Gizmodo: Commercials

Armpit Televisions Promote Stinky Ads

Mark Wilson — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:40:00 EDT

As part of a unique promotional campaign, Right Guard has deployed "Pitvertisers"—a crew of people on the street armed with LCD televisions sewn into the deepest pits of their shirts. So the next you're on the train and wonder who is emanating that awful advertisement, you'll see that, oh, it's that douchebag playing commercials with his armpits. This is the world we live in. I'm sorry if it's a disappointment. [Ananova via Ubergizmo]

Is That Iron Man's Voice Endorsing the iPhone?

AddyDugdale — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Watching the iPhone commercial yesterday, I wondered if the mellifluous tones on the iPhone 3G ad belonged to Robert Downey Jr. I emailed Apple, but they weren't interested. So, I asked around in Campfire, our virtual office, if they thought it was Tony Stark. What do you lot reckon?

Video here.

One of my workmates thought it was Generic VoiceoverMan™, while most were pretty sure it was Beardface. It wouldn't be surprising though, as Cupertino has used Richard Dreyfuss and Kermit on VO duty, as well as Jeff Goldblum (runs the Death Star?) and Will Ferrell.

Richard Dreyfuss spouts some unwholly guff about how utter, utter bastards who are more focused than a Sidewinder missile go on to change the world.

Kermit said it wasn't easy being green, sentiments that Apple shared, as it changed its multi-hued colorscheme to white PDQ. Shall I mention the damning accusations from the eco lobby as well? [Apple]

TBS, I Can Pause My Own TV, Thanks

Mark Wilson — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:43:00 EDT

TBS has opted to not only advertise during television shows through those pesky lower third banners, but to go so far as to pause the show you are watching to do it. A particularly offensive case of interstitial marketing, needless to say, it's not going to do wonders for the network's ratings. Oh, and for the TBS marketing gurus high-fiving right now and claiming that any press is good press, we have two words for you: Michael. Jackson. [kottke via bbGadgets]

Sony "Foam City" Ad Turns Miami Into World's Biggest Bubble Bath

Benny Goldman — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:00:00 EDT

In Sony's new "Foam City" ad, Miami becomes a soapy free-for-all when 120 million gallons of bubbles are unleashed in the streets. The world's largest foam machine was custom-built for the shoot, and pumped out over 500,000 gallons of foam per minute. The commercial is for Sony's cameras, and locals got Alpha DSLRs, Cyber-shots, and Handycams to shoot the experience. The amateur footage wasn't in the ad, but you will eventually be able to see it in an online gallery. While it follows the same urban pwnage theme of the Bravia ads—think clay bunnies and Superballs—we can't help but wonder, "Where's all the color?" See the making-of video after the jump. [Sony]

Foam City

Mark Wilson — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:40:00 EDT

How the hell did this travesty happen? The wrong soap in the dishwasher? Ibiza party gone awry?

Nope.

Sony commercial. We should have known.

We'll post the video when it's released. [slam x hype]

Time Warner Says Verizon Is a Constipated Gay Man with Magic Fingers

matt buchanan — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:40:21 EST

This Time Warner ad taking on Verizon FiOS is so ludicrously hilarious it almost does make want to sign up with Time Warner. In the spot, Verizon is a constipated (wait for it), overly enthusiastic gay-coded dude with magic fingers shooting red lightning and flying Vs (for Verizon!), touting "THE FIBER." It's so ridiculous it almost seems fake.

Sure, Time Warner might have been using "fiber optics for over a decade" but can you get disgusting bandwidth through them? Not yet. Also, hello irony, Time Warner is the company trialing pay-per-byte internet. Sign me up! Actually, I would like a bowl of cereal right now. I love cereal. Mmm. Verizon says it's soggy cereal, though. I like mine of kind of soft, depending on the brand, but not soggy. [Consumerist]

IBM Files Patent for DVD Commercials

Mark Wilson — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 12:42:35 EST

Filing way back in February of 2006, IBM sought to patent a model for a dynamically updated, commercial-laden DVD. Essentially, the DVD would be coded to stick commercials in at certain points on the disc, which, depending upon one's reading of the documents, would probably not be skippable. (The commercial content itself could either be accessed from the DVD or downloaded from an online source.) And the whole concept is scary as all hell to us, even though IBM points out its potential use as offering a cheaper alternative to DVD. Here's the abstract:

A method wherein contents of DVDs may be restricted based upon purchased certificates is provided. The certificates allow for secured information on playback. Specifically, whenever a DVD is to be played, a certificate is consulted to determine whether the content of the DVD should be played with or without commercial interruptions. If the certificates provide for commercial interruptions, then commercials can be obtained from an online service that renders commercials on demand, or from the DVD itself. In such a case, the content of the DVD may be interspersed with commercials.

