Bioshock Infinite

Bioshock Infinite begins with a first person look of a camera panning the ocean simalarly to how the first Bioshock teased us and introduced us to the world of Rapture and for a moment veterans of the first game are left wondering if we will be revisiting that world once more.  Then we are suddenly ripped out of that familiar setting a violently thrown into another, unfamiliar world that we now must survive; and we would'nt have any other way.  The creators of the critically acclaimed Bioshock know their craft very well and know what their fanbase is looking for in a sequal to their favorite game, but most importantly they know how to get people excited for it.  Their commercials always use in game graphics and settings and try to paint a picture of how the game could play out if you were this hapless soul being thrown from a window into thousands of feet of air.  The genious behind this commercial is how they tease at the features within the game.  They do not show off any game mechanics, combat or even a way to move around the environment other than falling.  They get right to what fans loved about the first game; atmosphere.  Fans loved the environment they were thrust into suddenly in Bioshock, they loved exploring and learning of the culture and how people thought within this environment and how things went wrong.  In this commercial we see only enough of the environment to get clues as to what the culture is and how the environment will behave.  Its in the sky and looks like something from the time of the revolutionary war.  There are many other things that have major questions too.  What was the hulking monstrosity that threw you through the window, why is the city floating on what appears to be blimps, and who is that woman who attempted to save you?  The only answer that can be given is these nagging questions will be answered if you buy the game when it comes out.
That is what a commercial should do ladies and gentlemen.
http://youtu.be/1WDQ4FhslSk

Old Spice: The Man Your Man Can Smell Like

It's rare for a commercial to be so popular that it causes people nation wide to quote, parody, and be known so well by so many different generations, but Old Spice struck the magical chord that resonated within so many people and really tickled their funny bones.  This is one of the funniest commercials I have ever seen and most of the comedy stems from the confidence actor Isaiah Mustafa exudes while in this commercial.  He delivers these crazy, impossible scenarios, all in the pursuit to wow and whoo every woman in America, with super confidence and good looks. 
Anyone who has seen these commercials will agree that they are funny and they most certainly promote the commercial from beginning to end.  It's very rare for a commercial to recieve such praise as this particular one did, but it is well deserved for originality and good, clean entertainment.
http://youtu.be/owGykVbfgUE

Survey Says...

I asked each participant 'What is your favorite commercial and why?'  These are thier stories.

Coke: Mean Joe Green

Coke is like the Disney of television commercials.  They know they want their customers to assosciate happiness and togetherness with a bottle of Coke and they have stayed very consistant with this model and have been extremely successful with their advertising style.  Coke is not afraid to be creative and take an artistic approach to brighten up our television screens with just good old fashioned fun commercials.  These commercials inspire a warm feeling to build in viewers hearts when they see these commercials and there are few as famous as the Mean Joe Green Coke commercial.
This is a classic commercial that most people know of and can recognize.  The classic picture of a defeated titan of the grid iron limping away after a tough game and a kid walks up to him to give him a Coke.  The kid does not want anything in return, only to make the football star feel better and what better way to lift the spirits of a previously defeated athlete than a cold, refreshing Coke. 
This commercial exemplifies Coke's feel good style by encouraging people to seek out the good in people by offering good deeds to spread the goodness.  Coke always wants their customers to assosciate their product with feel good feelings and they do a great job with this classic commercial.
http://youtu.be/xffOCZYX6F8

Budweiser 1978 Commercial

I chose this commercial because I believe it holds an important place in commercial history as one of the forrunners to commercial mascots that gives the product a reagal, noble and distinguished look.  Budweiser for most, thanks to their more modern advertising campaign, is a party beverage tied with the idea of good times with friends and the beverage of choice for any occasion (I hope some of you are paying attention to how commercials can change peoples way of thinking as I stated in my previous post).  This commercial gives the beverage more of a family idea of the drink by inviting you to take a ride on their classic carriage to deliver the boxes of drinks with the noble, beautifly clydesdale horses.  The clydesdales are very iconic and a very beautiful image that most would not identify with everyday beer without the aid of this type of commercial.  It also gives the viewer an idea that Budweiser is a family company, that even though kids will obviously not be partaking in the beverage it is still ok to have around.  It is pure and inviting for all and will not corrupt the minds of our youth with destructive ideas and behavior. 
It's a unique approach to advertising an alcholic beverage that is not seen now a days.  Most commercials featuring the popular Budweiser feature young adults having a great time at a party or guys doing insane or impossible stunts while drinking Budweiser.  The idea that was established back in the 70's that Budweiser was a family oriented company has long been diminished for a more colorful, goofy, energetic, and fun style and approach to marketing.  This is not to say that their new style of marketing is not effective it's just nice to see a calmer friendlier side to an otherwise manic entity. 
Also as a side note, the other reason why I really like this commercial is the fact that the wrought iron gates that the clydesdales walk through are the gates that my great grandfather had made.  Just a little personal history on my part for you all to enjoy.
http://youtu.be/S5pp7xsFj_w

