Holding It Down On The Engineering Tip…Yaaooooo

03.17.2006 | Can be found in: Commercials, Setting Standards

I love the bad German accent. I love the “unpimping” of the ride. I probably won’t ever buy an unpimped VW, but I just love these commercials.

Seen all of them at least ten times and I still can’t stop laughing at it, there is just something oddly entrancing about it - especially that spindly blonde model and how she says “it is definitely sucking…”.

Good job VW. Way to be innovative, yaaooo.

VW - Umpimp My Ride In case you haven’t seen it yet (have you been living in a cave?)

(And for the dude who said they should have used “real” German actors…um, VW knew what they were doing.

We may not live in Germany, but we know a bad German accent when we hear one and that mad scientist freaky accent is what helps to give these commercials their “something special”.

Xzibit, if you’re reading this - call me. I have a ride I need pimped, pleeeeaaaase.)

I Want To Be A Kid In A Candy Store

05.29.2005 | Can be found in: Commercials, Setting Standards

I have to commend Mastercard. Their most recent commercial has got to be one of the best commercials I’ve seen in a long time.

I know they’re most known for their “priceless” commercials, and this one follows along the same lines, however, it’s executed in such a wonderfully elaborate way.

They don’t give it all away in the beginning of the commercial, but the snow globes labeled “vacations” made me wonder what was going on a little bit. The turning point that made me sit up and take notice was the “miniature” plane landing on what seemed to be a store counter.

Then the clincher - miniature wild animals running through a miniature African plain. I was definitely left wanting to be a kid in a candy store after watching that commercial.

Whoever thunk it up and executed it should get an award or something. It’s rare you see a commercial that good anymore.

(yes, I even believe they redeemed themselves after than whole green man board game fiasco)

Not Quite, But Really Is A Public Service Announcement

05.15.2005 | Can be found in: Commercials, Setting Standards

I absolutely love those “not quite, but really is a public service announcement in disguise” commercials from the For A Better Life Organization.

Especially the one when the guy is hailing a taxi in the rain then gives it up to the lady and her daughter. That’s definitely a tear jerker — and amazing they managed to do it in 15-30 seconds.

This is where a lot of companies should pay attention because their commercial worked, and after the first one because I went to their website. The intent of their commercial was to drive traffic to their website and because the commercial was so well crafted, I actually wanted to and did go to their website.

Isn’t that what advertising is all about? Getting the consumer to take action (like buy your product)?

Key points that made this commercial a winner in my book:

  • The voice of the narrator is soothing and non-threatening
  • The characters look believable (i.e. they look like “real” average people - not movie average people)
  • The characters draw me into the story and I can relate to it.
  • I can tell, just in that brief time watching it, that a lot of thought and consideration went into these commercials. They weren’t thrown together while burning the midnight oil running on ten cups of coffee.

But I guess I should be grateful that not all commercials are this carefully and well crafted, otherwise I’d probably have a bunch of useless stuff that I don’t need (not that I don’t already).

*One small note, although their commercial is great, their site can use some work - esp for those who omit the www. and are presented with the “no website configured here” dialog…not covering all your bases.