sjbooher: Whaaaaaaat? Bud can actually come up with a semi-original/creative joke and dip down to the lowest common denominator? Amazing. C+
jtherkal: A house made of beer cans. I like that idea, but it falls apart from there, literally. Bud Light in a fridge made of Bud Light saves this one from falling lower than it did. B-.
jtherkal: I hate this song. I don’t like the dancing. It might make me hate Christmas. There’s nothing good about this. F.
Verizon fired a shot across the bow of AT&T’s wireless business by launching a campaign calling out AT&T’s spotty 3G service:
jtherkal: Without the iPhone, Verizon was at a bit of a disadvantage in the smartphone market. People love iPhones. Unfortunately, perhaps feeling a little too comfortable with their exclusive contract with Apple, AT&T didn’t put forth the same effort as Verizon did to ensure good service for their customers. Verizon points this out and it’s effective, because it’s true. AT&T didn’t help the situation when they filed a lawsuit against Verizon trying to get the campaign yanked. They lost the case, because the claim is true, which made Verizon’s campaign even more effective. It’s not a trick, the law said so. I’m still an AT&T customer because I love the iPhone. But once that exclusive deal runs out, well, why not switch to Verizon? A.
Feeling the need to respond to the attack, AT&T launched a series of commercials starring Luke Wilson:
jtherkal: What’s wrong Luke Wilson, not enough romantic comedies to pay the bills? Or maybe you’re buying up dinosaur skulls? This is a weak attempt at answering Verizon’s attack. I’m sure that a fast 3G network is great when you’re in the 20% of the country where it exists. The rest of the time, good luck. The other claims they make are based on the fact that AT&T has the iPhone. So you’re service claims are based on another company’s ingenuity. The fact is, AT&T couldn’t really retaliate, because the map claim is true. In the spot where Luke is standing on the map naming all of the places that have service, he names major cities. Oh, you have service in Seattle? And Chicago!? I certainly hope so.
They would have been better off not aggressively going after Verizon, instead focusing on the positive things AT&T has to offer. The more they attack Verizon, the more people pay attention to Verizon’s claim. Like someone’s mom said, just ignore it and it might go away. D-.
NY Lottery
jtherkal: This was the first nutcracker ad I saw this season and I think it’s a winner. While I might not always remember this is for the NY Lottery, it makes me laugh and I won’t change the channel when it’s on. The little details, like making himself crack the nuts, are nice. Overall, great use of a nutcracker. B+.
Garmin
jtherkal: Give-a-give-a-give-a-give-a-Garmin, give-a-give-a-give-a-Garmin, fun local tips at fingertips, Garmin dotcom, Garmin dotcooooom. I love that song. While the nutcracker is not essential to the ad (the song could star a snowman, a Santa, a regular person and it would still be good), it’s a nice (if not original this year) twist. A-.
IHOP
jtherkal: Eh. Get it? They both ate nuts? Deez nuts. D.
jtherkal: I love songs. I love Christmas. And as much as I don’t want to like these, as much as I think rewriting a holiday song is an easy way out, as embarassing as it must be to whichever creative sunk low enough to sell this idea through, I can’t help but like it. A little. My first instinct was to fail this. With all of the brilliant ways you could advertise electronics around Christmas, this doesn’t really warrant much notice. But it’s a song, and I sing it in my head.
There’s also a whole YouTube section with more songs and behind the scenes interviews, as if anyone cares. C+.
jtherkal: The best male-targeted shampoo commercials ever made. Isn’t it? No. Isn’t it? Yes. If you’re going to talk to me about shampoo during a football game, find a way to do it without showing some guy soaping up in the shower. You asked with your eyes, Trent. You asked with your eyes.
It’s possible I have beard dandruff. Can it treat that? A.
jtherkal: It took this Heineken commercial to bring about a disagreement strong enough between myself and sjb to get us posting again. Me? I love it. It makes me laugh every time. The gag might not be that brilliant, but something about this just cracks me up. Something about the way the guys scream, and the way that one guy dances. And I’ll have to pay more attention to what’s on TV here, but I can’t find any versions of this on YouTube where the girl at the beginning is speaking English. Has this always been in German or whatever language that is? This doesn’t do anything to make me actually want to drink Heineken, but I remember it and I like it. A-.
sjbooher: I hate the way those guys act so much that it puts me in a bad mood and I don’t like talking about it. On the other hand, these guys do make me laugh:
It would be an F, but since it inspired LeBron to do good work, C.
jtherkal: After those sleek, fashionable black and white ads (which I didn’t love) this is an absolute disconnect and disgrace. They seemed to be building a mystique, making Gatorade seem top shelf, even classy. And to follow it up with a poorly done Monty Python ripoff–shameful. One of the keys of using athletes in commercials is understanding that most of them CAN NOT act (Lebron & Peyton being the exception). And if you’re going to do something like this, it has to be well written and amazingly funny. This is neither. Rarely, if ever, have I invoked sjb’s Ad Exec Masturbation classification, but this is worthy. It’s awful in every sense of the word. To think, your client is Gatorade. You can use some of the biggest stars in the world, and this is the trash you put out? It made me sick to my stomach to watch all nine minutes of this. Should have been aborted in the concept phase. Double F.
sjbooher: Wow. Ouch. I like it, but I’m completely biased. Usain Bolt’s head running around and Kareem’s cameo make me laugh every time. I definitely thought the same thing though, as far as being disconnected from the “What’s G?” part of the campaign. B.
sjbooher: I will say this… I didn’t know this 9 minute piece of crap existed. The edited quick hitters shown on TV are a big improvement.
jtherkal: I’m biased, since I wrote this. And the accompanying website is here at thatsnotcool.com. I think it strikes a nice balance of humor and delivering a somewhat serious message. I love you. JK. I hate you. JK. A.
sjbooher: Love. No, it’s not time for a serious breakfast! It’s time for NANERPUS!!!! So good. It’s Naaaaaaaaaaaaaa-nerpus! Best of the night. A+.
jtherkal: Great is right. At first I thought they messed up and used the wrong voice for Nanerpus–that it should sound more like a cartoon. But since this is so short, I’ve watched it about 60 times and now I love it. Banana, nana, nanar, nanerpus. A.
And if you can’t get enough Nanerpus, check this out: