Just for Reference...and a smile :)

Since not everyone paid attention in Weigold's class when he showed us Mean Joe Green (or even had him as a professor), here is is, along with the remake, Mean Troy (and I've added the Coke brand team for good measure, in case you've missed those TOO!)

Honestly, I liked the Mean Troy ad at first. But it wasn't one of my favorites. Then I watched it again and realized how good it was. How well they did a job of integrating another campaign into it. That association really helps drive that it's Coke Zero, not Coca Cola. And they did a wonderful job paying homage to a Super Bowl Classic. Great spot for a heterogenous audience. And they did a better job of combining old and new than Pepsi did.

It started out as Pepsi vs. Coke, and became a long advertising rant. Enjoy.

Yea, I know there's another two days before the Superbowl.  But clearly I'm excited (about the ads). I've watched all the ones that are out already...and I want to discuss the age-old debate between Pepsi vs. Coke.  Not being a soda drinker myself, I could care less which one tastes better.  What I am interested in is who has the better spot.    

Here's one Coke spot, Heist.  And another, Avatar. 

And here's Pepsi's Refresh Anthem.

Personally, I LOVE the Pepsi spot. I don't know if I'd consider Will.I.Am to be comparable to Bob Dylan, but the idea is great. The music is great.  The comparisons are fun (and must have been damn expensive).  I think Chiat did a good job (sorry, Sean).  Not a huge fan of their Pedigree spot, though.  Meh. I like their simpler We're for Dogs campaign a lot better.  Says more about their brand.  Less flashy, more touching.

I also really like Coke's Heist.  I think the music is great and the whole feel reminds me of their Happiness Factory spots, but better.   Not a fan of Avatar....blah.  Not for the masses, which is what the Superbowl is.

On another note, the Pepsi Max Superbowl I'm good commercials annoy me.  The whole "let's show how our product promotes extreme manliness in a humorous way" is a smart strategy, I think.  But it's been done. And done. And done again.  Dial for Men, Milwaukee's Best Light, Snickers, are just a few more recent examples.  I'm getting sick of it.  I realize that when you find something that works, you use it.  The "Use this product to get laid" strategy is one of the oldest tricks in the book, and somehow never seems to stop working.  I just can't help wanting something new.  Maybe I watch way too many commercials/am not the target and that's why I'm annoyed.  But isn't there something else besides sex and machismo that can sell products to you guys?

I'm all over the place.  Lots of good spots to watch in this post though.  Sorry I can't embed. (When I paste, a weird box pops up at the very bottom of my browser?)

Delving deeper into Twitter...Hashtags

So I thought Twitter was fairly simple.  And it is.  However, I started looking around and discovered hashtags and twittgroups and livefeeds, oh my!  Will I have to learn an entire new vocabulary like I did for Facebook with Tagging and Pokes?!  

So here's how it works for those of you who are interested.  I'm going to use the Superbowl as my example.  Log onto Twitter and follow Hashtags.  They will automatically follow you back.  Now, whenever you tweet about anything related to Superbowl ads, type #superads09 somewhere in your message.  This is like "tagging" your message.  

Visit  hashtags.org and search for #superads09 to see a live feed of anyone's tweets that have been tagged #superads09. You can add this to your RSS feed as well.  Tons of ad blogs will be posting the entire #superads09 feed tomorrow during the game, and now you can be part of a massive conversation with the ad world in real time on the internet. 

Kind of cool, right?  There are a gajillion other tags for anything and everything you might be interested in discussing/following discussions about. Once I figure out Twittgroups, I'll let you know.  I'm still digesting...