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GTA Coke (the drink) ad in Super Bowl
Don't be surprised when you're treated to the Grand Theft Auto inspired Coca-Cola ad today during the Super Bowl. According to CNN/Money, Coke is returning to the Super Bowl after being on break since 1998. Apparently Coca-Cola believes they found a culturally relevant way to promote to the demographic. Susan McDermott, a spokesperson for Coca-Cola North America, said, "We wanted to kick things off big in 2007. We've been a partner with 'American Idol' since the beginning so the strategy was to debut new ads on the Super Bowl and 'Idol' in order to hit the biggest entertainment and sports programming within two weeks." She also notes that this "old" GTA coke ad (found after the break) now has a chance to reach a much larger audience. And they better get some bang for their buck, the price for a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl is $2.6 million -- the commercial, in its original format, runs a full minute. [Via GamePolitics]
Pussy versus willow, the latest PSP ad
I hope you didn't get the wrong idea. Sony's latest ad continues to promote the PSP's unique capabilities in strange ways. In the same vein as the love-it-or-hate-it dustball commercials, these plants solemnly contemplate battling over PSP's wi-fi connection. Because as you know, PSP: it's like a lilypad with wi-fi.[Via IGN]
Sim City hits the road
These should be in every city -- mobile game advertisements. Especially when it's Sim City DS we're talking about here. This van is scheduled to hit five Japanese cities over the next few weeks: Fukuoka, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo and Tokyo. If you happen to be there, or know someone who is, check out the schedule and snag some pics!
Sony's Walkman monkey "Choromatsu" passes away at 29
While devices such as the GameBoy and original Atari are more like slivers of history than gadgets of days past, Sony's Walkman has also become transcendent through time, and one of the fellows who helped put it on the map has sadly passed away. Choromatsu, the "meditating monkey" who starred in a Sony spot that eventually won best commercial in the late 1980s, died this past Sunday after living for 29 years. The monkey was famous for his various performances around Japan, and happily retired in 1990 to live out the latter half of his life with his 41 year old "human partner in performances," Goro Murasaki. While Sony's recent marketing attempts have been somewhat intriguing and less subtle than the firm would've hoped, this critter could probably convince anyone that owning a Walkman is a soul-soothing experience, so if you missed his performance back in 1987/88, be sure to click on through for the ad in its entirety.[Via TokyoMango]
Europe's 'This is living' PS3 ad
The U.S. PS3 ads had a demonic baby, crows and Rubik's Cubes. The European's get a commercial about the cell processor being like a girl with amazing cup stacking abilities. Sister site PS3 fanboy posted this earlier and their thoughts are pretty much as diplomatic as one can be, "This European TV commercial is a bit less abstract than some of the earlier PS3 ads. But that doesn't mean it's any more effective." At least the European commercial showed some game footage.
MINI USA rolls out RFID-activated billboards
If there was ever a slick way to get folks to willingly carry around an RFID tag, MINI USA has it all wrapped up. Catering to every person's egotistical side, MINI has begun a pilot advertising campaign in Chicago, New York, Miami, and San Francisco, which gives select Cooper owners the chance to get an RFID keyfob in the mail, and moreover, a reason to consistently drive under MINI billboards. Users can select a custom message to be encoded on their RFID chip, and when they cruise near an overhanging MINI billboard, their particular message lights up for the world (or at least nearby motorists) to see. Of course, we're sure messages will be edited before delivery, and you still need to be down with toting a homing signal around with you each time you cruise, but let's face it, the mastermind behind this ad campaign probably got the raise we all wanted, but didn't come close to. So if you're a MINI owner in one of the four lucky cities, keep a keen eye on that inbox, and word on the street is that MINI USA is planning on hitting up more cities if (read: when) this proves to be a smash hit.[Via Slashdot]
In-game ads put devs in control
Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, IGA Europe vice president Ed Bartlett explained how in-game advertisements could benefit the interests of PC-based independent developers. Barlett pointed to Nadeo, which was able to release TrackMania Nations as freeware through the use of in-game ads, in turn boosting its player base (recording over 6 million downloads) and increasing ad revenue. This business model is unique because it eliminates the need for a publisher and means developers can retain the rights to their IPs.Ironically, it's the indie developers that have been most resistant to in-game ads; whereas triple-A title publishers, while unable to offset theirs games' costs with ads, have been much more receptive to the practice.
