Sleepless in Midland

Groundhog Day Super Bowl ad with Stephen Tobolowsky

My favorite character actor is Stephen Tobolowsky. His most famous character was Ned Ryerson in "Groundhog Day" which got a revival in a commercial that aired during the Super Bowl the other day.

The commercial was very entertaining -- a Super Bowl commercial really has to be good since so much talent and money is put into them. However, with this one I had to use a search engine to remember what product they were actually trying to sell. So while a prize winning commercial might get the eyeballs, it might not sell the widgets.

"Groundhog Day" and/or Tobolowsky fans might enjoy the podcast featuring Tobolowsky's commentary to the movie.

Stephen Tobolowsky is a great story teller. And his podcast series ended way too soon.

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2:16 PM 2/16/2020

99 bottles of beer on the wall, make that cans, please

For a heavy beer drinker 99 bottles is probably a good start. But for the rest of us it's a bit much.

But by golly, Pabst has come out with a 99 can pack. Although the cans don't quite hit the right note for the song, it's a good gimmick, nonetheless.

Pabst Blue Ribbon Is Selling a Limited-Edition 99-Pack of Beer for the Party That Never Ends. Quote:

Ever wonder what 99 cans of beer looks like? Probably not, but now you have the answer — because Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) has a pack filled with that many cans of beer.

The limited-edition pack first hit Quebec just in time for Christmas in 2017, but it looks like it has hit the United States for the 2019 holiday season. However, it appears that it’s a pretty exclusive item, so you might have to search a bit. We’ll keep you updated when you get confirmation on distribution.

A drinking buddy in college days used to recite the message he said was on the label, "Pabst Blue Ribbon, selected as America's Best in 1893." Well, OK then.

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3:08 PM 11/23/2019

Tom Selleck selling mortgages says not his 1st rodeo

There's a commercial airing regularly featuring Tom Selleck peddling reverse mortgages. It's too soon to call this a good ad or a bad ad -- the test is how many widgets a commercial sells.

But one notable feature of a version of that ad has Tom Selleck beginning his spiel by telling the camera lens this isn't his first rodeo. What exactly does that mean in this context? This is not his first commercial? Buying a reverse mortgage is like mounting a bucking bronc, and he's done it before?

Grammarist.com defines it this way:

This ain’t my first rodeo means I am not a novice to this situation, I have experience in this area and I am competent. The idiom this ain’t my first rodeo is mostly used in instances where a less experienced person is trying to give advice to a more experienced person, and is meant to establish superiority.

It doesn't quite fit. The TV viewer is not trying to give Tom Selleck advice, it's the other way around.

In any event, an IMDB search dug up a made-for-tv movie in which he played a rodeo rider. The movie is Ruby Jean and Joe summarized thusly:

The elderly and fading rodeo-rider Joe Wade (Tom Selleck) picks up the young female hitchhiker Ruby Jean (Rebekah Johnson). Even though that Joe is constantly being corrected by Ruby Jean their beginning friendship is growing. Their conversations on the road puts both of them in a position to deal with their lives.

Ah ha. It's getting clearer now. Selleck is getting old and has to deal with new things as he ages. He assumes his audience is too. It's starting to make sense now. But sorry, Tom. I'm not in the market for a mortgage, reverse or obverse.

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1:43 PM 10/27/2019

A rocket named Viagra? NASA looking at selling naming rights

Here's Christian Davenport in WaPo Why NASA’s next rockets might say Budweiser on the side - The Washington Post:

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has directed the space agency to look at boosting its brand by selling naming rights to rockets and spacecraft and allowing its astronauts to appear in commercials and on cereal boxes, as if they were celebrity athletes.

Can anyone play this game?

Soft lunar lander with My Pillow.
Go Greyhound, and leave the Driving to Us.
FedEx -- When it absolutely has to get there overnight.
Blue Emu -- Works fast and you won't stink.
Or picture a logo of the Geico lizard hanging onto a rocket for dear life.

The possibilities are unlimited.

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2:59 PM 9/12/2018

Presidential sheets -- radio ad makes the claim

There's a radio commercial for Boll and Branch in which the announcer says the company's sheets are used by three presidents. Whether that's a reason to buy is debatable since the sheets are quite expensive, and those former presidents probably got them free.

I can imagine what the fine print in the sales contract must have said: "Seller retains the right to use buyer's former profession for advertising purposes without disclosing the buyer's name."

It's not too hard to find out who those presidents are. It's the two Bushes and Bill Clinton. Here's where that info came from: These are the sheets 3 living US Presidents sleep on — here’s why you’ll want to sleep on them too.

We are left to wonder whether Hillary Clinton slept on them.  If so, maybe they could say "three presidents and a wanna-be."

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12:17 PM 2/25/2018

Advertisers walk a tight rope to avoid breaking Olympic rules

This is probably helpful info for advertisers. Found at Adweek.com: A One-Stop Guide to the Perplexing World of Olympics Marketing. There are specific rules applying to athletes, official sponsor brands, and brands that are not official Olympic sponsors but still have standing relationships with athletes participating in the games (“non-official sponsors”).

They all have to be careful what they say, for example, that last category -- non-official sponsors -- cannot "use terms that even suggest the Olympics, depending on context, including:"

Victory
Games
Medal
Bronze
Silver
Gold
Pyeongchang.

Dang. That seems restrictive. But advertisers are probably pretty adept at walking the tight rope to grab the gold, er uh, brass ring.

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1:56 PM 2/13/2018

Sweet Caroline -- sweet ad for Hyundai

I love that commercial. A dude driving a Hyundai in stop-and-go traffic is singing along with the song "Sweet Caroline," apparently coming from his radio. Then lo and behold, an attractive young woman in the car next to him looks at him then starts singing the chorus along with him. What a cute meetup. Yeah, it's totally unrealistic, but maybe that's the appeal -- an attractive woman singing along with an anonymous stranger.

As the famous ad man David Ogilvy once advised people in the business, their job was to sell the product, not to win awards. I don't know whether the commercial generated any showroom visits, but it was fun to watch.

Anyway, you can watch the ad and judge for yourself at this Youtube video.

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2:23 PM 9/22/2017

Good ad featuring nice ball handling by Stephen Curry

We have a good time on these pages poking fun at bad ads. So in fairness, the good ones deserve some recognition, too.

There's a good one airing these days for Infinity, the car. The ad features some fine basketball handling by Stephen Curry. He dribbles two balls in synchronization. It's very impressive. Watch it at this Youtube video if you haven't seen it already.

BTW, Mr. Curry made a smart move by doing this. His name appears on a screen during the ad, and it was a good thing. You probably know who he is, but I didn't know before looking him up on Duckduckgo. Now I know, too, and he's got a new fan.