Commercials I Love This Christmas
Well, we survived Black Friday 2014 and its encroachment on Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday is a thing of the past. And Christmas is right around the corner.
Advertisers are pulling out the stops with new commercials hoping to divide consumers from their hard-earned dollar. As a designer I pay attention to advertisements and commercials for the new hot toy or gadget. Most people I know fast forward past commercials on their DVRs, but I actually enjoy watching them. Here are three of my favorites this season.
My Winners
Surface Pro 3 – Winter Wonderland
I’ve been a Mac guy since my freshman year of college in 1989. Macs were the undisputed underdog in the world of PCs. But over the past two decades Mac has shed its underdog, capitalizing on ease of use of their operating system and the brand strength of the iPod and iPhone. No longer do Mac ads depend on comparing their products to market leading Windows based machines. Remember those ads with John Hodgman’s nerdy, dimwitted PC versus Justin Long’s young, hip Mac? Now it’s Windows’ turn. Check out one of their new Surface Pro ads challenging a MacBook Air on its lack of versatility. It makes even this near-lifelong Mac lover chuckle.
GEICO — Push It: It’s What You Do
GEICO commercials are almost always laugh-out-loud funny. And they’ve done it again by dusting off Salt-N-Pepa’s hit song “Push It.” I was really glad to see all three ladies together performing a favorite song of my generation. Plus the commercial just makes me laugh as I watch them sing “Oooh, baby, baby” to a Lamaze class and chase down a weary man mowing his lawn urging him to “push it real good.” Oh the commercial’s point is to get you to push the button on GEICO’s website and learn more about their insurance, but it’s fun just to watch and get a good laugh.
Beats Audio — Solo Selfie
What do you get when you combine our cultural obsession with selfies, a few celebrities, and a catchy song? The new Beats 2 commercial. I’m not a fan of the large headphones the kids wear nowadays, but this commercial almost makes me want to throw a pair on my head. Plus, seeing one of my favorite actors, Norman Reedus, in this commercial was pretty cool, too. #walkingdead
My Loser
Of course I don’t love all commercials. The once-hilarious Old Spice “I’m on a horse” guy has been replaced with a new, rather creepy ad featuring singing moms lamenting the fact that Old Spice turns their sweet sons into sexy chick magnets. Yeah, creepy.
Old Spice slightly redeemed itself when the more reasonable fathers join in to sing on the latest iteration:
What commercials caught your eye this holiday season, made you laugh, or caused you to rush out and spend all the money?