The Backbone of a Commercial

Commercials are a means to communicate to the community what a new product is and why people just cannot live without said product.  "Cannot live without said product" is the key phrase here.  Commercials are not only trying to sell you a product, but also an idea.  Every product out on the market is an object that has the potential to change how we operate in our everyday lives.  From cars to computers to dish soap and watches and phones, these products completely change our lives and in most cases we can barely imagine a world without these products.  This is where the advertiser comes in.  Sure, once the product is on the market said object will catch the interest of the populace and practically sell itself if its worth the money, but its name has to be passed around somehow.  It is the advertisers job to get this name out there and to show people why this product is "The next big thing!" or "It will change your life!".  The way an advertiser goes about this varies from product to product and person to person.  An advertiser must be very careful about how they market an idea and to who.  It doesn't make much sense to market a jet ski to someone in New Mexico as would not be a good idea to sell a hamburger in India.  It is the task of the advertiser to do the daunting task of looking into the future to see how these products will effect the people they sell them to, what will get the people's attention, and most importantly how the people will react.  This is many times a hit and miss process, but can have such momentous payoffs.  Like an artist painting a picture the advertiser is looking to evoke specific emotions and to reach specific people in order to sell their product.  One must always keep this in mind: "Who is my customer, What do they need, Why do they need it, and How will they react to it."  Tough questions, but effective if used properly.

Much to do About Advertising

Advertising has become a sort of art form in this day in age.  Not only do you have to simply sell a product, an advertiser has a daunting task of anticipating what a person may think and how they may react to such a commercial and if the viewer will even appreciate the product or totally reject the idea.  There are many different factors that tie into how to create an advertisment and most of these factors stem from the potential customer the advertiser is trying to reach.  So, for this blog I will feature a post that involves a favorite commercial that I have seen or a truly astounding failure in advertising and report what I think was done right and what was done wrong.  For the second post, I will give my two cents on what makes a good advertisment and what rules every advertiser should abide by in order to be successful.  Now that is not to say that these rules are set in stone or even rules that you would find in a textbook, just more of my educated opinion and observation, so I encourage my readers to take these rules and see how well they can apply to the real world and if there are any suggestion please feel free to post what you will; suggestions for a commercial to review, a rule that you may have, or a comment on something I may have already looked at a addressed, please feel free.  Just my only request is to keep these comments gentlemanly sound and polite, I will not deal with trolls of any kind.  Happy hunting for new commercials and see you soon.

Sony PlayStation 3 "Michael"

The best commercial that I have seen to date is Sony's PlayStation 3 commercial "Michael".  This commercial does something that we do not see in too many commercials today.  It tells a story with an atmosphere that easily sucks the viewer in and makes the viewer a part of this world.  In this world is all of PlayStation's iconic characters all talking about this one player who made a difference in their lives.  Of course these characters are not real, but when one plays a game it is fun to pretend that what you as the player is doing within the game's universe is significant, that you are actually saving the world or helping others, etc.  This commercial really plays into this fantasy and brings up familiar feelings that players may have had while playing these games.  Tough decisions that had to be made, difficult missions that needed to be completed, times when the only person that was fit for the job was the first person who volunteered to be humanities hero.  I say all of this from personal experience and can definitely see where Sony was trying to go with this commercial and it is brilliant.  Sony's marketing team knew exactly who they wanted to advertise to and really understood the mind of a gamer, especially the mind of a gamer that has played PlayStation games. 
Now this commercial may not be for everyone.  This commercial was specifically aimed at gamers and in some ways a nod to those who already owned a PlayStation 3 so the commercial may be lost on new potential customers.  However, it can be argued that the intentions of this commercial are only to attract exhisting gamers from other consols, which it would be hard not to appreciate this commercials story telling and style no matter what side of the consol debate you reside on. 
The other problem that is present within this commercial is the commercials running time.  With a running time of over two minutes this commercial is unlikely to be shown on television except on specific channels that have video game based shows such as Spike TV or G4 TV.  This limits the population of people who would get to see this commercial thus limiting the number of people they can sway as a whole.  However, it can be argued that because of its length the commercial could have been intended to be a YouTube style commercial and go viral for people to pass around on the Internet to be enjoyed rather than caught on tv. 
Bottom line, this commercial is fantastic.  It gets to the point and sells the product from beginning to end and invites the viewer to participate in a world of a companies own creation.  Sony's marketing team saw a unique oportunity to reach new customers in a unique way that most other companies would not be able to pull off with the same success.  My hats off to them and their good work. 
But this is only my opinion.  I invite you to tell me what you think about this commercial and why its good or bad.  Have fun.
http://youtu.be/mdWkKKSckNk