Issue Advertising with a Serious Message

This is really just a link to a collection of ads on another blog. They’re definitely worth checking out. See them here:

Advertising Which Tells us Something Serious

 

Groupon Sadly Pulls New Ad Campaign

When the first ad in this campaign aired during the Super Bowl, many people were upset and offended. I’ll admit that when I first saw it, I was a little taken aback. But after I heard Groupon explain the reasoning for creating the campaign (the stars are supposed to come across as idiots), I re-watched the ad and found it quite funny.

Later that week, I saw a new ad in the campaign while watching TV and literally laughed out loud. Rather than describe the commercial, check it out for yourself below:

As of this morning, I learned that Groupon has decided to pull the ads due to the controversy. In my opinion, this flat-out sucks. It is a shame that “political correctness” won the battle because the ads were funny and did an excellent job of explaining Groupon’s service.

But, I suppose there’s nothing that can be done at this point. Hopefully the ads remain online and continue to be passed around. I’d hate for people to miss out on the deforestation ad I posted above, because honestly, it’s f***ing hilarious.

What did you think of the campaign and the commercial? Talk about it in the comments section below!

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Check out the “Groupon Sadly Pulls New Ad Campaign” post on Adam’s Advertising Blog: http://wp.me/pNbki-5K

Latest Verizon iPhone Ad Touts Network Quality

With pre-orders for the Verizon iPhone selling out in less than a day, I think it’s safe to say the Verizon and Apple have a very successful partnership on their hands. While their have been many commercials from both AT&T and Verizon, each trying to promote their own network’s benefits, I happen to really like this latest one from Verizon.

A few tech blogs have stated that the commercial “slams” AT&T, which to me is a big overstatement. Every time a commercial like this emerges, it always a “slam” on the competitor… and it never really is. For what it’s worth, there is definitely a jab at the AT&T network, but I think the real takeaway is the quality and reliability of Verizon (it’s more of a ‘we’re good’ than a ‘they’re bad’). Either way, it’s a good commercial. Check it out below:

What did you think of the ad? Got any interesting thoughts on the Verizon iPhone? Talk about it in the comments section below!

Shortlink to share post: http://wp.me/pNbki-5A

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Oscar Nominations 2011 Announced Today!

This really isn’t about advertising as much as it is about me advertising the Oscars.  I absolutely love them–it’s my Super Bowl. And today, all of the playoff teams were announced.  Here’s the official nomination list on the Oscar site.

I’m sure that I’ll be talking a lot about the list in the next few weeks, so Adam’s Ad Blog may unofficially become Adam’s Entertainment News Blog. Regardless, I’m pumped the list was announced, I’ll be taking some time to really review it, and I’ll be back with some preliminary thoughts in the next few days! Stay Tuned!

In the meantime, if you want to print a ballot list of the nominees, download the PDF here.

CoD: Black Ops – There’s a Soldier in All of Us

I know that it’s old, but I found myself watching this commercial again today and couldn’t figure out why I didn’t blog about it.  Needless to say, it’s one of my favorites.  Check it out:

The commercial is well shot, funny, and a tad confusing at first, but once you get the concept, you realize how awesome it is.  Even without the star studded cast, the commercial shines and does a great job of showing off the entertainment value of the game.  And the music fits so well, too.

Got something to say about the commercial? Talk about it in the comments section below!

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Check out the “’CoD: Black Ops – There’s a Soldier in All of Us” post on Adam’s Advertising Blog: http://wp.me/pNbki-5x

The Panera Last Supper

I’m sitting across from my fiancee in Panera as she enjoys her last bowl of chicken noodle soup. Tomorrow, Panera will be changing the style of their soup; switching to something that they claim to be more healthy. But health is not the issue– deliciousness is. Panera has been split testing the 2 different soup styles for some time now. A friend of mine who works at Panera informed me that the new soup is preforming very poorly and many of the guests prefer for the old soup style. Sadly, and to the disappointment of many, Panera is still deciding to switch to the new soup starting tomorrow.  Is Panera trying to jump on with the latest health trends or are they just trying to save some money by switching to a lower quality and watered down soup?

Whatever the case, it seems to be a bad decision, and an insult to many of Panera’s loyal followers. In my opinion, it’s a marketing failure. In my fiancee’s opinion, it’s a tragedy.

The Verizon iPhone has been Officially Confirmed

Though we’re still in the midst of the press conference, Verizon has confiremed that the Verizon iPhone will launch next month.  Hop over to VerizonWireless.com and you’ll see that they’ve already updated their homepage with the info.  The links are still broken, but all the information should be out later today.  Exciting news!

The Verizon iPhone confirmed on the Verizon Homepage

Are you excited about the Verizon iPhone announcement? Talk about it in the comments section below!

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Check out the “’The Verizon iPhone has been Officially Confirmed” post on Adam’s Advertising Blog: http://wp.me/pNbki-5p

2010 in Review – Adam’s Ad Blog

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how my blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by my stats.

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. Adam’s Ad Blog was viewed about 12,000 times in 2010. That’s about 29 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 65 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 8 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 1mb.

The busiest day of the year was April 26th with 7,688 views. The most popular post that day was Nikon S60 Face Detection Ads.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were digg.com, facebook.com, and twitter.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for lost season 6 last supper, hut weber, jewelry billboards, swagger wagon commercial, and spartan golf.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Nikon S60 Face Detection Ads January 2010

2

Toyota Sienna – Swagger Wagon March 2010
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3

Hut Weber Ad: It’s the Hat March 2010

4

Stephen Colbert, Ralph Lauren, and the 2010 Winter Olympics February 2010

5

New McDonald’s Ads Revitalize “I’m Lovin’ It” April 2010

3 comments

Awesome Banner Ads for Dexter Season 5

WARNING: This post may contain details that could potentially spoil season 4 of Dexter for those that have not seen it.

The science behind online banner advertising has figured out that I am a fan of Dexter, and as such, I have been seeing a lot of advertisements for season 5 of the series (or at least, I was in the few weeks leading up to the premiere).  Additionally, the same ads are also popping up in magazines, including Esquire and Entertainment Weekly.  I may have some bias (considering that I think Dexter is the best show on TV), but I was very impressed by the design of the ads.  The relate to the show very well, and if you are a regular viewer, you quickly understand an underlying message that carries over from season 4.  An example of the ad is shown above.  If you’ve been watching up to this point, you’ll likely love the ad and be watching season 5.  If you haven’t seen the show, I highly encourage you to start watching (seasons 1 & 2 can be instantly streamed on Netflix).

What did you think of the ads? Post something in the comments section below!

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Check out the “Awesome Banner Ads for Dexter Season 5” post on Adam’s Advertising Blog: http://wp.me/pNbki-4W

 

Best Unintentional Ad Ever – ‘Atomic Tom’ Jam on iPhones

The title may sound a little hyperbolic, but once you see the video in this post, I think you’ll find it hard to disagree.  The video sets up the premise that the New York band Atomic Tom had their instruments stolen, but were able to improvise.  The result is the following video:

Just playing the guitar riff on a iPhone would be a challenge, but the band manages to perform the entire song “Take Me Out” using only their phones. It’s an extremely clever idea, it sounds amazing, and it’s giving Apple some serious publicity (not that they need it).  Not only is this video promoting Apple, but I liked the song so much I will likely buy the band’s entire album from iTunes.

What did you think of the video? Post something in the comments section below!

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Check out the “’Atomic Tom’ Jam on iPhones” post on Adam’s Advertising Blog: http://wp.me/pNbki-4Z