Damn it, Kia.

When I was watching the dunk contest, I was like, "Oh, nice shameless product placement there, Kia." But I never thought they would stoop so low to make a terrible commercial that doesn't show the benefits of the product out of it. Well, I guess I underestimated the lack of creativity that they have as a brand. I MEAN, C'MON. Who is really going to want to buy a Kia after seeing the same clip that they've already seen 20 times on ESPN of Blake Griffin dunking over one? If you're not going to sell the benefits of the product, you should at least sell a lifestyle associated with the product. This commercial does neither of those things. Oh, and the copy is also super creative and original... I really hope the writer got paid millions for that.
Here's another Kia commercial that I hate.

Best commercial parody ever.

I realize that this is not really an ad and more like a viral video, but it is the best satirization of a commercial that I have ever seen.  I thought the Michael Jordan response commercial was the already good enough, but this was amazing.  Not only does it have hilarious Brett Favre references, but the contrast in dialogue and direction that is has with the Lebron RISE commercial is incredible.  If you watch them one after another, you'll understand how amazing this really is.  Also, the addition of the Wrangler references to make it look like another Brett Favre sponsored commercial makes the video even more hilarious.  Mostly though, I think I especially like this because I hate Brett Favre as much as I hate Lebron.

Have I mentioned that I need an art director?

I know, they look horrendous.  But they're still in the process of being revised and remade.  Also, they've yet to be art directed by anyone other than my non-artistic self.  Still, I like the direction that ideation and copy is headed.  Originally, this was an assignment to rebrand Buick as a vehicle that appeals to a more young and hip audience.  At first, I found this to be pretty difficult.  But after doing some research, I found this concept car in the making and right away I had my concept.  I'm still trying to tweak the headlines and tagline, but this was pretty much the concept I was going for: to show how a classic has developed into a complete innovation of the common coupe.  Anyway, I hope you like it.  Comments and constructive criticism would be MUCH appreciated.

Sure, I would love to risk a coma or DEATH by taking this.

I don't mean to be ignorant or insensitive to people with bipolar depression here, but would you honestly want to try this drug after seeing this commercial?  Think of it this way- the commercial is 1 minute and 31 seconds long, the risks or side effects begin to be read off at the :21 second mark, and they end at the 1:19 second mark. After figuring out some quick mathematics, that is 58 seconds of listing risks of taking this drug and 64% of the entire commercial! At this point it is hardly even an advertisement for the product as it is a warning to the general public about this product. Also, outside of that fact, the copy of the commercial barely even describes the benefit of taking the drug. All we know after seeing this it that it "may" help you deal with your bipolar depression. Yet, considering how they're accounted for more in the commercial than the benefits, the risks "may" also become more of a reality when you take this. Oh yeah, and those risks include coma or death. But you depressed people should definitely try it... C'MON.
Here's another commercial like this that I hated.

An example of how celebrity endorsements can take away from an ad.

When I saw the Justin Bieber/Ozzy Osbourne Super Bowl commercial, I completely forgot that it was for this Best Buy Buy Back program because I mostly just remembered it as a commercial with these two celebrities spouting off cheesy lines. This was the case until I saw this commercial last night and later searched for "best buy buy back" on YouTube. In my opinion, this is the better commercial anyway. With this one, the message is clear and it's presented in a entertaining way that transcends well with every somewhat wealthy person in America. On the other hand, I feel like the message is less clear and a little lost behind celebrity awe in the Super Bowl because it fails to emphasis the nuisance of technological products constantly being new as much. Sure, it mentions is once or twice, but it gets lost behind the unrelated humor and appeal from the celebrities. Whereas, conversely, this commercial's humor all stems from the benefit of the service.

If possible, I'd like your opinion on this.

For the most part, I hate the copy in these ads. But I do like the direction I was headed in with this first ad.  I thought it would be a really good strategy to tie the fact that we're Temple "Owls" in with our parents being empty nesters now and targeting it to them. However, I think the execution left a lot to be desired here. I don't know if it needs body copy, better headlines, or a completely different strategy altogether, but it needs something. If anyone may be reading this, give me some suggestions, please! For now, I think I'm back to the drawing board.

Way to steal the worst concept ever made.

