Bud – weis – er (1995 Super Bowl)

I was under 10 years old when this commercial came out but I'll never forget how popular it was. I remember my family making a big deal out of it, thinking it was just hilarious. And it still is.



So what makes this such a great ad? It's simple and repeats the brand name over and over and over. All you need is the frogs hanging out to make people laugh. Genius. Off hand, I can't think of any other commercial that does this, just repeating the brand name. I found this website interesting. It talks about the best commercials in the Super Bowl from back in the day and then talks about how that commercial would look in the year 2010. It's funny to read it now that it's 2011. According to this website (about the Budweiser frog commercial), “Due to intense cost-cutting moves after a 2008 acquisition by Belgian brewing giant InBev, one of the frogs is laid off and the two remaining amphibians lose their personal secretaries and pension plan. The “Wise” frog’s voice is dubbed in a sound studio in Vancouver by a non-union voice actor working below scale.” Just for fun, let's take a look at what Budweiser really did for their Super Bowl commercial in 2010.



So no more frogs, but still humorous. The point in this one is to show how much people love Budweiser and what they would do to get the truck into the town. I, however, prefer the simplicity of the Budweiser frogs spot. That's just something that's always going to be funny.

Technology, in a shoe

A couple blogs ago, I talked about QR codes used in fashion. I thought this was the new cool thing out right now, until I came upon this. This video will explain how a microchip is placed in a shoe. At certain locations you will find a pad with the shoe logo. You can step on the pad and a number of things can go down. You can get your picture taken and added to Flickr instantly, you can update your Twitter with where you are at that moment, you can get discounts at bars or coffee shops, you can use it as a ticket to get into concerts and other events and with two people, you can instantly become friends on Facebook. I guess I should mention that you have to register your shoe first with a code on the shoe. You give it your name and all your Twitter/Facebook/Flickr info. It would be a little creepy if it knew all that information already. Anyway, watch the video. It will make a lot more sense.



Alright, so some features I found pretty awesome, others kinda creepy. Actually the only one I found to be creepy was the Twitter one where it lets everyone know exactly where you are. I thought the Facebook friend request was pretty cool. When you meet someone new and want to add them on Facebook it really sucks when you forget their name the next day. I also liked how it can be your ticket to concerts because we all know how much it sucks to lose expensive tickets. Getting discounts at specific places is cool because who doesn't like a discount, right? Plus it helps that coffee shop or bar advertise for themselves as well as the actual shoe. Very clever. Putting an instant picture on Flickr can be a little creepy because people might be able to tell exactly where you are at that moment, however, it's also cool because not many of us carry around cameras anymore to events and we might want our picture taken to prove we were really at that cool place. I also think the shoe can only be really cool if all your friends have it too. That way you can get these discounts and pictures taken together. For the most part it sounds pretty awesome.

Found on Creativity

Finally..

I'm sure most of us are aware that Verizon is finally coming out with the Iphone after a long wait. Verizon has promised the Iphone to customers for awhile now and luckily, most Verizon customers were loyal enough to wait for the special day. First of all, being a Verizon customer myself, I think Verizon is a great company and this is a reason why their customers didn't just switch over to AT&T right away. They knew Verizon would stick to their word even though it did take awhile. I also think that more people will switch over to Verizon now, not only for the Iphone but also for the good service. Regardless of the services and company, I really just wanted to talk about the commercial out for the new Verizon Iphone. But first, let's take a look at the first Iphone commercial ever.



At this point we didn't know what the Iphone had to offer so, of course, the commercial had to focus on the phone and what it could do. Makes sense and turned out to be a cool ad. Now let's take a look at the Verizon ad for the Iphone.



Here, we don't see the product at all. We already know everything about it so why do something that was already done? I think this is a clever way to promote the Iphone to Verizon customers. If you are a Verizon customer, you would know the feeling of just waiting for this day to come, being anxious and wondering whether it would ever actually happen and the commercial captured that feeling perfectly. I also like how they mention something like “thank you for being loyal customers and waiting”, which shows how the company cares about their customers, making customers feel special that they stayed with Verizon. Something clever I saw in the commercial was in one of the shots you see a Mac, giving a little bit of a hint to what the commercial was for but still, never showing the product.

So, I love Verizon, I loved the spot and the Iphone does look pretty cool. I actually just had an upgrade on my phone and I could of waited a few weeks to get the Iphone but I'm sticking with my Blackberry. I just can't give up my brick breaker and BBM. But, I'm sure more people out there would rather switch to the Iphone and Verizon's business will only grow.

Videos found on YOUTUBE

QR codes in fashion

QR codes have been popping up all around making it easy for smartphone users to access information about certain products or promotions. You can find them on movie posters, billboards, print ads, shop windows and now, even clothing.



This scarf, created by Lendorff Kayway, is entitled "The Invader Scarf". As you can see, the QR code is at the bottom of the scarf and while it may go along with the design of the scarf, it is not only for looks. The code actually works and holds messages with "goodies". I'm guessing just company information but it doesn't go into detail. The company is a combination of London based pixel knitwear designers, Office Lendorff, and mobile enthusiasts, Kaywa, from Switzerland.

I'm not a fashionista but personally I don't think the scarf is very attractive. However, I do think the idea is interesting. I can see this being a big trend if the company ever expands to other countries. It could be cool to have different articles of clothing to go with the scarf like jeans or a T-shirt. I wonder if there is a way to change the code to make it look more stylish or just change the colors from black and white to something colorful. Another thing I was wondering is if people will know if it's a real code or not. Also, will people think its weird to scan a strangers scarf or other article of clothing? I have mixed feelings about it but I think it's a cool concept and can expand.

Check it out

“I lift things up and put them down”

I have been hearing people talk about this spot for Planet Fitness recently so I just had to sit down and check it out. I also wanted to compare how they treated a fitness spot to what we came up with in class for Lifestyle Family Fitness. After working on the Lifestyle project for so long and doing tons of research, I'm interested in how the professionals work with the same type of problems we encountered and also other ideas that we may never have thought of.

So I thought the spot was funny but I expected more by the way everyone was talking about it. It's making fun of the “meatheads” that are typically in the gym, lifting weights and grunting. It shows them as being stupid which is funny because we all like to laugh at stupid people. Planet Fitness is obviously saying that it's not made for this kind of person. It advertises as being your planet, not his. This is supposed to make people feel more comfortable in the gym and not intimidated by the meatheads. Makes sense. However..

This may be a hilarious spot attracting a youthful, fun audience but I think the ideas that we came up with in class for Lifestyle were stronger concepts. We were faced with the similar problem, trying to attract the average person, not meatheads. Instead of making fun of a meathead and kicking him out of the gym, we showed everyday friendly people in our spot. That doesn't mean our spots were boring, in fact I think they were hilarious. We focused on what gets people into the gym. To make the idea humorous, we put these everyday people in extreme situations, such as being chased by a bear while camping with your family. I think this is a more tasteful way to reach the audience.

Another thing I thought about was the difference between Lifestyle and Planet Fitness. I feel that Planet Fitness is trying to reach a younger crowd while Lifestyle is reaching out to a fairly young crowd but also families. This could change the whole tone of the campaign which would make more sense. I guess what interests me is the way the class had a very similar project but went an entirely different way with it. I'm also impressed with the work everyone did in the class. I think it's just as good as the “I lift things up and put them down” spot which was rated “The ad of the week” on adweek.