Oct 16, 2009

You thought the bunnies were cute…

Previously, New York Lottery thought it would get your attention with cute little bunnies. Now, they’ve moved on to cute little everything, in “Sleepy Time.”

Oct 12, 2009

Hope you like bunnies

The New York Lottery is hoping that you like bunnies.

Sep 27, 2009

But can you say “responsive?”

Have you seen the latest set of Microsoft ads for Windows 7, featuring the little girl, Kylie? I’m a huge fan of this particular spot, “Good News,” purely on the amusement factor, and Kylie’s use of word “responsive” to make it happen.

Today, I’m seeing buzz on Twitter about how there’s a new spot that’s been added to a campaign, and I’ve gotta say, this one takes it down a notch. or seven. Check out “Kylie’s Conversations” below.

“Good News” is a good spot, IMHO, because it’s quick, it briefly shows the origin of the text she uses, and most importantly, it’s fun. Kylie mispronounces “responsive” – as she should as a 4 1/2-year old (though maybe she’s five by now, considering this spot, “The Rookies,” is from February).

The second ad, “Kylie’s Conversations,” just “piles on” to what “Good News” brought to the table, seemingly hoping to garner the same respect its predecessor had. The reasonably random behavior of a young girl playing around on her dad’s computer is legit. I can suspend enough disbelief to think that she’d know how to throw a slide show (or get her photos together, like in “The Rookies” spot, and so forth, but to think that the little girl is going to continue to crank out slideshows of “happy words” is just silly, no? Isn’t there something else she could be doing on the computer?

To me, this is a PERFECT example of a “oh, THIS one worked like a charm, let’s make another one just like it.” Except that’s where it fails.

It isn’t just like “Good News” at all – it’s just another way to use Kylie as the medium to push the positive reviews about Windows 7 through. Oh, and while we’re at it, it’s nice that we broke down Microsoft PowerPoint to a point where we can have multiple popping bits of text on one screen. Gasp! Now I’m impressed.

Great execution on the the “Rookies” and “Good News” spots, but the “Conversations” ad completely missed the mark for me.

Sep 20, 2009

“You Did.”

On Thursday morning, the ever-thinking-about-cool-stuff David Pogue tweeted about those “You Will” television spots AT&T did in the early 1990’s, pointing out how “amazing” it was how many really came true. I guess we really shouldn’t be surprised by the seemingly brilliant future view that the company had, as surely they already had seen what would go into the products featured, which included everything from digital medical records, GPS, or the fact that one day, you’d have “borrowed a book…from thousands of miles away.”

And if you thought the voiceover sounded familiar, it was. Over at TV Squad, Bob Sassone reminds us that it was done by none other than Tom Selleck. Having lived the better part of my life in the neighborhood of the Holmdel, NJ location of Bell Labs, AT&T and the Baby Bells, etc. were always in the local news for one thing or another, and it was certainly a matter of local pride that a lot of cool stuff was created. Tens of thousands of patents and multiple Nobel Prize winners can’t be wrong.

Good show, AT&T.

Apr 24, 2009

Heineken – “Let a Stranger Drive You Home”

As I’m catching up on FOX’s “Bones” tonight, I caught the spot below, from Heineken. Obviously the song grabbed me instantly, but it is a GREAT example, IMHO, of merging music and visuals to get attention – something that advertisers have to work ever so hard at these days, in the time of the DVR. Kudos to the creative team behind it from me.