First, let's refer back to the robbery victim. Same exact concept, right? And I don't even know if it deserves to be called a "concept." It's simply a hot celebrity modeling the shoes with zero copy or art direction to show any benefit of the product. It really just embodies the phrase, "sex sells," and I absolutely hate that. It's like creatives don't even need to be creative anymore. "Oh, yeah. Just throw up a  picture of a hot babe, a celebrity babe would be a plus, up there and add in the product and the logo somewhere, and there you go - perfect print." REALLY?! Not only is it making creatives like myself look bad, but its also making our society look like unintelligent sex fiends. Personally, I think we deserve more respect than that. But then again, there are plenty of people that buy into this. And that is what I aspire in my future endeavors in advertising.

Who said you can't find morality in advertising?

A lot of alcohol brands try to fit in their reminder to drink responsibly, but most of the time it seems really forced.  Often times brands will try to squeeze in a little tagline or an announcer voice at the end that says "drink responsibly" (like here, here, and here.). Though, Captain Morgan is one of these few brands that has tied it into their advertising so effectively that it is sometimes the basis of their ad as a whole.  Now, there are also plenty of brands that have also tried this and were ineffective in doing so because they didn't tie the message back to the product very well, and as a result posed more as a sponsored public service announcement.  Some examples of this can be found here, here, and here.  Captain Morgan, however, hit the nail on the head with their "drink responsibly" ads. This one in particular is such a perfect balance between presenting the product in an engaging way, and persuasively advising you to enjoy it responsibly.

I usually hate all car ads, so I tried to write one.

And I think I did a pretty good job of doing so.  However, I will admit, I found it to be pretty difficult.  In my opinion, I never see a real benefit for a vehicle that sets itself apart from the rest, except for practicality. Although it is not out on the market just yet, this is one of the most practical vehicles I have ever heard of. Sure, there are vehicles that get better gas mileage, what how are they in the snow and/or sand(depending on your climate)? Exactly. If I had the money to afford to buy a new car, this would be it without a doubt.  Read the body copy and you'll understand.

Delightfully horrible.

You have to admit, this song is super catchy and is also pretty well written. But with that said, I still don't think it is very good advertising. I only feel this way because it positions the brand to look so childish and cheap that I don't think I would ever trust it. When you're advertising for something like higher education, you should probably make it more about the quality and positive impact of higher education, and how it can change your life. Not, on the other hand, by making it super fun and easy because then it just sounds like you'll be getting crappy education that won't make you very much money. Sure, it might actually be a great service that offers some great opportunities, but this commercial did not make me want to look into it.

Correction: THIS was my favorite commercial of the Super Bowl.

Such a smart, innovative way to advertise during the Super Bowl. Other than that corny Darth Vader Volkswagon commercial, this got the must buzz out of any of the Super Bowl commercials. With a 30-second commercial costing about $3 million dollars during this year's Super Bowl, this was such a smart way to save money and still spread as much word of mouth and publicity for your brand as a those companies that shelled out those millions of dollars. Especially those who made terrible commercials (refer back to my Kia post to see what I'm saying). Would you believe that this 1-second spot yielded an 8.6% sales boost for Miller High Life? I know, that's pretty hard to believe, but if you need proof, click here. I think what made this so successful is that they ran the second video that I have attached to this post during the days leading up to the Super Bowl so that viewers made sure to look out for it during the big game. Just brilliant. All the other 1-second commercials that didn't make the cut are also pretty awesome. You can see them all on their website, or just by going on YouTube. I suggest you do so because some are pretty darn funny.

Just finished this 20 minutes ago.

My first day at the Temple Ad Club agency definitely went pretty well.  This is a poster that the agency and I were assigned to do at about 2 o clock this afternoon.  As you can see from the body copy, we're hosting MARC USA this upcoming Monday for an information/interview session and today, in the Ad Club agency meeting, we were asked to make up a promotional flyer to be put up around campus.  The concept of poster can be credited to my fellow group member, Kim.  I thought it was a really fun concept and when she told me I almost instantly thought of the headline to match it perfectly.  All the other copy was pretty much already written in the emails that the ad department received for the past few weeks.  Also, I can take some credit for executing the design of the ad as I worked alongside two fellow group members in doing so.  I hope you Temple students like this because you're about to see it all around campus.

One of the few Super Bowl commercials that I really liked this year.

