Dead Island's Trailer

Sitting in my boyfriend's living room last week, I noticed him watching a video that immediately caught my attention.

To my surprise, it was for a video game. Dead Island (for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Microsoft Windows) is a zombie game, with an ad that makes it look like some sort of crazy cool movie (that I would definitely go see). Check out the trailer, it's definitely worth a watch.

Oliver Jewellery's "Cash Man"

Any Toronto-nians out there will likely know what I mean when I say I want to change the channel every time an Oliver Jewellery commercial comes on the air.

Well this one has been around since 2008, and it defines the ugly of advertising.

Oliver is the "cash man" and he'll "give you money for your gold, oh yeah." Or at least that's what he sings while he dances around with four girls that I hope didn't include this on their resume.

It's got 122,117 views on YouTube (as of 10:08EST on 1/11/11) - but is this because it's a total joke of an ad? Probably. Will it get him much business? Probably not.

Getty Images' "Feed Your Imagination"

Back in about 2000, I used Getty Images for pretty much every project. But to be honest, and we all know I'm pretty honest here, I'd completely forgotten about Getty until I saw these spots by Shalmor Avnon Amichay Y&R Interactive.

These 3 television spots are pretty great - they're visually appealing, creative and whimsical.. and I think you should check them out.

SAA/Y&R animates buildings turning into dinosaurs, roses turning into bridges, jellyfish turning into oranges and more -- then shows you what images from Getty Images made these animations. The headline? "Feed your imagination."

Nicely done.

Cascade Beer's "The Feel"

So I have mixed feelings on this Cascade Beer ad by Droga5 (in Sydney).

This 90 second spot shows an Australian brewer riding his bike to deliver some beer. Sure, there’s some pretty rad bike riding (tight rope riding at one point), it’s cool that he knows everything that’s coming even though he’s looking back at the camera, and there’s even a comedic point after he states that “Brewers never miss a thing. Ever,” and yeah – the point comes across… they brew it by feel. But it still feels like it’s missing something, and dare I say it – I got a little bored.

L&P's "Nothing Much"

I actually kind of adore Oglivy's newest commercial for Lemon & Paeroa (a soft drink in New Zealand).

This ad features a bunch of men calling each other asking if they want to do "nothing much," and that's just what they do... nothing much. Why? Because "there's nothing much like L&P when you're doing nothing much."

Starbucks' "It's Pumpkin Spice Latte Time: Who's not excited?"

So I've decide to post an entry on a Starbucks ad while sitting at Starbucks sipping on a Nonfat Chai Tea Latte.

This ad by Wexley School for Girls (actually an ad agency, not a school) is promoting the return of the infamous Pumpkin Spice Latte. The spot features a young girl by the Starbucks sugar table who is bombarded with dialogue by a seriously creepy barista named Charles. There's a little twist though... turns out Charles isn't actually employed by Starbucks.. he's just a big fan.

So the commercial is a little funny, but will it actually make people want a Pumpkin Spice Latte? Not sure. I think I'll stick with my Chai Tea Latte.

Nurture by Steelcase's "Questions"

I'm not even sure if my opinion of this one is fair, since I'm a total suck for typography, but I'm going to go for it anyway:

I love this ad.

Hunt Adkins (a full service Minneapolis agency) created this spot for Nurture by Steelcase (a healthcare furniture company), which shows a bunch of questions that form a rectangle. As more and more questions are added, the rectangle is built upon until it finally creates a piece of furniture. "Great things happen when you question everything" is the headline, and the screen then switches to a picture of the actual furniture that the typography built.

Beautifully executed.

Rainbow Mentos' "Spider"

BBH London came out with a new ad for Mentos that I wasn't so sure of at first... but now I find it's growing on me.

A couple is sitting on a couch when the girl has a sudden freakout. The guy sees there's a spider on the carpet, rolls his eyes, and goes to deal with it. Then the unexpected happens. (I'm going to leave it at that for you to see.)

At the end, Rainbow Mentos are shown with the headline "It's better to know what's coming next," because in new Rainbow Mentos, the colors stick together so there are no surprises.

Really interesting. Does anybody else like it?

