YAYbies!

In case you weren't informed, Sparkle Babies (scientific name: yaybius clitterificus) come in all shapes, sizes and colors. This week, we here at HMSS gladly acknowledge yaybies of color with our newest blog post.

That is one insane looking yaybie. Sorry for the poor representation of Sparkle Babies of color. Don't worry, there will be more.

Until next time, remember that you too may have a yaybie if you use Clitter while pregnant.

Word.

My Ad is Better than Your Better.

Holy crap I love the new Nike ad. Coming from the background of a athletic family (I played three sports in high school, so did my siblings, and my dad has coached every sport known to man), this spot just speaks to me.



The music is perfect, it reminds me of that anticipatory beat that runs through your veins before you run out onto the basketball court before a big game. The fast shots quicken your breath, get your mind racing with competition.

Absolutely perfect.

And a thing I also like about it is not only does Nike focus on professional athletes, but those of all ages. It doesn't water it down for serious athletes, and it makes younger kids feel like Nike is for them.

My mother said she didn't get it. (She isn't athletic in the least.) I think it's better that she doesn't.

Super Bowl Ponderings

I won't even comment on most of the Super Bowl commercials this year because they were, for the most part, a waste of $2.7 million. Each. (Can you say Sales Genie?) However, there were some unexpected success stories that delighted me.

Bridgestone set up a nice 1-2 punch with their ads this year. The first was cutesy and kind of made me smile, but wasn't that great on its own. However, once the second one aired, I was rolling on the floor.



Who doesn't love Richard Simmons?

Coke did its thing with the parade spot. Everyone loves underdogs triumphing (not the character Underdog, because he loses, but you know what I mean), and Charlie Brown is definitely the American epitome of the disadvantaged. Sure, it's not one of your stereotypical Super Bowl knee-slappers, but it really speaks to who Coke is.



The highlight of the entire night, for me, was definitely the Talking Stain spot for Tide. HYSTERICAL! Not only do I think that everyone can relate to such an experience, but we really do feel as if a stain on our clothes are screaming out to those around us.



I would love to have the voiceover job for the stain. Too funny.

As for those of you who liked the Sobe commercial (which I know there are plenty), you're crazy. Not only didn't it make sense with the song, it left me wondering, "WHY THE HELL IS NAOMI CAMPBELL IN THIS?" Plus, 80% of the people I watched these ads with had no idea who the girl was, and some thought it was Beyonce. (Stupid, I know. But doesn't that say something about who the viewer is?) Slapping an MJ song & dance in a commercial doesn't automatically make for good advertising. (Sorry Professor Eighmey, I'm going against the "when in doubt" rule.) And "Thrillicious?" Are you shitting me?



Just makes my skin crawl.

And the Audi commercial... trash. Case and point for movie parody gone terribly wrong. It was just creepy.



I know I wasn't the target for this ad (hell... I can't afford a luxury car) but even older people that I asked about it said it was bad. I get what they were trying to do, and if execution were everything, they would have it made, however, it just left everyone asking, "What the f*** was that?" It didn't make viewers remember the Audi brand AT ALL.

As I said, I won't be commenting on all of the commercials, because they should pay ME $2.7 million to give their filth more publicity.

Peace out.

A Qwest for Mediocrity

For anyone who has seen the new Qwest commercials on TV, you might start to wonder, "have I seen this before?" You have. Qwest tries to bank off of the likeability of UPS's white board spots with their sand drawings, but lead me to wonder, what makes this drawing approach appealing to small and large businesses?



Yes, the drawings are pretty, but saying that Qwest understands that different things are necessary for different businesses is so mundane. EVERYONE knows that a doughnut maker, car maker and wildlife foundation have different communication needs, so the fact that a business specializing in communication understands that is quite expected and obvious.

Don't get me wrong, the ads are visually stunning, much as the UPS whiteboard ads were, however, the message behind the art direction is blah. Everytime I see these ads I will think, "Aaah... this reminds me of that cool white board guy!" Not to mention, the UPS drawings in their ads made sense with what the product was and made us remember the brand (the brown marker= logo color, and the "Delivery Intercept" commercial even made up the UPS logo). If you turned off the audio, you would still understand what was going on. Not so with Qwest.

In fact, it took me over half an hour to remember which company these ads are even for. YIKES! I guess replication isn't always the best strategy...

SPARKLE BABY!

WARNING: USING CLITTER WHILE PREGNANT MAY RESULT IN SPARKLE BABIES.

This is the first of many sparkle babies. If you don't know what Clitter is, you probably should.


That is all. For now...