History of game consoles in TV ads
PC World takes a long look back on videogame consoles through their TV ads. This click-tastic, 18-page feature highlights ads from early Atari systems through today, although the author couldn't track down a handful of commercials for a handful of systems like the Magnavox Odyssey, Coleco Telstar, and Pippin.We miss the CD-i infomercial, what we consider the pinnacle of the early '90s infomercial craze. Interactive![Thanks, "Joystiq" -- whoa, did we send ourselves this tip from the future? Excellent!]
Targeted advertising coming to a commercial break near you
Although Microsoft has patented an advertising "gotcha" to insert fresh plugs into previously recorded shows, Visible World and OpenTV are taking targeted advertising to a whole new level. While the systems have been trialed for some time now, Visible World's variable ad system will hit the mainstream when Wendy's commercials on Fox Sports' NFL broadcasts feature raccoons that seemingly know what just happened on the field. The 'coons will bust out comments about how boring the scoreless match is, how crazy that touchdown pass was, or how miserable that shirtless guy in the front row must be in the below-freezing weather. Eventually, both firms hope to focus ads right down to individual households, claiming that "dog-related advertisements" would show up primarily in dog-owning households, and that Ford commercials could be specifically shown to compete with local / regional competition in a given area. Still, for those programs that we can stand to watch later, we doubt a slightly clever advertisement will keep our fingers off the FF button, but at least this stuff makes those live broadcasts a bit less painstaking.
Canadian billboard gets pedal-powered, shows off LED efficiency
Considering our everyone's infatuation with everything LED is fairly evident, we couldn't help but stop and stare at a Canadian billboard sporting no fewer than 1,500 LED lights, all brightly shining to spread some holiday cheer. But the method to the madness is what's important here, as this particular poster had no direct contact with an AC outlet, and reverted to getting its juice from some 120 pedal-pushing volunteers instead. The DDB/Vancouver project was lit for five consecutive days on behalf of BC Hydro, and was setup to display just how efficient LED lighting really is. According to BC Hydro, the same amount of wheel-turning energy would've only lit up 120 incandescent bulbs, which would've left Rudolph a bit dimmer than expected. The only thing missing, however, was a government-employed robot to crank out a few more miles once the humans went home for the holidays.[Via OhGizmo]
EA's "spyware" targeted by CA lawmaker
California Assemblywoman Lori Saldana could soon introduce a bill into state legislature that would halt companies like EA from including spyware technologies in their games. Battlefield 2142 has come under scrutiny for requiring players to install software that collects personal data from users' PCs and transfers it to foreign servers for advertising purposes. Consumers aren't warned of the adware application until opening the game box.Beth Givens of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse calls EA's methods "particularly vile," prompting Saldana to consider legislation. "A parental notice telling them private information might be at risk is important to have," Saldana told a local news station.[Via GamePolitics]
Sony's holiday marketing campaign sniffed out
Whatever flavor of eggnog Sony's marketing gurus are sipping, we'd like a few cartons sent to Engadget HQ. While the PlayStation 3 ads were, um, interesting to say the least, and though the Bravia commercials are somewhat understandable, trying to rip an Apple mainstay isn't likely to catch fire (in a good way). But beyond all that, Sony's PSP advertisements have bordered on zany and offensive for some time, with everything building up to the "all i want for xmas is a psp" campaign. While we noticed something was a tad off kilter with the childishly-worded site, all it took was a few hundred detectives to spoil the company's fun. Unfortunately for Sony, the firm was busted in an attempt to construct an undercover website urging folks to urge their parents to pick up a PSP this December. This most certainly isn't the first time this year that the firm has started a "quasi-official" weblog, but trying to fool all those eagle-eyed readers out there didn't quite work out as planned. Nevertheless, the site remains up to provide "nothing but the facts on the PSP" from here on out, but that just makes you wonder what all the other propaganda before this was.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Microsoft patents DVR application to provide targeted advertising