Good luck selling consumers on this one, IBM. Cheap DVDs or not, the public has grown tired of commercials. You know, because of technologies like DVD. [patent via zatznotfunny] [image]

iPod Commercials Give Star Power

Mark Wilson — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 10:36:10 EST

It's one thing to have your song play on TV during some random commercial. And it's an entirely different thing to have that song play during a commercial for the world's most successful music player. Take these two recent Apple commercial success stories: both bands see tremendous growth almost overnight after premiering in the famous iPod spots:

Band: CSS
Song: Music is My Hot, Hot Sex
Commercial: iPod Touch
Numbers: 340 copies per week ballooned to 2,000 in the first week since the commercial release. It's also number 15 on iTunes and 5 on iTunes ringtones. And the song has broken into the Pop 100 chart.

Band: Feist
Song: 1234
Commercial: 3 gen iPod Nano
Numbers: Feist originally debuted strong, but averaged around 6,000/week. Then in the weeks following the Nano campaign, sales grew to 14,000 first week, 19,000 the second, 28,000 the third and 20,000 the fourth. It was a first month bonus of nearly 60,000 sales and cumulative bonus of about 130,000.

Now to get my demo tape on stage at the next keynote... [sfgate]
Photo by Brett Rogers (http://www.beatcanvas.com)

DVRs Screw Up Nielsen; Commercials Now Rated Too

Wilson Rothman — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:27:03 EDT

You knew it would happen: DVRs are finally breaking down the TV ratings system.

Because DVRs make skipping over commercials so easy, Nielsen is now rating commercials themselves, based in part on how often people stop fast-forwarding and watch them. According to a New York Times report, DVRs have also affected show ratings themselves: after a single night, a show like How I Met Your Mother might have a 2.7, but by the end of the week, when everyone with a DVR has watched it, the rating might be much higher, at 4.1. The trouble is, both of these new ratings take weeks to process.

There here are some issues that the article didn't mention, though.

1) What about dual-tuner DVRs? On a Sunday night, I can watch Family Guy and Cold Case, even though they are on opposite one another. Since DVRs in general only make up about 20 percent of the viewing audience, it may not be significant yet, but that's going to really screw up ratings as we know it.

2) What about the DVR providers? TiVo and the like must have ridiculous realtime information about who watches what and which commercials are funny enough to stop for. Nielsen has a pretty elaborate system that has worked for networks and advertisers for many years, but TiVo or the cable co's could walk in with a few realtime charts and shut that thing down quick, right?

Maybe part of the reason TiVo has lasted so long through thick and thin is that it gets serious Nielsen consulting fees. [NYT]

Sony Bravia Ad Showcases Mick, Keef and a Tsunami of Bunnies

AddyDugdale — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 09:35:14 EDT

Our Jesus will be a happy bunny. The new Bravia ad from Sony has one of his favorite tracks ever: The Stones' She's A Rainbow. I'm happy because there's a giant rabbit made out of Play-Doh, and New Yorkers are happy because— well, it never pays to be typecast, does it? [Sony Bravia via Media Guardian]

Nissan Rogue Commercial Turns NY into a Giant Labyrinth

AddyDugdale — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:51:15 EDT

Hands up who had one of those wooden Labyrinths round which you had to maneuver a silver marble without dropping it down a hole or biting your tongue off in the process? Knowing just how powerful a marketing tool nostalgia can be, Nissan has used the concept for the commercial for their new Rogue SUV. [TokyoMango]

Psychedelic New Zune Commercial Airs This Saturday

Charlie White — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 11:33:38 EDT

Here's a new commercial for the Microsoft Zune that's just been completed. Directed by Ryan Dunn for Vitamin Pictures, our insiders tell us it'll air this Saturday. The graphics were created in Adobe Illustrator (and a bit of Photoshop, too) and then animated using Maya 3D, Sketch Toon (a plugin for Maya) and Adobe After Effects. Wow!

