Commentary

Out to Launch

Location, location, location. It makes all the difference in Monster.com's Super Bowl ad. The spot begins with a successful businessman sitting in his impressive office with his feet on his desk, listening to opera music. Above him hangs a moose's head. The ad pans to the wall behind the rich exec. It's not a pretty sight. An unhappy worker sits at his desk, where the back end of the moose also resides. Get that man a new job and some air freshener, stat! Watch the ad here, created by BBDO New York.

The E*TRADE baby might have a deeper voice, but he's still funny. A rough economy is discussed between friends in "Wings." When E*TRADE baby's friend starts belting out Mr. Mister's hit song from the '80s, "Broken Wings," our spokesman is not pleased. Especially when his friend keeps on singing. Watch the ad here that ran in the second quarter of the Super Bowl. "401K" ran during the Post-Game Show and was my least favorite of the two ads. Baby wins a round of golf but his opponent is hesitant to pay up because of his dwindling 401K. The losing player accuses E*TRADE baby of cheating, since he moved his ball on the ninth hole. His response: "It was on the cart path. Why don't you try reading the rules?" Watch the ad here. Grey New York created the ads.

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T-MobileUSA launched a great TV ad promoting the BlackBerry Flip called "Butt Dialer." (True story: I was butt-called just last week and treated to a strange two-minute voicemail due to overactive glutes.) A husband is sitting on the couch, eating a cantaloupe and working on his laptop when his wife's cell phone rings. "Oh. Guess who it is? It's your butt." The wife then proceeds to have a faux conversation with the butt, until the husband shifts himself on the sofa and remarks, "My butt just hung up on you. Sorry." Watch the ad here. Publicis in the West created the campaign and Optimedia handled the media buy.

Strange things are happening online for RayBan. Four Web films, to be exact. Most of us have seen the first film, where a cow gives birth to a full-grown man wearing nothing but white undies, amniotic fluid and RayBans. He's pretty steady on his legs post-delivery. Click here to watch him run. Sometimes you can't get into a club and you need the party to come to you. That's what two men do in another film, seen here. Armed only with retro clothes, RayBans and a disco ball, they make it happen. "Green Screen Guy" gets his kicks by messing with people who are unable to see him. He pops balloons, sets off a car alarm, continuously rings a doorbell and joins a woman in the shower. Watch the film here. A man visits Coney Island to buy a tall ice cream cone with more scoops than you can imagine. He does a great job of maneuvering the melting cone, until he gets home. Sadly, his cone falls scoop by scoop on his front stairs, leaving him with a single-scoop cone. See it here. "Never hide," RayBan's tagline, concludes every ad. Cutwater created the films.

Breaking news: I'm highly influenced by the music used in ads. Many a song on my running iPod can also be heard in commercials. I'm quirky that way. ESPN NASCAR is getting fans pumped for the upcoming season with "Start 'Er Up," a 30-second spot using "Welcome To The Jungle," by Guns N' Roses. The spot launched yesterday and consists of a montage of NASCAR footage interspersed with rocket launches, Ferris wheels, herds of running animals and extreme sports enthusiasts. "Feel your heart race" ends the ad, seen here. Wieden + Kennedy New York created the campaign.


Lionsgate created a fun widget for its movie "My Bloody Valentine 3D." Moviegoers can watch the movie trailer, read about the cast and crew and find a 3D theatre in their neighborhood. My favorite part of the campaign allows users to send a "My Bloody Valentine 3D" personalized video to friends, via YouTube, a first, according toThe Visionaire Group,the agency behind the campaign. I love the personalized video; the YouTube channel also houses a handful of videos in 2D and 3D.

Spyder Active Sports launched a very unique print campaign running in skiing magazines and targeting males in their teens and 20s. The majority of the ads feature skiers Keri Herman, Tucker Perkins and Matt Hayward reaching heights that only exist in my dreams. The top corners of each ad promote different apparel; the bottom corner, however, tells an animated story of a Japanese mob transaction gone wrong. Six different ads will run once per magazine title, in storyline sequence, without explanation. The first ad depicts a confrontation over a briefcase. Someone is shot in the second ad, while one man escapes with the briefcase on motorcycle. The third ad finds the man with the briefcase hanging onto a helicopter for dear life. See the ads here, here and here. Cultivator Advertising & Design created the campaign and media buying was handled in-house.

Park City Mountain Resort is running a calmer, friendlier, print campaign in skiing magazines throughout the season, targeting moms planning winter vacations. It's pretty much a given that we won't be seeing a PCMR ad alongside a Spyder ad. Creative shows all members of a family enjoying the slopes alongside cutesy copy such as, "And to think, last week you only let him ride his bike to the corner." See the ads here, here, here and here. Thomas Taber & Drazen created the campaign and handled the media buy.

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