It’s rare that a live action video game ad can work well.  I take that back, it’s rare that a serious live action video game ad can work well.  Comedic ads like the old Crash Bandicoot ads and the more recent Monster Hunter Tri ads were great.

Here we are talking about a new ad done for the new Wii game Metroid: Other M.

For the average person it is an interesting ad that will make you curious what it is for, and once it has drawn you in show you that it is a video game.  This is a good method for getting the average Wii owner interested and maybe a few parents will pick it up for their kids as an unexpected surprise.

The ad also works on a deeper level.  Those of us who have played Metroid games since the beginning will recognize the scenes from the ad.  Samus, the blond woman, is having flash backs to various important scenes over the years.  These will go a long way to play on nostalgia of gamers to get them accepting of the new style of the game.

Old Spice wins the award for the best marketing campaign I have every seen.  I’m sure there is not a single person who frequents the internet that hasn’t seen their latest campaign.  If you haven’t… shame on you.  Over the past 2 days they have had the Old Spice Guy (Isaiah Mustafa) responding to tweets and comments from Youtube and Facebook.  Over these two days they have filmed, written and released 186 of these personalized responses.  And each one is hilarious.  The first video here is one where they even made note of the comment writers hair color and husband:

These videos have taken the internet by storm and even celebrities like Alyssa Milano and CliffyB have been getting involved.  The whole campaign works perfectly.  They convey their message of manliness in each and every video while staying entertaining.

Bravo Old Spice, your writers are amazing at getting quality material out under pressure.  I’m sure you guys have had a lot of fun with this campaign.  And Isaiah… will you enter into a bromance with me where we can spend our evenings wrestling Grizzly Bears and reading comics?

Bravo Hyundai!  This is how you advertise cars!  Make a connection to the best motoring show on television, fill it with humor that works AND show a true understanding of the show and what people enjoy about it.

These ads make me wish Top Gear was big enough in the US for them to show commercials like this here.  Alas, we will not be seeing anything like this anytime soon.

I don’t really have much more to say about this.  And that is a good thing.

This is, in my opinion, a much better car commercial rap than the “Swagger Wagon”.

First of all, the song is a much more believable song.  The Swagger Wagon was just so obviously a fake song that it lost entertainment value.  The song sounded like some people who had never rapped before just talking.  This one however sounds real.

Secondly, Kia still manages to pull off the cute points by bringing the hamsters back.  So now not only are the hamsters known characters, but the add a fun visual appeal to the video.  The animation on the hamsters is also very high quality and impressive.

Lastly, the song still manages to be funny while sounding like a real song.  It even takes a friendly jab at all the beige cars of the world.  Keep the hamster ads coming Kia!

I guess I’m on a bit of a car commercial kick now.  This is another advertisement that I enjoy.  It really isn’t trying to sell the car with the ad, it’s just showing you how awesome it is.  It’s not everyday you find an ad that focuses on the sound of a car.  Exhaust notes are something that only some people appreciate and I love that Lexus is willing to make a commercial for us.

The LFA is a $375,000 supercar.  Most anyone buying one isn’t going to be making the decision based on any amount of advertising.  However, the ad works as an ad for Lexus.  By showing their top of the line and amazing sounding supercar they build a better reputation for their company as a whole.  It’s a good strategy and a fun commercial.

As a car guy it’s always nice to see car commercials that deal with performance.  While I may not be the biggest Mustang fan the one in this commercial does look quite nice.  Car commercials these days deal too much with fuel economy and how many safety features a car has.  This commercial shows some more of the car from a performance aspect.  Sure they still manage to throw the fuel economy at you but I was too busy looking at the car.

One big old gripe with the commercial… they only advertise the V6.  What kind of person buys a Mustang and opts for the V6?  If you are going to buy a performance car get the version with the best performance.  A V6 Mustang isn’t a real Mustang and if you are buying a Mustang fuel economy should not be one of the big things on your mind.  Once you are mashing that pedal to the floor all the fuel economy goes out the window.

It’s a nice commercial stylistically with a good song.  But why leave out the V8 completely?

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted.  I blame it on just being too busy.  But after watching this video I just had to post.  A lot of people seem to be really enjoying this little viral video for the Toyota Sienna.  I have to give some props to Toyota for doing this video right.  I can’t stand the video.  But good job Toyota.

Why do I hate it so much but still think Toyota did a good job?  Because this viral ad was not made for me.  I’m not married, I don’t have kids and I would never buy a minivan.  The song is painfully cheesy to a young cynical fellow like me and just seeing a Toyota Sienna makes me want to puke.  The ad, however, is aimed at middle aged couples with children.  This demographic may find some of the jokes involving kids something they can relate to.

Lots of people are enjoying it, many people the right target audience, so they must being doing something right.  This is a perfect example of proper targeting.  If they made a song that I found funny and related to it would be a complete loss, as no matter how good an ad is I won’t be seen in a minivan.

Not too long ago we received a postcard.  This postcard is so poorly photoshopped that we all had a good laugh at its expense.  Now I present to you the chop job in all it’s glory… try not to laugh too hard.

Those three billboards sure look natural.  I can totally believe that that’s exactly how they were when that picture was taken.  No chance at a poor chop job there.  They didn’t even try to make it look good.  Just a drag and drop with no editing.  My favorite is the chopped airplane.  Not only does it suffer from the same shiny out-of-place look as the billboards but look at the perspective.  It’s in front of the light pole.  This means that the plane is directly above the highway.  So it’s a really tiny plane piloted by hamsters and it’s about to land on the highway.

One would think a company that works in advertising would be able to print better advertising material for themselves.  If this is the quality of their advertisements what are we supposed to think of their billboard work?

Overall Nike’s recent ‘Human Chain’ commercial is pretty cool.  It has a nice song playing that goes really well with the action,  it has a slightly artsy feel without feeling overbearing and it has a strong sense of empowerment for the brand and the athletes involved.  One thing in the commercial still feels out of place.  It just so happens to be my favorite part of the commercial as well, the MMA section.

The MMA fighter showcased is Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson.  Upon initially seeing the commercial I was ecstatic to see MMA getting more coverage (OK I still am), but it doesn’t quite flow with the rest of the commercial.  Every other scene in the commercial has the long chain of repeating athletes, this scene is notably lacking it.  They try to add a little bit of the effect when Rampage throws the punch at the other fighter but it is hard to see and doesn’t have the same power it does in all the other scenes.  There are plenty of ways they could have re-done the scene to add the chain… but I guess they wouldn’t have gone as well with the song.

Yesterday while checking my personal email account, I found this advertisement for a delicious looking mini wrap from KFC. Being the food enthusiast that I am, I needed to find out more.

After doing some research, I came to find out that this mysterious new menu item was only 99 cents at participating locations. What a steal! Unfortunately the list of participating locations was only limited to two states, Virginia and Florida. Looks like I won’t be getting my hands on this wrap anytime soon.

But the real reason as to why this advertisement has been keeping me up at night is the name that KFC has chosen for this menu item to bear. Get ready for this…The “iTwist.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the i”Fill In The Blank” branding system pretty much owned by Apple? It all started with the iMac, where the “i” stood for “Internet.” Yes, it has evolved quite a bit over the years to include brands like the iPod and iLife, which don’t require an Internet hook-up, but there is still a strong sense that “i” branding system is appropriate for all things electronic.

I’d be curious to find out why KFC’s marketing team chose a brand name with such an electronic feel to it. Does the name “iTwist” make you hungry? Apparently it does for the Germans.

Auf Wiedersehen,
Chris