Thanksgiving

So with the Thanksgiving weekend closed, for us in Canada, I thought about what I am thankful for. Family, friends, and home. It has many meaning to many people. Home is where you come from for most. Some think of it as where your rump rests. Many others think of it as a place where you established yourself and your current identity, maybe where you spent the most of your time so far in your life, or maybe where you went to university or college. I think of home as somewhere safe and inviting, somewhere where i can close my eyes and be relaxed. Somewhere where everyone knows your name, and there are always glad you came.

A little part of me will always think of home as the place I am from, and while I no longer live there i often think of the Rock. Something you never get to experience while at home are tourist commercials about the place you are. So living away from the rock I have got to see many of these, and they are well done.

This is a great video, not just because I am a newfie, but because it make you feel like you would be relaxed and comfortable there, it has a homey quality to it. Places are named after people and events, but with names like Heart’s Content and Paradise why would you be anywhere else?

What do you call home, and what memories keep it safe in the vastness of your mind?

Sony, Words for Thought

Speaking of how awesome the world is, images are one thing, but sometimes facts are another.

Did you know was a commercial of sorts made for Sony to present at their annual corporate meeting? While this was not technically a commercial it was an ad for Sony and thus have included it in this blog. Apart from it just being cool. The music is from Fatboy Slim, Right Here Right Now, which in itself has a great video. The video made sometime around 2009 may be in need of some updating, but it does show some interesting and sometimes scary facts when you really think about it.

So what does it all mean? Well nothing really. It means that things change, as has always been a constant on this earth. Nature has a way of breaking that which does not bend. It does show an interesting shift, I can remember a time B.G. before google and in fact before the internet. Back when things were written in books and

So are you flexible, are you this flexible? Watching this also makes me think about which statics I myself have contributed to. To quote an ancient proverb we do live in interesting times, and hopefully we will continue to live in interesting times. Where would we be if the world was boring? Where would you be?

The World is Just ... Awesome

The World is Just ... Awesome.

The world is awesome and very rarely does a commercial come along that while branding something makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. While this one might not make you feel fuzzy inside, you cannot help but be uplifted by its imagery and positive feel to it.

This was first used for the discovery channel in 2008 after a change to it program line-up and target base. Taking on more than just educational programs and starting to introduce more reality programs the new direction has been a success. The music used here is from Morcheeba, a British band form in 1996, from their album The Antidote, entitled Wonders Never Cease. Making this a good mix of music and imagery to create a unique commercial, and one that I enjoy.

The ad show cases the various programs on the Discovery Channel and shows you just how awesome the world is, while we look to space and the final frontier, there are still so many things on this tiny blue marble that we have yet to explore. So get out there and discover your world, because you never know what awesome things will be waiting for you.

Dos Equis

Well it is now the long weekend, and what are you going to do? Well drink of course, and what o drink, well if Heineken did not do it for you, then may i introduce you to Dos Equis. These commercials are by now famous, who has not heard of the most interesting man in the world? You, you say well enjoy.

Apart from getting different images in your head, as in who is your most interesting man, Bond, Dr. Evil, or Bob Marley. The things and metaphors that are used are outrageous, his personality is so magnetic he is unable to carry credit cards is one great example.

The beer itself is Mexican, first brewed in 1897 by a German born Mexican, Wilhelm Hasse. It was originally called Siglo XX or 20^th Century. The label had two giant X’s on it to mark it, hence the name now of Dos Equis, or Two X’s. Dos Equis features actor Jonathan Goldsmith as the the most interesting man in the world, with Frontline (the public affairs T.V. program) narrator Will Lyman doing voiceovers.

On in interesting side note Dos Equis is brewed Cervecería Cuauhtémoc-Moctezuma, which is a major brewery based in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. It is currently a subsidiary of Heineken International, which explains the similar feel for both commercials for Heineken and Dos Equis.

Heineken - The Asteroids Galaxy Tour

So, now you have a wife and kids, where to?

Well to the bar of course, But what to drink? There are lots of choices out there and how are you going to make such a difficult choice. Well with great advertisement. Heineken is a good choice

This commercial makes it seem like you too can be the life of a party. If you drink our beer, look what can happen. Great music, good friends, and most importantly, a good story. This is not your typical beer commercial with boobs and beers and sand. No this is much better. It shows a glimpse into a life that everyone can relate to in some way. Not because you lived it, though some of us have. No rather it brings you back to those innocent times when perhaps you saw your first bond film, or your first music concert. Or perhaps your college years where everyone knew you and you knew everyone, there was no party off limits and you where cool. Don’t you want to recapture that, just drink our beer.

The music is good, a Danish band called The Asteroids Galaxy Tour. This has been a major push for Heineken, and great publicity for the band, which has been collaborating together since March 2011. This commercial has been a great success, with over 4 million views on YouTube and countless more on the old fashion Television.

What is your favourite beer?

VW - Rabbit

Now for the next stage in life, after you run off with the hot girl in the bitching car, you inevitable have to deal with kids.

This commercial came on the scene as the VW Rabbit was released. (Duh) The great thing about this commercial is that nowhere, and I mean nowhere in this commercial do you find out about the size of the engine, or the speed of the car. No there is no info on the car except that its called a rabbit and it has been re-introduced. Yet after watching it you cannot help but want to go out and buy one, marketing at it best.

One more fact about the VW, their name is Volkswagen, German for the people’s car. It was founded in 1937 by the Nazi trade union the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront). One thing about the car is that in the 30’s cars were still a luxury and not everyone could get one. Hitler decided this was no good, and as part of his economic recovery plan for Germany sought a car that the people could afford, hence the name. So on 22 June 1934, Dr. Ferdinand Porsche agreed to create the People's Car for Hitler. The only change Hitler really wanted to make with the new design? Well he wanted it to be a happy car so designed the front of the now famous VW Beetle to look like a smiley face.

So the next time you see a beetle and its smile puts one on your face, don’t forget to thank Hitler.

Nissan 300zx - 1990s

Commercialization

Being a child of the eighties and nineties one thing stands out to me that this new digital generation, with their TiVo’s and downloads may be missing.

Commercials.

So these things came about because everyone was sick of watching them, but that has more to do with the fact that programs have allows more time for them and now product placement is on the rise. But there was a time when there where commercials, most of them terrible, but some a golden few were memorable, even magical. They were sometime funny, sometimes just catchy, but always you remember them.

So I start this new segment with a commercial that has stuck with me throughout the years.

Nissans 300zx commercial from the early nineties.

It was made before CGI was big. This means time and effort went into the making with models and stop motion. Something that sadly has gone the way of the dodo, but it was an art, a time consuming often painful art.

This was a good commercial because it made you stop and think why was Barbie with Ken, when GI Joe was in the next room? Maybe she liked that sort of thing, but were all the Barbie’s the same? Surely not. Also this was released about the same time as the first Toy Story, and while that movie has entered the movie lexicon, and personified toys are almost main streamed, at the time it was not. It also makes you ask would you rather have a hot place and a bitching wife, or a hot wife and a bitching car.

I have the latter, how is your life arranged?

On closer inspection you may also notice that despite the persistence on the name of Barbie and GI Joe, both are close but not actually the toys, she looks more like Barbie dark haired vixen and he looks more like the Army Man from the discount store, you know GI George.

Not that either matters, the commercial was good and it stuck with me, and at the end of the day all that matters: Did you remember it?