Not sure what the Zune has to do with a guy and gal floating around, taking pictures of each other and falling in love, but we like the way the music works with the visuals. Where's the Zune? Is this a branding exercise? Oh well, it's art.

Top 10 Super Bowl Ads, According to TiVo Eavesdroppers

Charlie White — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 14:45:00 EST

Whether we like it or not, TiVo receives second-by-second audience measurement data about what its users watch, and that was no exception during Sunday's Super Bowl. That's how the company came up with its top 10 list of commercials, as measured by the amount of trick play features (rewind, fast-forward, and pause of live television) used during each commercial.

So here they are, the Top 10 most viewed commercials by TiVo subscribers, complete with embedded video:

1. Bud Light: Language Course with Carlos Mencia

2. Bud Light: Rock Paper Scissors

3. FedEx: Don't Judge

4. Nationwide: Kevin Federline Rollin' VIP

5. Doritos Crash the Super Bowl

6. CareerBuilder: Office Jungle

7. Blockbuster: Mouse

8. Doritos Crash The Super Bowl: Checkout Girl

9. Chevrolet: Everybody Loves a Chevy

10. Schick: Quatro Science

Apparently the sample of 10,000 anonymous TiVo households didn't agree with our assessment of the best Super Bowl commercials. But the results did jibe with many of our enthusiastic commenters, obviously a stellar group with their fingers on the pulse of the Zeitgeist of the U.S. heartland. Or something. – Charlie White

Bud Light Spots Top TiVo's Super Bowl List [Broadcasting and Cable]
Press Release [TiVo, via I4U]

Super Bowl Ad Watch: Top Spots

Charlie White — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 09:00:03 EST

Yeah, we know, the commercials were better than the game again this year, even though it was a pretty good Super Bowl for Colts fans at least. There were a lot more HD spots in this year's game compared to last year's, too.

Here are the Gizmodo Super Bowl Spot Awards, where we picked our favorites, giving each one its own special designation. You'll be able to click and play each one of our embedded selections, and don't forget to check out our pick for best commercial of the night:

Funniest Animals: Blockbuster: Mouse

For some reason, the animals aren't doing it for us that much anymore, but the play on words with a mouse clicking and dragging had us mildly chuckling.

Dumbass Award: FedEx - Office on the Moon

Guys, there is 1/6-G on the moon, not complete weightlessness. Yeah, the commercial was mildly funny but, comedy has to be based at least somewhat on reality, doesn't it? Dopes. FedEx made up for this goofiness later.

Best Shot of the Night: CBS cameraman gets drenched

Not a commercial, but the purple heart has to go to this intrepid CBS cameraman with his drenched Steadicam.

Not That There's Anything Wrong with That Award: Snickers: Kiss

Two tough-guy greasemonkeys have a Brokeback moment where they just can't resist chowing down on a Snickers bar. We could feel their pain when they ripped off those chest hairs. Ouch.

Gamers Favorite Award: Coke: Grand Theft Auto

Damned if this didn't look exactly like Grand Theft Auto. It was looking super-sharp in HD, too. Nice work, Coke.

Robot Overlord Award: GM Robot

We, for one, would not welcome a robot overlord as suicidal as this one. Even though we've already seen this spot, it mildly entertained us just the same.

Best Dick Joke: Sprint: Connectile Dysfunction

Sprint does have nice fast EV-DO connectivity, so we'll forgive them for this slight humor, equating boners with connecting up in the airport.

Living Life to the Fullest Award: Coke: "What else haven't I done?"

Poor guy. Never tasted a Coke before? What else hasn't he done ? Rock 'n roll, dude. Run with the bulls. Maybe this old codger should have stripped naked and run out on the field during halftime.

Best Animation Voices: Taco Bell: Lions

These two lions just seemed real to us, looking over the campers and trying to talk like Ricardo Montalban. Roll those Rs? No, still no.

Subtle Humor Award: Emerald Mixed Nuts: Robert Goulet

Many of us don't even know who Robert Goulet is; one kid back in the back said he looked like Hitler. But afternoons around three o'clock, sometimes we also have had our suspicions that Robert Goulet comes in and messes with our stuff. Maybe we should get some of these mixed nuts.

Funniest: FedEx Ground: Don't Judge

We're thinking that Harry, Bob, Joy, and Harry, and especially Mr. Turkey Neck, are aptly named.