While Microsoft isn't exactly the first name we'd guess to be associated with a new DVR tidbit, the firm has nonetheless filed a patent for "DVR-based targeted advertising." Apparently, Microsoft's idea is to eliminate the "dilemma" that DVR users purportedly face when watching shows a week or so after its original air date. Since many commercials (like weekend sales) are time sensitive, viewing last week's ads today isn't likely to do you any favors if the information is already outdated. Microsoft is hoping to come to the rescue by establishing an "advertisement data store," from which an "advertisement manager" detects when an ad is supposed to be shown and fills that spot with a current, up-to-date spot so you witness fresh plugs during old shows. Although the concept is at least somewhat sound, the folks at Redmond presumably don't spend much time surveying actual DVR owners, as they'd probably find that a good percentage of them utilize that fast forward button as much as possible, regardless of how "fresh" the ad they're cruising through actually is.[Via PVRWire]
Impressive PS3 ad spoof promoting Wii
Taking aim at the PS3 ad promoting the motion sensitivity of the SIXAXIS controller, this very impressive spoof not only makes fun, but actually ends up being a better advertisement. It's about time we started seeing fan-made videos using two random Asian businessmen to promote the PS3 like in the Wii ads ... oh wait, Sony already tried that.[Via Digital Battle]
360 ads plastered all over PS3 website
An observant blogger recently noticed something amusing on Gamespot's PS3 page. It looks like someone over at Microsoft's marketing department has a good sense of humor, as the PS3 page is covered with 360 ads and images. Sure, it's funny, but there are 360 ads on all the other pages, right? Nope, we checked and the only page to receive the 360 treatment was the PS3 page. In fact, all the other pages have blank backgrounds, so this was definitely intentional on someone's part -- or an ironic mistake. We were curious, so we checked IGN and 1UP, but saw nothing similar. It looks like Gamespot is the only site to fall victim to Microsoft's joke ... for now anyway.[Via The Midas Touch]
Video Sandwich: November 26, 2006
Here are two of Sony's arguably biggest products hitting the PSP this year. First, you see the amazing Tales of the World commercial. It's only 15 second long, and shows mostly anime sequences. But what I see here is good.Next, you see an insanely long demonstration of Chotto Shot, the PSP camera software suite. Like Hikaru Utada, it's very Japanesey, featuring a cute Japanese couple getting all lovey dovey over the device. Who knows? Maybe with Chotto Shot, you too can score yourself a Japanese girl or boyfriend!
World of Warcraft on the tee-vee
As I am the proud owner of a TiVo, I have a tendency to fast forward through all commercial interruptions. However, this scene from the movie Office Space caught my eye -- after all, it's not a new movie by any means, so what could it be advertising? Imagine my surprise when I went back to watch it and found it to be a World of Warcraft commercial!
BDA wants you to "Experience Blu" with new ad campaign
Now that the PlayStation 3 has launched in North America several members of the Blu-ray Disc Association (Twentieth Century Fox, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Sony and Warner Bros.) are pushing the "Experience Blu" ad campaign via print, online and television. The TV ads will be in high-def and only on Discovery HD, INHD and HDNet. HD DVD has been pushing "The Look and Sound of Perfect" with a bus tour, but according to Adweek the $150 million campaign is holding off on TV ads until next year when more players and titles are on the market. The HD DVD group recently announced it has shipped more than 1.5 million discs to market, but Blu-ray hopes to take the lead in installed base this holiday season and never look back. The creative director of the Blu-ray campaign thinks right-brain / left-brain attacks will sell the format but we see it as far more simple. While a roving HD DVD mobile experience is great, more HD ads on our TV compell us to watch any and everything (since its HD) without ever leaving the couch. Take a look at the various iterations of the marketing campaign below.Read - TV advertisement (warning: sound)Read - Print adRead - Online advertisementRead - AdweekRead - Blu-ray Disc Gets in Front of Target Market with Launch of High-Definition TV Advertising
Wii's TV debut tonight, bootleg on YouTube
Nintendo's PR machine really wants you to tune into tonight's Dancing with the Stars finale: "Call your friends, cancel your plans and set your cell phone on vibrate." But why all the fuss over Emmitt Smith vs. 'Super Mario' Lopez? Well, it's also occasion for Wii's television debut, which will air during one of the show's commercial breaks.Primetime, you ask? Yep, Nintendo will spend in excess of $200 million to market Wii; a nice chunk of that sum going toward tonight's coveted ad space, along with director Stephen Gaghan (Syriana).Tonight's 30-second TV spot is part one of the four-part "Wii would like to play" series and will also appear on Nintendo.com and YouTube, where a bootleg of all four parts (shown as one video) has already surfaced.
Red Steel TV spot aired, for the kids
Ubisoft's first Wii ad, a Red Steel TV spot, has all the makings of an effective after-school commercial: Action (swords, guns, flailing arms, etc.) Humor (stereotyped Asian "master" ridicules disciple: "you suck") Reassurance (older gamer is playing; it must be cool) Are we sold? Nope -- but we're not the target. Think Ubisoft captures the kids' imaginations with this one?
