Commentary

Out to Launch

 

Apple launched four timely, top-notch Mac Vs PC spots last weekend.My favorites are "Biohazard" and "Time Traveler." PC wears a biohazard suit in the first ad to protect himself from viruses. "Are you gonna live in that suit forever?" Mac asks. PC can't hear through his suit and removes his helmet. He then screams like a little girl once he realizes he's contaminated. See it here. In the next ad, PC uses a time machine to travel to the year 2150, to see if current PC problems are rectified. "Future PC, have they figured out how to fix our issues?" asks present PC. "Future PC just froze," responds future Mac. Watch it here. Another ad reveals PC's growing pile of legal copy when he describes his "ease of use." See it here. In the final ad, seen here, PC rifles through piles of pictures, looking for photos of his friend. Mac informs him about "Faces," a program in iPhoto that aggregates photos of the same person and saves them all in one place. TBWA/Media Arts Lab created the campaign and handled the media buy.

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Send Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter and Roger Federer back to the 1970s, and Federer wins, hands down, the award for most confidence. All he had to do was look unusually comfortable in platform shoes. In a 60-second spot for Gillette, the men recreate the opening scene from "Saturday Night Fever," complete with "Stayin' Alive" playing in the background. Jeter is the first to turn heads in his leather jacket, shirt and gold chain. Woods soon follows in a similar outfit, except he's wearing golf shoes. Federer is happy as a clam in his platforms as Jeter and Woods shake their heads. Watch the ad here, which debuted at Yankee Stadium on April 16. This retro-fabulous ad promotes the Gillette Fusion razor and the chance to receive a free razor. BBDO created the ad.

 

ESPN launched three TV spots promoting MLB on ESPN. Buster Olney gets his story. He blends in with pillars; he speaks Japanese to Ichiro Suzuki and he live-blogs from the Cub's locker room to describe the taste of the bottom of a player's shoe. Interesting. Watch his antics here. Peter Gammons has the inside scoop on anything baseball. He uses outdated communication forms -- homing pigeons -- to relay up-to-date information to baseball fans. See it here. The final ad, starring Steve Phillips, is the weakest of the three ads. Although the former Mets GM does name-drop David Wright, that can't save this ad, seen here. Wieden + Kennedy NY created the campaign.

 

Major League Baseball launched "This is Beyond Baseball,"a TV campaign that looks at individual players and how they made it to the big leagues. TV spots will run throughout the baseball season on ESPN, FOX, TBS, MLB Network and MLB.com. The first two ads star Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants and Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies. Growing up, Lincecum's dad taught him tricks to ensure that he followed through with his delivery. Now, he's a Cy Young winner. The ad for Howard describes how his parents marched for Civil Rights in 1963 and instilled strength into their son. Howard plays for the reigning World Series Champs. "This is beyond inspiration. This is beyond baseball," conclude the ads, seen here and here. McCann Erickson New York created the campaign and Universal McCann handled the media buy.


 

The Boston Bruins launched three amusing TV spots running on NESN and in-arena at the TD BankNorth Garden to coincide with the NHL Playoffs. Never date within the division is the lesson learned in the first ad. A Bruins fan takes a Canadiens fan out and a bear disapproves of the dueling jerseys. "But she's so pretty," whispers the Bruins fan. The bear then knocks the man's beer from his hand and pulls his jersey over his head. Watch the ad here. The next lesson is painfully clear: never tuck in your jersey, especially a Bruins jersey. See the ad here. One man learned the hard way that talking on your cell phone during a game is a big no-no in the eyes of the bear. Watch the ad here. Mullen created the campaign and media buying was handled in-house.

 

Sticking with hockey, VERSUS launched two TV spots promoting its coverage of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs campaign. "Every Moment" is a hodgepodge of hockey moments, including a zamboni, a puck dropping, two players slamming into the glass and a close-up of the Stanley Cup. Watch it here. "Look Up" features players on the ice, players on the bench and coaches looking up, as the sound of a ticking clock is heard. "In the playoffs, the clock is everyone's opponent," reads closing copy. See the ad here. The Brooklyn Brothers created the campaign.

 

Chase might be new to California, but it's not new to banking. Following its buyout of WaMu, Chase launched a 30-second TV spot introducing itself to California residents. Bauhaus' Peter Murphy covers the John Lennon song "Instant Karma" in the spot, where the Chase logo plays the role of shining sun while a surfer surfs, a swimmer swims and a biker drives down an empty highway. The song used in the ad might be released as a single. Watch the ad here. Mcgarrybowen created the ad and Zenith Media handled the media buy.

 

HBO launched a set of teasers ads promoting the second season of "True Blood," back in June. Print and outdoor ads, running through mid-May, feature the same creative with varying taglines: "Ready For Seconds," "Ready For New Blood," and "Ready To Be Bitten Again," appear along with the season 2 start date of "JUNE" and the HBO logo. See the ads here, here and here. Bemis Balkind created the ads and PHD handled the media buy.
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