• by John Gaffney , February 24, 2003

I Know It’s Only Advertising, But I Like It, Like It, Yes I Do: To me sitting through an award show on TV is kind of like playing a round of golf. It’s three hours during which I wonder whether my time would be better spent doing something else. But last night I sat through the Grammys because James Taylor was on and Springsteen was on and I write about the ad business, so I watched. I won’t rave on about the idiotic pacing of these shows or the lame speeches or the stuffed suits in the front rows who look like they never heard music in their lives. I won’t do that. I will take the high road and tell you that for me, the Grammys crystallized the efforts of two brands who are doing an exemplary job: Sirius Satellite Radio and Target. For Target, it is becoming obvious that they are jabbing Wal-Mart’s smiley face by brand itself on two levels. We have the Tar-jay high-fashion low price approach, which has worked for a while. We also now have an innovative entertainment brand, which has spawned the Bon Jovi disc that was produced exclusively for the chain. And Sirius, which had a spot on the Grammy’s and a 12-page newspaper insert Sunday, has gone from dead to brilliant in a matter of weeks. Its new campaign is creating a sense of cool and curiosity around a business that was static at best. Rock on, Sirius.

Crest In Any Language: If you didn’t catch the Crest ad last night, which was the first Hispanic language to be shown in prime time, you will. It will become part of P&G’s campaign fro the brand and I think it’s a watershed for Hispanic advertising. Languages can be the hardest barriers to cross. The Crest brand managers took down a lot of walls with this effort.

Grammy Parting Shots: What were the guys from Coldplay thinking?….When I saw the “No War” message on Sheryl Crow’s guitar strap, I wondered when we will actually see ads on guitars and guitar straps.