Depending on where you live, yesterday’s Superbowl was more about watching an exciting football game and some great commercials than it was about the Colts vs. the Saints. Nobody in San Diego has really cared for a couple of weeks, although I must say – happy to see ex-Charger Drew Breeze get his first Superbowl.
While there were many memorable, funny and entertaining commercials from yesterday, my favorite was the one with the Green Police, and the Audi A3 TDI clean diesel.Audi recently received Green Car Journals 2010 Green Car of the Year, which provided the creative foundation for their million-dollar-plus Superbowl commercial.
The Audi commercial was clever and sharp on many different levels, and ultimately it probably provoked more than laughs because it dared to satirize what is typically a taboo subject: the environmental movement.
Most would say that is sensitive and unfamiliar ground for an automaker to tread, but Audi – and its advertising agency, Venables Bell & Partners – pulled it off in a skillful and light-hearted manner. Their creative agency convinced them to spend all or most of their Super Bowl budget on an ad campaign that would spoof the same environmental ideas that many Americans are beginning to deal with today: the paper-or-plastic grocery-store guilt and even whether we should be allowed to choose the temperature of our own hot tubs. I would definitely get in trouble for that last one…
Anyway, what was your favorite commercial? And why? Let us know…
Maybe it’s because Gordon just got a little french bulldog puppy, or maybe it’s because I think this commercial is pretty funny… maybe it’s both. This TV spot is the first of several spots that advertising agency TBWA/Chiat Day has released for Pedigree’s 2010 advertising campaign.TBWA/Chiat Day is one of the largest, and most internationally-recognized creative agencies in the world.
I had no idea that 4/5 dogs over the age of 3 have gum-disease. I did know that tartar build-up can be a contributing factor, but if your dog uses Dentistix from Pedigree, apparently it won’t be a problem.
Also, props toTBWA for really pulling out the big guns with the David Duchovny voice-over…
Headline:“Any drink worth making is worth making sure…”
Tagline: “Say Seagram’s and be SURE…”
Advertising
Creative advertising linking Seagram’s brands with the evolving consumer culture made an enormous contribution to Seagram’s success. Advertising campaigns associated Seagram products with modernity, upward mobility, and the good life. Advertisements and packaging promoted Seagram as a symbol of craftsmanship, tradition, prestige, and luxury. The emphasis on responsible drinking and an upscale life style has remained an important theme of company advertisements for many years. Beginning in the 1960s, many of the advertisements reflect attention to segmented markets.
Market Research
After the Second World War, Seagram began commissioning market research studies in order to strengthen its understanding of consumer preferences. This effort expanded after 1950 as the company realized that attitudes about consumption and life style influence brand choices.
Thousands of market surveys in the Seagram collection contain information on consumer attitudes towards beverage alcohol, food, and other consumer products. They also assess brand preferences and the impact of company advertising among different demographic and regional populations. These studies began in the 1950s and are strongest from the 1960s through the 1980s.
For more about the Seagram company, a background on their advertising agency, and information about Seagram similar to what I referenced above, please visit Seagrams-Credit.
It all really started in the 1960s – the Golden Age of Advertising. At a time when the consumerist euphoria of the fifties was still going strong and the race to the moon was in daily conversations. The mood of advertising in the sixties was cheerful, optimistic, and at times – revolutionary.
The decade’s ads hyped perceived progress (such as Tang-”just add water”) while striving to reinforce good ole’ American values. Stars like Sean Connery, Woody Allen, and Sammy Davis Jr. endorsed everything from sunglasses and Bourbon to handmade suits in an attempt by the Mad Men on Madison Avenue to employ Americans to open their wallets and participate in the largest consumer binge in history.
Evident social change at the end of the era liberated women and minorities to a never-before conscious public. From forgotten cars such as the Studebaker Avanti, and cigarettes (“Marlboro… a Man’s world of flavor”) to food, clothing, endless consumer products, furniture, travel, and much more.
Over the next few weeks, the JTCG Blog will be featuring standouts from a colorful collection of vintage print ads that explores the wide, insightful and influential world of American Advertising. From the time of it’s inception til now, the collection includes ads from the last 100 years on a website called Vintage AdBrowser, and serves as inspiration for Advertising agencies, graphic designers, web design and marketing professionals today.
If you enjoy scrolling through these ads as much as I do, feel free to suggest ads that you would like to see featured on the blog. If you are as convincing as the ad you suggest, we will chat about it. Enjoy.
