MacDonald Manufacturing Concern

New Sony Ad is Blowin' Up

Part of me thinks it's lame to release behind-the-scenes footage from a commercial shoot. But another part of me likes it when things blow up real good. And since it's being directed by Jonathan Glazer, the final product could still be  surprising even though we know the central concept.

For example, we have no idea what hushed, lo-fi acoustic track will accompany these ultra slow-motion explosions.

Head On

If you haven't seen this dystopian example of television advertising, watch it now.

Seth Stevenson over at Slate basically nails the issue—head on, yo!—in his latest Ad Report Card. Note this terrifying question.

It really is sad when you think about the hard work that gets done inside advertising agencies. All the writing and rewriting, the late-night brainstorming, the mining of creativity from the deepest recesses of one's cortex. And then there's the casting, the directing, the high-budget locations. The question we must now ask is: Why bother with any of this? The HeadOn ad is more effective at reaching its goals than 99 percent of the ads on television. And it succeeds on the strength of a few, bare-bones tactics that most advertisers carefully shun:

People who work as advertising creatives often struggle with the question of whether or not their career is ultimately meaningless. This won't help that internal debate much. But hey, if it gives you a headache, I know exactly how to fix it.

Read the rest of the article here.

The Latest from our Manufacturing Concern.

This is one of the reasons why I haven't posted in over a year (besides that unfortunate six months in Riker's). I've been busy makin' the ads.

Title: Tested
Client: L.L.Bean
Director: Chris Milk
Music: Bibio "Bewley in Grey"

Take That, Julia Roberts.

By now, just about every living person in America has seen the new AOL campaign featuring members gathering en masse at the corporate headquarters to give their feedback. NetZero has struck back with a shot-by-shot parody of those spots showing those same subscribers quitting AOL for its chief competitor.

It's a great idea. I just wish the humor in the spots was a little more biting. AOL is such a tasty target, one imagines that the original scripts were much funnier before the client did their usual tinkering.

Lord Vader meets Lady Klum.

Target teams up with Mother to give away free wake-up calls from a diverse group of telephone operators including Darth Vader, a Latin Hearthrob, and a vertically-challenged rooster.

Shout-out to Adland for the link. Holla!

Another Mind-Boggling Sandwich Ad.

2004's reign as the "year of the f'd up sandwich ads" continues with this, uh, thing from McDonald's in Japan. Really wish I knew what was happening here, other than the fact that a model dressed like Ronald McDonald magically produces a burger from thin air and then poses fetchingly with a tomato. I'm lovin' it! Not really!

Seriously.

OK, I lied. I said no more political ads. But self-described "blog voyeur" Travis has sent me a lovely little clip that nicely summarizes the mood here in the blue states.

Oh, and as if Democrats didn't already have enough reason to down bottles of whisky for lunch, apparently Canada isn't too eager about accepting American political refugees. Thanks, Canada. You suck.

Bin Laden's Campaign Commercial.

Man, Osama's campaign ad really sucks. Awful production values, sloppy editing, bad wardrobe decisions, and terribly overwritten copy. "All Praise be to Allah"? What a shitty tagline.

Five bucks says that account goes into review, like, tomorrow.

Last Political Ad for Four Years. I Promise.

This "Choose or Lose" spot from MTV nicely summarizes what it was like growing up in Central Illinois. I think it also sets a record for "most number of discriminatory statements made in 60 seconds." I mean, this guy manages to offend homosexuals, black people, and the disabled. That's a record Andy Rooney would be proud of.

Go on, be a Hater.

You know what? I might have a bit of a crush on this ad.

Can't say exactly why. Maybe it's the bunnies wearing ear protection, the hammer-wielding penguins, the sun spitting explosive loogeys. Or maybe it's the fact that it's all done to a pretty little ditty sung by Garrison Keillor. At any rate, I'm crushing hard. I want to carry its books home from school.