Culture is pretty amazing. You can take the simplest of things and find huge variances across different cultures.
Take for instance, water. Here in the U.S. we dress our water up like crazy. There's ice to make it oh-so-cool. There's a lemon - sometimes for garnish, sometimes for a subtle citrus shock in an otherwise tasteless medium. And there's the clear glass we drink it from. Usually medium in size and wet with condensation.
But when you step outside the borders of The United States, it all changes. Hardly anyone serves water with ice. I guess it's catching on now as the entire world becomes The Wild West. Even so, you'll still have a hard time finding Americanized Water in other countries.
I went to Spain a few years ago. We stayed in the Basque parts of Northern Spain in a little town called San Sebastian. (It had some of the best steaks, chocolates, and sunsets EVER. And a Basque Party street riot to boot!)
We went to a tiny restaurant during our time there and dug into some tasty tappas. They served us water with our meal. Tasteless, iceless, lemonless water. So I asked, in the best mexi-spanish I could muster, "Can I please have some lemon for my water?" Something like "Limon para mi agua, por favor?"
And with a few swift movements, the sharp waiter returned from the depths of the kitchen with a tall glass of lemonade. Shit.
So I quickly learned the word for "slices" ("rebinadas") and from there on out asked for "rebinadas de limon." It worked. Sometimes.
The reason all this comes up is because my Boy's parents are in town from Bombay, India. They hate ice water with a passion. And our glasses? Waaaaayyyy too big. They prefer smaller, metal glasses to our clear, giant glasses. And lemons? Are you kidding me?
We just spent the last week traveling across the southern states of the US (more on that later), Indian parents in-tow, and you would not believe the difficulty of ordering plain, iceless, lemonless, warm tap water in a Cracker Barrel. Try it. And don't be surprised when you get the weird look. You're in America, after all. The most "cultureless" place on earth. But they can't take away our ice, damn it! Not without a weird look, anyway.
Can't an ad be successful just for being the cool kid in school?
Take this one for example. There's no real benefit being extolled. It's sheer humor that drives the engine of this spot.
I mean, an ad is pretty great when it can tout the benefits of the product and be entertaining. But does it always have to be that way? No, I don't think so.
Think back to your middle school days. Remember those popular kids? Did any one of them ever offer you some sort of benefit? Probably not. In most cases, they probably made you feel worse off than you actually were. Yet some how, they remained "popular", the envy of the group.
So when do you have to proclaim a benefit and when can you just play by the rules of social behavior and rise to the top through popularity? Cool kids are funny, they have parties, and sometimes they bring Terry Tate to work.
Today marks the official start of the "Random Comment Weekend."
Perhaps you've made a random comment this week at work or at play. Or perhaps someone's even sent a random comment in your direction. Or maybe, just maybe, a random comment has just now popped into your head and you're foaming at the mouth with the anticipation of sharing it.
Or not.
Whatever the case may be, post your random comment here. The Earth Thanks you. And so do I.
I usually find that "Christ, what an asshole." is a good answer for most everything. Someone else found it's also a good answer for every New Yorker's cartoon caption contest.
To which I reply, Christ, what an asshole. (Click the image to see the rest of Charles' take.)
PS - Here's the cartoon from last week. Still applies if you make asshole plural. And it's probably even more pertinent for this week's cartoon.
Well that's what David and Jean of Dallas, TX are getting. Or so it says on the giant tag under the giant ribbon. Right around the corner from my apartment is a 2.5 mile stretch of mansions and historic homes. And someone is getting one for Christmas.
It's called Swiss Avenue and it's got some of the oldest Texas money trapped up in it. This is one of the more moderate homes on the block. There are several in the $780k range. I'd imagine this one falls into that category. (The barrios around the corner can't be helping property value.)
I just thought this was a funny example of life imitating advertising. I mean, really. Who actually buys those gigantic bows and throws them on puppies, cars, and ...houses? And where do you even go to get a house-sized bow?
All I want for Christmas is an iPod Touch. No bows.
Every Monday morning, the boss-man here at the adshop conducts a Monday Morning Meeting. We tell boss-man (and everyone else in the crowd) what we've got going on in the coming week, and sometimes, a lucky someone gets to share work with the crowd that they find interesting.
Doesn't have to be recent work. In fact, it doesn't have to be advertising at all. But it usually has some sort of theme to it.
This Monday morning, we screened some of this year's best animated work. I found one spot quite interesting, and I hadn't seen it before. So, I share it with you:
So...I made reference to how these wedding dances apply to advertising. And here's how I think it works.
The first dance shown below is stunning in its own right. It's immaculately choreographed. It gets ooohs and aaaaahhs from the crowd. And at first glance, it seems to be quite original and eye-catching.
Then comes "first dance" #2. It feeds on the element of surprise. Shock-value, if you will. I find it 10x more entertaining than #1. But I also wonder if it's pushing it a little bit too far. This is a wedding, after all. Not Girls Gone Wild - Wedding Edition.
But in the end, I appreciate dance #2 more. It provides me unexpected entertainment when I'm ordinarily prepared to be bored out of my mind.
And there it is. Entertainment. To quote a blog that recently quoted a man "“People don’t read ads—they read what interests them, and sometimes it is an ad.” -Howard Gossage"
Weddings are pretty old. So is "the first dance." Unfortunately, they're typically as boring as income tax returns are to kids (or to most normal human adults.)
So in recent years, to spice things up a bit, couples have been taking dance lessons prior to the big day in order to choreograph moves to blow their onlookers away. You've probably seen one or two in your day. But an even newer trend is emerging these days. And I think both have their applications to advertising. I won't say what those are just yet. First watch them.
The first video is a fancy choreographed first dance. The second is of the new trend. You don't have to watch the whole thing, but watch them in order. It'll most probably influence the way you feel about both.
So many agencies are busy making immaculate sites for their clients, they hardly have time to make one for themselves. Here are a few who have found the time:
