And speaking of being deprived (see previous page), but not so much as we could be thanks to the wonderful people at Bondklub... here's another Rocher commercial! (this one was filmed in California!)
Mmmmmmmmmmm... How does the poor girl manages to shoot the entire "milk-chocolate-hazelnuts-and-all-other-wonderful-ingredients" tirade with a candy at her lips and PB in front of ehr eyes, boggles the mind.
On an almost unrelated note (look at the URL, though,) every time I see or hear the word "goodies" I think of Keyes saying, "Steele, where are the goodies, the goodies?" Is it just me or does anyone else do that, too?
SparklingBlue, we all depend on you for translation. Should we grovel? I got "boss," "gold," and a few more words.
Post by sparklingblue on Dec 14, 2003 16:35:47 GMT -5
Believe it or not, I saw the new spot on TV only this afternoon! LOL Let me just download and re-watch this, and when I can manage to draw my attention away from the man with the golden sweets, I'll give you a complete translation.
For millions of football fans, the Super Bowl is the most exhilarating event in television sports--a one-game, winner-take-all contest for supremacy of the National Football League.
For Madison Avenue, the game is all that and more: the premier showcase for new television advertising.
While the game has drawn strong ratings and top sponsor dollars from its start in 1967, two events played key roles in the rise of Super Bowl advertising. In 1969, Joe Namath's New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts, giving instant credibility to the American Football Conference and sending Super Bowl ad rates skyrocketing. Fifteen years later, "1984," the most acclaimed Super Bowl spot of all time, introduced the Macintosh computer, and a new standard was set for Super Bowl advertising.
Inspired by this spot's brilliance, agency creatives began competitively stretching for new heights. The press, until then uninterested in Super Bowl advertising, caught on, and in the thirteen years since, publicity for the ads has come to rival that for the game itself.
The Museum of Television & Radio's compendium screening The Super Bowl: Super Showcase for Commercials follows the rise of the championship's emergence as a showcase for new advertising. Football legend Joe Namath provides the on-screen narration for the more than fifty memorable spots from Super Sundays.
Fast Food:
In the McDonald's "Showdown" spots, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird compete for a Big Mac, while Charles Barkley is the odd man out. In Burger King's "Herb the Nerd," Herb is just odd.
Beverages:
Did any of Ray Charles's famous Diet Pepsi spots premiere on the Super Bowl? Uh-huh. And parched for Pepsi, Michael J. Fox tries to outfox a dog. For Coke, Pierce Brosnan plays a James Bond-like secret agent years before he signed as 007 in films, and Demi Moore drops in unexpectedly on a male neighbor.
Beer:
The Bud Bowl campaign, introduced in 1989, is among the Super Bowl's best known, but a year earlier Stroh's challenged Bud by spoofing Spuds McKenzie. In 1998, Bud's four spots featuring antagonistic lizards and frogs proved to be favorites with viewers, placing in USA Today's Ad Meter Top Ten.
Sneakers:
Michael Jordan swaps Bird for Bunny when he and Bugs team up to slam-dunk the bad guys in a "Hare Jordan" spot for Nike. Reebok's Shaquille O'Neal learns humility in the presence of some of basketball's most towering legends.
Controversy:
What's the most controversial spot in Super Bowl history? And why did Nissan's "Turbo Z Dreamer" spot, directed by Ridley Scott, air just once? Both of these questions are answered on the tape.*
*This tape is available for viewing at a console. Ask at the lobby Front Desk for details. (Hmmmm... I suddenly have a pressing reason to go to that museum )
Mmmmmmmmmmm... How does the poor girl manages to shoot the entire "milk-chocolate-hazelnuts-and-all-other-wonderful-ingredients" tirade with a candy at her lips and PB in front of ehr eyes, boggles the mind.
She's had alot of practice keeping that stone face and composure. I do believe that's Kristina Loken, the Terminator from Terminator 3.
Yes. And there is another one; the Train commercial - PB, chased by a few (quite a few) Ninjas, jumps on a train, runs around, and ends up at a table with a beautiful woman and a glass of Diet Coke. It was aired a couple of times during the Super Bowl and then EON threatened with a lawsuit and the commercial was pulled off the air. Ace will correct me if I got something confused but that's more or less the story. I've always wondered why this one seemed more Bondish than the Morocco one (the one on Kelly's site.) The Morocco one also reminds me of Jackie Chan's movies but who knew of Jackie Chan in the States then?
Post by sparklingblue on Dec 29, 2003 17:42:03 GMT -5
Apparently there's yet another Rocher commercial, as I have been told today. (I haven't seen it myself and am not sure whether I can trust my dad's reports about this. ) The plot is obviously that a girl has to eat as many Rocher chocolates as she can, and her prize for that is Pierce. Sounds almost too good to be true if you ask me, but we shall see whether bondklub will have it up on their site.
