the wonders that their product will bring you although it's going to be take a really elliptical approach. Calvin Klein and some of the other big name fragrance manufacturers have made a variety of artistic commercials that give you zero indication of what they are selling until they announce the product at the end. It's funn that now if I see one of these pieces of work, I assume fragrance immediately.

Finally we have the something for everyone ad. These ads are usually really safe ads designed to appeal to all types of consumers or at least try not to piss any off. McDonald's have long been an expert practitioner of ths type. These ads are so white bread that any attempt at humor comes off as it was modeled off of a 70's sitcom. McDonald's now having their brand stomped on by Supersize Me is making a big push for Hispanic, African-American and youth since they figured those groups haven't quite jumped on the diet train with Upwardly mobile Anglos. Old Navy tried a campy approach that figred to get everyone from the boomers through the hipsters. Camp works for a while gang, afterwards it's just flat annoying.

The last bit with commercials is music. A good use of music can really enhance a commercial. Andrea Bocelli may not have envisioned helping to sell Bellagio with Con Te Partirò, but the spot was dead on and it helped his sales too. Most songs are more in the background establishing a successful vibe. Often these songs are not well known to the general public but hit the spot. Ween's Ocean Man for a Honda commercial, The Shining by Badly Drawn Boy for The Gap and I have just seen them use one of my favorite 80's songs This Is TheDay by The The for I believe Dockers. Check out http://adtunes.com/ for a good site to locate songs used in commercials. More than a few people are interested.

We now interrupt this commercial post to resume my previously scheduled life.

My Folks

With Mother's Day recently past and Father's Day coming I was thinking of my parents.

I have great parents, no doubt about that. Like most kids, when I was younger I might have taken them for granted, but since I grew out of the typical self centered stages of youth I knew that they wouldn't be around forever. During the past couple of years that fact has been hammered home by sickness hitting them.

Mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in Oct. '03, I remember that well, she told me the night I got back from having seen REM in Atlanta. She knew before but didn't want to hit me with it before the trip. Fortunately they caught it early and she is cancer free now.

Dad has been beaten down morethan once. Since June '03 he's had: bleeding ulcers, appendix removed, knee scoped, prostate cancer and last but certainly not least, quadruple bypass with some other work to repair his heart at the same time. I am also happy to say he's cancer free and recovering well from the heart surgery in Feb. Apparently I shouldn't travel to see REM, he had his surgery while I was in Germany. My Step-Mom debated whether to have me come back, but in the end they decided there was nothing I could do and if something happened I wouldn't see him before he died. Also bringing me back early might have worried Dad. They didn't let on how bad the surgery was either, making it sound more routine when they actually almost lost him during the operation. It was a good time to be oblivious of the facts.

I would be remiss in not mentioning my Step-Mother Kim who truly is a great person. She will never be "Mom" since there is only one, but she has been a great Mother and has stood by Dad for 20 years now, and she hasn't hit him with a blunt object yet. My Step-Father Paul and Mom have been married for 10 years now. Our relationship is a bit more distant, but good regardless. Part of it I am sure is my age when Mom started seeing him.

I feel sorry for people who don't have good relationships with their parents or don't have parents who aren't the caring and giving people mine are. Life is so much easier, so much fuller with a strong family. I know that no matter how bad I screw something up, my parents will be there to help me out. My respect for them is such that every now and then I keep myself from doing something stupid just so they don't need to help me out. We joke that I got about all the worst physical traits from both sides. It's made up by the fact that whatever is good and right in me is directly from them.



Here's to my parents, Roger and Kim, Myrna and Paul.

P.S. Sorry folks, no ETA on grandkids

Back in the Saddle

Well after a long layoff I should get back at it here. Was buried at work with getting stuff ready to send with my team to ICSC which is big retail commercial real estate convention in Vegas. Now that's over it's back to life as usual...

Some Thoughts for the Day

You Will Know us by the Trail of Perfume:
People, be aware of how much perfume/cologne you put on. I was walking behind this woman today and her perfume was nearly gagging me and I was a good 25 feet away. Unless your goal is to keep everyone at restraining order distance from you, a little dab is just fine for a work day. Even when heading out for the night, check yourself. If you notice people starting to wince or their eyes water, you might want to go wash a bit off.

syllogism: Great word, but when mispronounced on occasion it can make me crack up. I've heard people drop an I/Y sound in there so it sounds like Silly jism. Now that lead my train of thought to Silly String. Imagine the possibilities if you Silly Jism was something akin to Silly String. If you don't know what Silly String is or are not connecting the reference, it's probably best not to ask.

It's possible that you might be an asshole if you have more than 3 bumper stickers on your car supporting the same cause. We get the point.