Steak 'n Shake's "Hat"

Every time these commercials come on air, I jump to change the channel. Or if the remote isn't near me, I simply develop a temporary eye twitch.

I won't say much more about them other than:
1. It angers me how stupid Steak 'n Shake seems to think people are.
2. Are they trying to be like the Arby's glove? (Which was a stupid campaign in itself)





Any thoughts?

Office Depot's "Schulson and Sons"

Office Depot's new ad features Susan Schulson, the owner of Schulson and Sons Movers. Unfortunately for Susan, her sons are going off to university and she'll no longer have the muscle power needed to carry all that heavy furniture. However, after saving tons of money on school supplies by shopping at Office Depot, Susan is able to correct this situation.

I don't want to give away too much, but I will say that the pause after the line "new sons" that then leads to the next line is brilliant.

Funnyfunnyfunny. Check it out.

Best Buy's "Buy a laptop, get a geek"

Usually when an ad for a tech-store like Futureshop or Best Buy comes on, my brain turns off. They're boring, annoying, over-exaggerated, and often a combination of all three. This ad for Best Buy, however, came on yesterday while my dad, boyfriend, and I were eating breakfast, and all three of us actually laughed out loud.

This spot features a soon-to-be university student laptop shopping with his mother. When they pick one, the Best Buy salesman explains that with the purchase of a laptop at Best Buy, you get a geek (of their infamous "Geek Squad" - the group of people that helps you install, repair, or learn about your technology). They walk down a wall of boxed geeks (one who looks just like Ellie's husband Devon in Chuck) to pick the one that will best help the student. The mother picks a male geek who can help "video chat with mom," but the boy has a different idea....

AT&T's "Whole New World"

If you like cute stuff or Finding Nemo, you'll love BBDO's latest installment of AT&T's "Rethink Possible" campaign.

This spot (which actually seems like it could be a Pixar movie trailer) features a little fish who discovers some sort of fancy glowing fruit. Unfortunately our little hero is just that - little... and the fruit is thrown, dragged, snatched, and yanked by bigger and scarier sea creatures who each want it for themselves. Suddenly it lands right in our little main character's arms (or fins if you will) and when you finally think he's won it for good - you're wrong. A fish 10 times his size appears and shoots him up through the water to the surface. It's here, however, that our little guy discovers trees just full of those weird little fruits.

The characters, art direction, and soundtrack of this commercial are great, but I fear the message may get a little lost in the overall concept. "Expand your world," the ad says. Will it sell AT&T a bunch of contracts? Probably not.. but it's a pretty little piece of art.

Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like 2"

Unless you live under a rock in a cave on some remote island, you have probably seen Wieden and Kennedy’s hilarious Old Spice commercial starring the gorgeous deep-voiced Isaiah Mustafa (blogged about here if you actually are that person under a rock in a cave on a remote island… or you just want to see it again).


Well, they’ve done it again. In one fluid shot, Isaiah stands on a beach, log rolls, bakes a cake that says “You’re beautiful,” builds a dream kitchen with his own hands, swan dives into a Jacuzzi, and ends up on a motorcycle - all the while talking to us ladies. He does not, however, end the commercial with, “I’m on a motorcycle.”

What a babe.

The Glades "Sunny"

So I'm kind of in love with this ad - despite how squeamish I am.

This spot by Bigsmack in Philadelphia came on before Get Him to the Greek last night and it definitely caught me off guard. I really can't say too much, but let's just say it's for a new A&E police drama called "The Glades" and it shows the main character (homicide detective, Jim Longworth) talking directly to the camera about his "pretty sweet deal".

Then there's a little twist.

Castle Lite's Celeb Endorsements

Usually when we see celebrity endorsements, they come in the form of some famous athlete sucking back a sports drink, a slutty popstar shaking her "thang" for Coke (or Pepsi), a B lister talking about an exercise machine, etc. But celebrity endorsements come in all shapes and sizes. And Castle Lite Beer has decided to use 80s has-beens to promote their brand in these commercials by Ogilvy Capetown.