Last Edit: Dec 29, 2003 17:45:53 GMT -5 by sparklingblue
The plot is obviously that a girl has to eat as many Rocher chocolates as she can, and her prize for that is Pierce. Sounds almost too good to be true if you ask me, but we shall see whether bondklub will have it up on their site.
I second that! She gets Pierce and the rest of us spends their lifetimes drooling and dieting? Not fair!
Yes. And there is another one; the Train commercial - PB, chased by a few (quite a few) Ninjas, jumps on a train, runs around, and ends up at a table with a beautiful woman and a glass of Diet Coke. It was aired a couple of times during the Super Bowl and then EON threatened with a lawsuit and the commercial was pulled off the air. Ace will correct me if I got something confused but that's more or less the story. I've always wondered why this one seemed more Bondish than the Morocco one (the one on Kelly's site.) The Morocco one also reminds me of Jackie Chan's movies but who knew of Jackie Chan in the States then?
Honestly, it could be an action sequence in countless films as I recall. Maybe they riffed too close to a particular Bond film though or used a particular shot etc but none that I recall and that's either too broad or too subtle.
It's just that PB looks like James Bond and frankly since it's his face I can't see how that's a trademark or copyright infingement on Bond unless he's calling himself John Band John and asking for his coke shaken not stirred.
;D ;D ;D That must be it because only James Bond can ask for a shaken Coke and then open the can without having the Coke all over his outrageously expensive suit.
I don't recall a similar sequence in a Bond movie; the closest one is the train chase in Octopussy but I don't believe EON holds the right to train chases, either.
;D ;D ;D That must be it because only James Bond can ask for a shaken Coke and then open the can without having the Coke all over his outrageously expensive suit. .
Oh the horror, heaven forfend! ;D
I don't recall a similar sequence in a Bond movie; the closest one is the train chase in Octopussy but I don't believe EON holds the right to train chases, either.
Too true, if they did they'd be so rich they wouldn't have to make Bond films anymore (though they are anyway!)
Anyhow it was a very expensive commerical and they paid ALOT to have it air on the Superbowl. I'm surprised they pulled it just under a threat of a lawsuit. And I'm sure PB was thrilled it cut off all his potential royalties from the running of the commercial.
They're all at it - A-list celebrities flogging everything from beer to toothpaste. Why do they bother? Laura Demasi reports.
It's a case of art imitating life in Sofia Coppola's widely lauded new film Lost in Translation. The film's star, Bill Murray, plays (funnily enough) a Hollywood star stuck in Tokyo to film a TV commercial for Japanese whiskey. Over and over he reads the same lines, bored out of his mind, struggling to conceal his contempt for the over zealous director who asks him, among many other strange things, to give the camera his best "lat plack" (rat pack) glare. Clearly, he'd much rather be rehearsing the latest David Hare play or discussing character motivation with Martin Scorsese but the ad's generous $2 million pay cheque helps him endure the bizarre humiliation of it all.
It's a hilarious scene and not too far removed from reality. You see, flogging everything from instant noodles to chewing gum to $10,000 evening gowns is part of the modern A-list celebrity's job. Despite the multimillion-dollar movie and record deals and glossy Vanity Fair covers, endorsing everyday household items is not beneath the likes of A-listers such as Brad Pitt (who's flogged coffee, cars and watches), Madonna (who most recently shared her enthusiasm for sake) or Catherine Zeta Jones (who has sung the praises of Lux soap products).
At least there is a degree of plausibility with the endorsements above. Presumably, Zeta Jones uses some kind of soap, while it's not such a stretch to believe that Pitt drinks coffee and Madonna indulges in the occasional glass of sake. The makers of alcohol brand Martini, on the other hand, were less concerned with establishing a veneer of credibility when they hired self-confessed non-drinker Gwyneth Paltrow late last year to flog their drink, adding a reported $7 million to her bank account.
But don't go looking for Brad, Catherine, Gwyneth in the ad breaks of National Nine news. Like Bill Murray's character in the film, most A-listers will do ads for these types of products only in non English-speaking countries (Japan in particular, where all of the stars above have appeared in print or TV ads, except Paltrow whose Martini campaign will reportedly appear in Italy only). Why? Because they're paranoid about tarnishing their images back at home in Hollywood. In the age of staras- luxury-brand, no celebrity worth their Golden Globe nomination wants to be associated with pedestrian consumer items. Or to look like a money-grabbing sell-out.
So, if starring in a commercial for coffee could potentially hurt an A-lister's image, why then exactly, do they do it? Surely, it can't be because they need the money or exposure.
"It's about ego," believes celebrity manager and media spin-master Max Markson. "You've got to remember, most of these people came from similar backgrounds to you and I. They once had to go to work every day and work very hard to get anywhere. And now that they've made it, people offer them a couple of million for a few days' work. Of course that's going to flatter their egos. And it's extremely easy money. If no one in the US is going to see it, why would they say no?