Sure, it's a pretty old concept dating back to last year's Super Bowl with spots all throughout the year, but I really think it's a strong concept. Not to mention a hilarious one. This spot in particular was a little different, but I thought it was even more hilarious because the actors they used have been known to have the whiniest voices (with the exception of Gilbert Gottfried, of course) in all of show business. Although it kind of showed a lack of ideation by simply tweaking last year's concept of being a diva when you're hungry, I still loved it. Anytime you see Roseanne Barr get laid out out of nowhere like that, you'll probably have yourself a good laugh.
If you liked this spot too, you should check out the interactive ad Snickers has on their YouTube brand channel. Also, pretty funny.

Great way to spend $5 million, Kia.

My guess is they're headed to bankruptcy after this garbage. Wasting $5 million for ONE media buy of THIS commercial during the Super Bowl? Honestly?! And that doesn't even include the thousands of dollars that went into the production of this. C'mon, imagine reading this commercial written out and seeing it pitched to a full board room. "So.. let's have a cop drive the car, and then have what seems to be a terrorist pull it off the road with a helicopter contraption, then drop it into the ocean to which Poseidon will form from the water and grab it from the air. AND THEN, it will be abducted by a UFO, driven through some unknown land by aliens, stop at this animation that's supposed to symbolize a kind of black hole to which it gets sucks into and lands in ancient Egypt on the other side. AND THEN... best part... the screen will fade to white and say 'One epic ride.'" If I was in this board meeting where it was pitched and was even able to reach this point in the pitch, I would get up and punch the writer in the face for having wasted his breath and my time. I'm sorry if that makes me sound like a violent person, but there's nothing I hate more than awful, pointless advertisements that don't sell a single benefit that differentiates the product from another similar one (AKA any car). Especially when they spend 100 times as much money than I'll probably ever see in my entire life for it to play once during the Super Bowl.

I clearly need to make friends with a good art director.

I've never been more disappointed with how an ad of mine came out then with this. These are some of the best headlines/tagline I've ever come up with, but the art direction is horrendous. This was an assignment I did for my Copywriting Print class last year where we could completely make up product and write an ad for it.  I actually came up with the headlines before I even came up with the product and just went with it from there. My teacher actually loved this ad, but he also agreed that it needs stronger art direction. So, to you all of you artistic visionary people out there that may be reading this, get at me!

The advertising for McDonald's makes me hate McDonald's even more.

First of all, tell me one benefit they're selling here. Good customer service? HA! Have you ever been to a McDonald's in North Philly? You'll definitely not be able to pull off a stunt like that at those McDonald's. Other that Exxon Mobile, McDonald's is probably the most corrupt company worldwide. Not only do they sell the most nutritionally invaluable and disgusting food out there, but they sell to our emotions (not to mention the emotions of young children). That is exactly what the commercial is based around: selling the "I'm lovin' it" tagline as if their food makes you happy. Again, HA! It's all just inane, fabricated marketing tactics to sell something that's hardly how it is. And the worst part- people actually buy into this crap and keep them going. Damn you, McDonald's. The world would be such a better place without you.

As much as I don't like corrupting the youth, this is a great campaign.

I just learned about the sweepstakes when I looked this up on YouTube, and now I like it even more.  First of all, let's be honest here, anyone interested in this game or any other gore-riddled shooter adventure game wants gory violence all throughout.  So, they made a game that features this gory violence as the main benefit and selling point, and marketed it that way.  Second of all, the "your mom hates this" thing is so awesome. Not only does it make people laugh and gamers want to buy it, it also spreads awareness to mothers that are strict enough to restrict this game from their children and makes them keep the mature rating in check.  Sure, this may take away a faction of profit, but it is a good ethical move by the game creators/marketing team.  Lastly, to connect back to what I first said, the sweepstakes idea is brilliant. In doing this, they're basically making their fans market for them in a funny, entertaining (and free) way.  Overall, the campaign is super smart and shows how mature we all show be about a game like this.  Though, I still wouldn't let a child under 10 play this game, but they shouldn't be able to anyway.

First ads I've ever written.

These were ads from my final project from my Intro to Advertising class during my first semester of freshman year.  This class was literally my introduction to advertising.  Going into it, I hardly new anything about it and kinda just thought it would be a fun major to try because I loved funny commercials and print ads.  After this class, I was pretty confident in my decision of sticking with the major because of how much fun I had creating the creative for these ads.  Anyway, the product my team and I chose was Ben & Jerry's, and after doing some research, we found that they're a very eco-conscious brand.  So, in our project we tried to expand on that.  The top two images are a guerrilla marketing idea we came up with to be placed around the city and college campuses.  As for the print ad, first ad I've ever written.  I know, not the best, but hey, it was a start.