The first spot features the classiest of the classy - yes that's right.. Vanilla Ice. As a few men at a party receive their Castle Lites, they go in for a first sip and suddenly some diegetic music pipes in. Vanilla Ice begins rapping to "Ice Ice Baby" and everyone at the party becomes a backup dancer. When the men stop swigging, the music stops too. Oh but don't worry, when they go in for the next sip, Vanilla Ice returns.

The second spot stars one of the same guys from the first one. He walks up to the bar in another swanky environment and orders a Castle Lite. The bartender pulls the beer out of the fridge, but oh no! The bottle is much too cold. MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This" begins playing as the bartender throws around the bottle, finally throwing it up high in the air only to land in the hands of MC Hammer himself.

So I know I've been sarcastic.. but it's all in good fun. I like these ads - they made me smile.

Kraft Dinner's "You know you love it"

So I'm a big fan of Crispin Porter + Bogusky's work, but their latest campaign for Kraft Dinner bugs me.

Is it just me or does the slogan "You know you love it" sound a little like Cheez Whiz's "You know you want it"? And while I realize that Cheez Whiz is also a Kraft product, I guess I was still hoping for a little more originality.

Despite my annoyance with the slogan, the ads are alright. Below is one of their tv spots featuring a kid who got a timeout for a "minor dinner table infraction." He explains this to the camera as his dad eats KD right off the little boy's plate. The spot ends with the kid asking his dad "Have you had enough?" The plot is merely alright, but the casting is great. That kid is more sarcastic than House.

..Okay maybe not House, but you get the point.

Adidas' "Cantina"

So Adidas made a somewhat risky move recently.

They took the famous cantina scene from the even more famous Star Wars for their new Fifa ad. They didn’t remake it or parody it, but actually added to it with some recognizable popular figures of today.

That’s right. The cantina is the place to be when it comes to watching the Fifa games. David Beckham, Snoop Dogg, Canadian Jay Baruchel, Ciara, Franz Beckenbauer, Noel Gallagher, Ian Brown, and DJ Neil Armstrong (I’m sure I must be missing someone) all hang out there, along with the original Star Wars characters (yes, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and C-3PO are all present).

And at the end of this 2 minute spot? “Celebrate originality.” You can't deny it - watching Snoop Dogg use a light saber is pretty damn original.

I like it.

Hovis "Miss Chief 60s"

Think back to when you were growing up. Remember that kid who never followed the rules? A little bit of class clown mixed with a whole lot of troublemaker?

Well that girl stars in this ad for Hovis (created by MCBD), and you see her load a washing machine with much too much soap, race grocery carts, turn an innocent ballet class into a big wrestling match, beat the boys at soccer, and much more along to some very catchy music (“Ça Plane Pour Moi” by Plastic Bertrand).

“There comes a time when it’s good to be good” says the voiceover 40 years later as our main character’s toast pops out of the toaster. Hovis is made with 50% oats.

Huggies "I've got chic in my pants"

Sexy music and women with windblown hair are present in this ad accompanying a total babe… literally.

This JWT New York ad for Huggies (limited edition) denim patterned diapers is pretty hilarious. An adorable baby boy strolls down the street to a song composed particularly for this ad (or so I’m assuming, considering the lyrics include phrases like “My diaper is full… full of chic” and “When it’s a number 2, I look like number 1”). He shocks people with his great style, checks himself out in the mirror, and eventually climbs into his sweet ride.

Pedigree's "Heroes"

So I was just playing around on my computer with the TV on for background noise when the voice of one commercial caught my attention. I rewound my TiVo and saw it was an ad put out by Pedigree asking us to adopt a sheltered dog. With all of the euthanasia that's going on at the ASPCA in Newmarket, this ad hit my soft spot (background article here, and update article here).

The commercial, by TBWA\Chiat\Day, shows several wise dignified dogs sitting in their cages at the shelter while the voice states, "Shelter dogs aren't broken. They've simply experienced more life. If they were human we would call them wise. They would be the ones with tales to tell and stories to write - the ones dealt a bad hand who responded with courage. Do not pity a sheltered dog, adopt one."

I can't have a dog at my place, but now I wish I could. This is a gorgeous commercial.