"Even for a superstar," he continues, "earning a few million dollars here and there helps pay for things, especially when they're in between jobs. Like sports stars, doing things like commercials and endorsements is part of what they do for a living now. It's part of their income."
With our rabid appetite for anything relating to celebrity, it seems that no amount of exposure (as long as it's placed in the right market) can hurt a star. Japanese consumers in particular, it seems, respond to Hollywood stars in any context - whether it's in a film, on the cover of a magazine or selling them toothpaste on TV. As a result, Japanese companies are willing to deliver, whatever the price.
"Every second commercial on Japanese TV features an American movie star or sports star," explains Danny Searle, creative director of Clemenger BBDO, Australia's biggest advertising agency and the one behind the Visa campaign that starred Hollywood leading man Pierce Brosnan and which appeared throughout Asia. "And they pick the absolute cream, stars like Brad Pitt. Someone like him isn't going to do it for anything less than $2 or $3 million for a day's shoot."
The bigger the star, the more cachet, Searle believes. "It's all about status, which is enormously important in Asian countries. Hollywood stars are very well respected in countries like Japan so using them in an ad gives your brand and your product instant status."
Using a celebrity face in an advertisement also helps differentiate it from the rest, particularly in a media-saturated market like Japan. "The standard length of commercials in Japan is only 15 seconds, as opposed to the more typical 30 to 60 seconds allotted for commercials in most Western countries," explains Junko Fujii, spokesman for Dentsu, Japan's largest advertising agency. "The consequence of airing such short commercials is that commercial breaks tend to be cluttered so the viewer is bombarded with a huge amount of information. One way to stand out from all of the clutter is to use a super star, since they have the power to quickly catch people's attention."
Hollywood stars may prefer to stick to foreign and non-English speaking countries when flogging supermarket items, but when it comes to certain high-fashion and luxury brands, the opposite applies. If the brand is exclusive or cool enough, stars don't seem to hesitate becoming the "face" of a product or label, even when the ads are plastered all over the Western world, including the US. In recent seasons Jennifer Lopez starred in a Louis Vuitton print campaign, Madonna and Missy Elliott did the same for Gap, Christina Aguilera pouted for Versace, Cate Blanchett lent her perfect physique to Donna Karan, while Oscar winner Adrien Brody became the face of men's suit label Zegna.
Casting a famous name pretty much guarantees an advertiser exposure from the day the deal is announced. When Nicole Kidman shot a television commercial for Chanel No.5 while on her Christmas break in Sydney late last year (reportedly earning her $5 million) the media went wild. Directed by high-profile film and theatre director Baz Luhrmann (a celebrity himself) the buzz was no doubt right on target for Chanel. The commercial was already paying for itself in free publicity before Luhrmann called it a wrap. Chanel's Australian office even sent out a press release about the shoot explaining why the luxury brand cast Kidman as its star.
The same occurred when it was revealed that Aguilera was to feature in Versace's print campaign. The announcement netted both the fashion house and Aguilera a substantial amount of publicity, long before the campaign had even been shot (the ads have since been published). And for a star such as Aguilera, who has been on the receiving end of plenty of negative criticism, it was for once the right kind of publicity. "Christina has inspired me a lot in this collection," Donatella Versace cooed in a TV interview with MTV Europe. "I just saw her in the leather pants and the bustier, the sexiness, the determination and the power of the girl."
Interestingly, there was a time when such obvious commercialisation of a star's image was considered low rent. But since a new generation of Hollywood stars have become fashion icons and the red carpet has overtaken the catwalk as the premier showcase of the hottest new looks, it seems only natural that stars and designers would work together on a more official level. Even Blanchett, known for her reluctance to play the celebrity game has warmed to the idea of cashing in on her fame. "I'd always dreaded that kind of stuff," she says in the February issue of British Vogue. "But we just did the second lot of photos (for the Donna Karan campaign) in Rome and I enjoyed them incredibly. I'd just come off The Missing and I thought, ‘You know what? I think I'm ready to get my hair done and put a bit of lippy on.'"
In the case of high-fashion brands the stars benefit just as much as the designers. "It's good for their image to be associated with a luxury brand," comments Sophie Cranston, fashion editor at InStyle magazine. "There's no higher stamp of quality or prestige than a label like Gucci, Louis Vuitton or Chanel. Aligning themselves with those types of labels gives A-list stars even more credibility. It's as much a branding exercise for the star as it is for the designer."
Indeed, Aguilera has enjoyed a bit of re-branding via her association with Versace. By stripping away her signature drag-queen make-up and asking her to leave the leather Gstrings at home, the campaign revealed a totally different Aguilera; soft, innocent and chaste looking.