Weirdest Award: Budweiser: Beer-Stealing Crabs

These crabs, looking like they've already been boiled and ready-to-eat, bow and worship a cooler full of Budweiser. Odd.

Best Editing: Izod: Phillips-Van Heusen

Techies at Autodesk gave us a sneak peek, showing us how this spot was edited using a high-end Autodesk Flame (formerly Discreet Flame) video and digital film compositing system. There is extraordinary subtlety in the spot, great use of music, speed effects, excellent color correction. It's a masterpiece of sleight-of-hand editing, much of which you can't even tell was done at all. It's magic.

Best Cinematography: Etrade: One Finger

This is about as good as shooting for high-end commercials gets, where every take in the spot was well-planned and perfectly executed. Plus, we especially like the way the cinematography was done with a wry sense of humor. It was effective as an advertisement, too. Who wouldn't like the idea of telling some expensive broker who uses a dartboard to pick your stocks where to go? All it takes is one finger.

Best Spot Overall: Coke: Happiness Factory

This spot is nothing new, but even so, it was the best spot on the entire Super Bowl slate. If we were going to spend $2.5 million to buy ad space on the Super Bowl, it would be to air a spot like this. We follow a coin into a Coke machine, and then a wild fantasy takes place, where we see the Coke being manufactured with love and kisses, gussied up into its bottle and then paraded out the other side. It's a gorgeous ad that wins our award as best Super Bowl spot overall this year. – Charlie White

Super Bowl Ad Watch: LG Shows Us Its Set, Releases Ad In Its Entirety

Charlie White — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 10:08:43 EST

We showed you a 15-second preview of LG Canada's Super Bowl commercial the other day, just a teaser for the real thing which will air on Sunday. Now, the company has decided to release the entire spot for your perusal. We like this one a whole lot better than that silly teaser. Show us your set, indeed. – Charlie White

LG Contest [LG Canada]

Slate on Tech Adwatch: New Bravia Ad Graded "WTF"

Matt Buchanan — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 21:30:54 EST

Sony's last major Bravia ad was great: it was engaging and memorable, even if it really said nothing at all about Bravia TVs. Its new spot, while actually sporting a Bravia set (in front of a Sony Style store no less), still offers nil about the product itself. But, as Slate's ad critic extraordinaire, Seth Stevenson, lays out, the new ad is memorable only because it's annoying.

It's designed to ensnare DVR owners and lead them to a nonsensical, weak slogan followed by more ad content that archaically and lamely plays off of gender stereotypes.

"Television for Men and Women" tries to be part of that strain of self-conscious-therefore-ironically hilarious stereotype humor, but on top of not being very funny, it's hard to swallow when it's employed to sell TVs. If anything, a C- seems generous. That said, my girlfriend's dad's new 52-inch Bravia is quite gorgeous. Like no other? Maybe. Spectacular? Definitely. – Matt Buchanan

Sony's convoluted Bravia ad [Slate]

Dolby Volume Nixes Loud Commercials

Jason Chen — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 17:55:40 EST

Dolby's Volume technology (capital V) is designed to be added to TVs, DVDs, and other equipment in order to normalize volumes when watching TV. Instead of being bombarded by loud ads—purposely introduced by ad makers to have volume only on the LOUD end of the range—Dolby Volume makes sure all sound gets outputted at an acceptable volume.

During their demo at CES, listeners didn't hear any artifacts or delay when Volume was active. The only problem is cost, which Dolby says will be negligible when included in the price of most TVs or home sound systems. We look forward to the day when a commercial with a grandma in it isn't automatically louder than Jack Bauer's shouting. – Jason Chen

Press Release [Dolby via TGDaily via Ars Technica]

Latest Mac Vs. PC Propaganda Buries the Hatchet, But Not Really

Charlie White — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 12:19:36 EST

Never content until we've covered Apple's every move and shown all of their television commercials here, now we're showing you the latest one that hides its subtle brainwashing under the guise of the "happy holidays" mind virus. And what holidays are those? I think the Santa hats give it away. Enough already of this total bullshit. – Charlie White

DirecTV Turns Bad Guys Good in Christmas Spot

Charlie White — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 11:01:58 EST

DirecTV plays the Christmas card, putting together a beautifully-directed musical montage of movie villains turned good. It didn't make us want to subscribe to DirecTV, or even to watch any of the movies featuring those villains such as Chucky, Darth Vader and that girl from The Ring, but it's entertaining nonetheless.

The voice-over announcer says in Spanish at the end, "Some are good only on Christmas, others are good all year long." Of course that doesn't apply to DirecTV, the company that never saw an HD program it didn't overcompress, but it's a great example of turning the tables by the creators of this spot working for the Chilean division of the satellite TV company, masterfully using music to tug at the heartstrings. – Charlie White

Bizarre DirecTV Xmas Commercial [The Uber-Review]

Top 5 'I'm a Mac' Parody Commercials

Mark Wilson — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 11:33:41 EST

You know those Mac commercials? They go something like this.

"Hello, I'm a Mac.
"And I'm a PC"
"I'm a bit pretentious and condescending, and refuse to capitalize proper nouns."
"I sometimes poop my pants."
"I've been pooping my pants for years!"

Yeah, those commercials. We put together some of our favorite parodies that we've seen over the past few months. Hit the jump to laugh a little at the expense of others.

Mac Vs. PC

Best Line: "Do you mean like stupid stupid, or cool stupid?"

Mac Vs. PC Vs. Linux?Best Line: "When did that dipshit get here?"

Mac Vs. PC...Halo StyleThe end really gets to the heart of it all.

iPod vs. Zune

Best Line: "First off, I get a blank sheet of paper. I write down the name of the song..."

PS3 vs. Wii

Best Line: "And by the way, my vibrating features have been disabled."

PS3 Vs. Toaster

Best Line: "I can play your dvds, maybe surf the internet...and I have sex with your girlfriend."

Ok, technically there are more than five here...just pick whichever you like most from the group and consider yourself an honorary Gizmodo writer for the day, with full typo privileges.– Mark Wilson

Cool Ad: The Street is His Turntable

Charlie White — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:02:18 EDT

Here's an ad for DJ equipment maker Eclectic Breaks for its Pro-X-Fade crossfader. It's a clever animation that has a pencil-armed DJ manipulating a miniature world from his god-like perch, spinning cars as if they were vinyl, with the street being his turntable and passers-by standing in as the crossover.

Nice piece of production work, even though we're not ones to idolize those who play records for a living, no matter how intricate their manipulations. – Charlie White

The Coolest Commercial You Will Watch Today [the Uber-Review]

I Don't Know What Erupting Paint has to do with Bravia TVs, but ...

Travis Hudson — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 13:50:43 EDT

... this is one damn awesome commercial. Apparently Bravia TV's show some pretty nice colors, and because it is damn near impossible to accurately advertise TVs on TV, why not show the colors with 70,000 liters of paint erupting around some buildings in Glasgow, Scotland? This commercial is fo' reals—no fancy CGI here. Don't believe me? Hit the jump to see a couple "Making of" videos.

The cleanup took five day and 60 people. The entire shoot took 10 days altogether with the help of 250 people. – Travis Hudson

Awesomeness Gets Co-Opted By Sony, Again [Gridskipper]
Sony's Amazing New "BRAVIA" Ad [Techeblog]
Product Page

First PS3 TV Ad Debuts, Is Really Weird

Gizloco — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 09:54:39 EDT

The first TV ad for the PS3—"The Wait"—is now floating around that damnable Internet and we've really got to hand it to Sony: not only does the ad not tell us a single thing about their upcoming system, but they've somehow managed to create an ad that evokes the same type of feeling you get when you watch the "Daisy" ad and a "say no to drugs" commercial. Bravo. At least there's no melting clocks this time around. – Nicholas Deleon

First North American PlayStation 3 Commercial: "The Wait" [Kotaku]

TiVo Offers Commercials-on-Demand

johnb — Mon, 08 May 2006 11:26:04 EDT

We'll be doing a hands on with the Series 2 dual-tuner TiVO and we're still a little angry at the waste of natural resources involved in making one of the silliest, on-off TiVo upgrades in the known universe but we still love our TiVo and we know they wouldn't do anything else stupid... wait a minute. This just in... there are now commercials-on-demand in your Now Playing screen. See, these things are longer-form advertisements offered to subscribers alongside their standard content. The ads masquerade as cooking shows and financial tips and you choose when, where, and if you want to watch them.

Revenue, we suppose, is revenue, but please, TiVo, give us Series 3 and stop with all the futzing.

TiVo Launches Product Watch: Commercials On Demand [ZatzNotFunny]