Commercials have always used music, in the background or instead of dialogue. Something I’ve noticed recently though is that more and more commercials use songs from more obscure artists, not just songs that are already in the popular mainstream. In 2008 Target had this commercial:
with two new roommates dancing and decorating to a song. Although the commercial was for the stuff, my friends and I bought the song. Millions of others must also have because Enur was the top dance seller on iTunes in 2008. This is great for musicians!
Okay, no one LOVES the pledge times for public radio and television, but some are less painful than others. The last two from Central Pennsylvania WITF have been down right awesome.
Ever since I was a young adult in DC I have tried to support public radio because I listen to it every day!
In February, right before Valentine’s day, WITF created a campaign called “show the love.” The pledge drive matched up donations with a delivery of a dozen roses. The drive encouraged listeners to pledge money and to show their love to both WITF and to someone they love or admire. It was easy way to remember to send someone some affection and also support the radio! I sent flowers to my mom and she was soooooo happy!
Now WITF is in the middle of their “plant a tree” initiative and they are partnering with the PA Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to create the WITF Woodland that will plant a tree for each person who pledges to the station.
Both of these pledge drives work because they have ADDED VALUE. The added value comes from getting something very specific out of pledging, In Feb it was flowers for me to send to my mom and now it is a tree in my name.
When you ask people to give money to your organization make sure you are adding value by appealing to the your audience’s values!
What comes to mind when you think of McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwich?
If you’re like the 80% of Americans* out there, words such as gross, repulsive, or dysentery probably spring to mind. But if you’re like me, godlike ambrosia would be the only appropriate description; but I’ve digressed.
This commercial gives a more refreshed feel to the Filet-O-Fish as if trying to re-brand that “disgusting” image most Americans have, and the catchy tune is sure to make an impression. Whether you will change your mind about how you feel towards this square fishy patty between two buns smeared in tartar sauce, the next time you’re in any Micky D’s, “Give me back that filet o fish, give me that fish” will undoubtedly swim inside your head. Now, seriously, give me that Filet-O-Fish. * statistic completely bogus
At San Francisco’s Pizzeria Delfina, they know how to own their pain. Rather than wringing their hands over Internet sourpusses who give them one-star Yelp ratings, they’ve printed up tees with excerpts from the most scathing reviews (“This place sucks”) and given them to the staff to wear.
My friend Alex Rivera just called me, and while we were catching up she told me that she just saw an article in the Atlantic Monthly that made her think of me. It was called “Is Google Making us Stupid?“
I said, “Oh yeah I saw that a few weeks ago, but…” and then we both started laughing…
I said, “Do you know what I am about to say?” and she said, “Yeah, you aren’t ready to talk about it because you just skimmed it”
hehehhehehehhehehehhe!
Rather than simply pandering to a younger demographic Discovery’s new channel, Planet Green, came up with a pretty inspired & humorous promo spot. The acting isn’t oscar caliber but this certainly will connect with their target audience a heck of a lot better than paying them to read a list of reasons why being eco-friendly is the prudent thing to do.
You have to give it to them for pulling this commercial off, it’s extremely hard to successfully use celebrities (Rocker Tommy Lee & Rapper Ludacris) as spokespeople.
Just look at this terrible example from TNT for the 2008 NBA playoffs featuring Terrence Howard as a comparison. EEEKKKK:
Along with the discovery channel’s new branding, they have rolled out a really charming commercial.
I really like the new commercial (it gives me the warm & fuzzies), and I also really like the new typography of Discovery’s new logo, but I’m not crazy about the “D” and globe combination they have started using as a stand-alone component of the branding.
Whew, it feels good to get that off my chest. Now if only I could be a grammar nazi. [feel free to just ignore the thirty or so grammatical errors in this post]
Receding Hairline has a great post on the most common typographical errors.
For example, one of my pet peeves… the ever elusive en and em dashes.
A hyphen… should really only be used when linking words such as ready-made. It shouldn’t even be used mathematically to represent a minus, as there’s a dedicated character for that, too. Most other uses mandate an en dash – as here, for example – or when planning meetings from 1–2. Changing fashions mean the the long dash—this one, called an em dash—is rarely seen, but where it is, it’s usual to render it without the spaces on either side or with special hairline spaces instead.