Lopez, too has benefited from her association with uber prestigious luxury brand Louis Vuitton. Thanks to her starring role in its new advertising campaign, her image is a little less Jenny-from-the-block and a little more uptown Grace Kelly. Which is just perfect for the status-obsessed world of Japanese advertising. The multimillion- dollar offers to endorse dental floss and cat food must surely be coming in thick and fast now. =======================================
Hmmmm, a few million dollars for a few days work... honestly unless you're a billionaire who would turn it down?
Changing technology and viewing habits are replacing the old TV spot with longer (and shorter) ad forms
By Sarah Sennott Newsweek International
Feb. 23 issue - Once the most powerful tool for marketers, the 30-second TV commercial is under siege. In the heart of TV land, the United States, prime-time ratings are down and viewers are increasingly inattentive when they do watch. More than a third of TV viewers regularly use a PC while watching the tube, and Forrester Research estimates that by 2007, personal video recorders (PVRs) and video-on-demand (VOD) technology—which allow you to record or choose the programs you watch and skip through ads—will reach half of American households.
Similar trends are taking hold worldwide. To combat shrinking viewership, marketers are funneling growing amounts of money into nontraditional advertising, like "advertainments" and product placement. Simon Sherwood, chief operating executive for media agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) in London, says 5 percent of the firm's $900 million in global billings now comes from nontraditional ads, and predicts that share will rise to 20 percent in the next few years. Others think the shift may come even faster. Says Maurice Levy, CEO and chairman of the Paris-based media giant Publicis Groupe, "We will see a sea change in how we distribute media investment in the next five years."
One alternative to the 30-second spot is to blindside consumers with more quick-hit advertising. On average, a Westerner now gets more than 3,000 marketing messages each day, up from 100 messages a day in 1984. E-mail spam, text messages, Internet pop-up ads—even the dollar bill has become an advertisement: one U.S. marketer recently circulated 50,000 real $1 bills in New York and Los Angeles with stickers advertising a network mini-series. Product placement—like putting Coca-Cola cups in the hands of "American Idol" judges—has jumped in popularity. Product-placement agencies now number more than 500 in the United States, up from only a handful 20 years ago.
Advertisers are also going in the opposite direction, competing with the entertainment industry to hold consumers' attention for 30 to 60 minutes at a time. Major holding companies are increasingly adding entertainment consultants and PR powerhouses to their portfolios: Omnicom Group has purchased entertainment consultancy Davie Brown, and Publicis recently said it is exploring the Hollywood entertainment-marketing sphere. "Branded entertainment" is the new buzzword for sponsored programs. BMW set the new industry standard in its film shorts, with stars like Madonna and Pierce Brosnan behind the wheel and director Ang Lee behind the camera. The ads drew more than 13 million consumers to BMW's Web site in 2002.
Others are following. This season in the United States, Southwest Airlines launched a new reality-TV show, ''Airline," which follows the low-cost carrier's staff. Last year the French water company Evian produced a platinum CD single and an award-winning music video of a song in its popular commercial, in which adults with children's voices sang Queen's ''We Will Rock You." The Evian logo was nowhere to be seen. Instead a small cartoon figure called Water Boy bounced around the video (aired on MTV Europe and MTV Asia) to the music from Evian's commercial. Consumers got the message: Evian sales jumped 12 percent in Belgium and 4 percent in France. Analysts say this kind of subtle brand association appeals to the modern, skeptical consumer. "We have had to reinvent ways of communicating with people," says Remi Babinet, the creative director at Euro RSCG Worldwide, who created Water Boy. "Advertising has become so complicated. We realized we need to give a gift to the people."
Advertisers are also starting to tap the technology that most threatens the 30-second spot. Forrester Research estimates that in coming years $7 billion will be lost in total TV ad revenues because of PVRs and VOD, replaced by $4.6 billion in VOD advertising by 2007. Sponsored features like behind-the-scenes interviews with the stars will be included with the movies and other programs available on demand. The idea is to engage the consumer more fully in a less obviously commercial advertainment: for example, an ad from the British homeless charity Depaul Trust, which aired on VOD during a British drama, allows the viewer to direct the story line of the ad to one of four endings.
These new ad forms are experiments for most advertisers, and many say the 30-second spot is evolving, not dying. But there is no doubt they are the future. Alec Gerster, CEO of Initiative Media Worldwide, estimates that while nontraditional ads account for 5 to 10 percent of the industry business, they are "getting 80 to 90 percent of the focus." And in the ad business, buzz is destiny.
"Branded entertainment" is the new buzzword for sponsored programs. BMW set the new industry standard in its film shorts, with stars like Madonna and Pierce Brosnan behind the wheel and director Ang Lee behind the camera. The ads drew more than 13 million consumers to BMW's Web site in 2002.
That was Clive Owen (yet another talked up wannabe to the Bond throne) in those BMW internet shorts.