I love these new commercials for the 2012 Kia Optima with Blake Griffen. I can’t remember the last time I saw an NBA player do so well in a commercial. Somehow Blake Griffen is able to give a performance that fits the overall mood of the commercial perfectly. So if Fantasticnous is tied up in someone’s basement I’m pretty sure Kia came and kidnapped it from that basement and has unleashed it in this fantasticly brilliant campaign. Enjoy™
SOURCE: 2012 Kia Optima Blake Griffin Commercial “Easy to Fold” (by KiaMotorsAmerica)
Interesting examples today of innovative internet advertising. In this economy™, companies are finding ad space on the cheap, and Vitamin Water and Apple have two similar but very different approaches:
On ESPN.com today, Vitamin Water has 5 ad spaces for their “Great Debate” campaign pitting LeBron against Kobe. Too bad these ads aren’t as good as their TV ads (“You can’t check him!”), and not nearly as awesome as Nike’s Jim Henson throw-back (“whooo!”). Each ad by itself looks fine, but the 4 ads together overwhelm the page and is uninspired and tired, if not annoying.
Apple, on the other hand, took over NYTimes.com today with a totally different approach. They’ve got 3 ad spaces here, and each ad interacts with each other. The PC and Mac characters point up to the bar graph, and the Hair Growth Academy guys start pitching in with their opinions mid-way. They’re clearly having some fun here, and employing a much more interesting and engaging experience.
Apple clearly takes the cake on this one, and my guess is they’ll see a better return on those ad dollars as viewers’ eyes stay on their ads for longer and that little Apple logo gets burned ever so deeper into our brain matter.
I know TV is all about advertising, and what with DVRs all the rage these days, TV studios are scrambling to figure out how to make money. Hulu.com seems to be getting it right, with totally unobtrusive ads that don’t get in the way of watching TV. But on NBC.com, home of one of the founding studios behind Hulu, totally obtrusive and irrelevant ads litter the site like the offerings my neighbor’s little dog left in my yard before he mysteriously disappeared. I even had to watch an ad before I watched one of the new Olympic-themed ads for the Office.
Yes, I had to watch an ad before watching an ad.
I have to think NBC is getting paid way more for ads on full episodes of the Office than the small annoying ones they show before ads of the Office. Taking 8 minutes out of my half hour to show ads is one thing – taking 20 seconds before a 30 second ad is another. Is NBC a little too focused on making money?
Perhaps they are falling victim to a classic blunder – target fixation. Being so focused on an end goal can make you forget to pay attention to what’s happening around you, and what you might be doing that is detrimental to achieving your goal. Oftentimes target fixation can result in actually colliding with the target (not applicable to archery).
How could NBC fix things up? Maybe NBC.com doesn’t have to generate revenue on its own, maybe it can simply advertise NBC’s core business of making good television. Or maybe following a simple rule can help us all avoid a similar fate: paying attention to our surroundings and how our work is effecting people. Does NBC know their website reminds me of my backyard?
Do you know how your work is being perceived? How many people has your product alienated today?
Speaking of Contextually Unaware Advertising:
The ad on the bus reads: “If you don’t have GIO Third Party Property Insurances, we suggest you don’t hit this bus.”
(via etre)
Fun and relevant integration of ads in this Gamestop.com XBox 360 page screenshot (full size). Ads don’t always have to be annoying. This is a huge full page ad, with nice integration in the top banner, but it’s relevant to the audience and for NASCAR fans it’s exciting to see the new game released. What’s more, when the page is scrolled, the side background ads don’t lose their meaning. Similar integration on the homepage and Nintendo DS pages. Well done.
