Remaking a classic

November 29, 2006

There’s a fine line between creativity and blasphemy. I’ve especially found this to be the case when using classic and commonly revered pop-culture icons in the field of advertising. And over the past week, I’ve discovered two examples that prove the existence of this fine line.

First, we have the Office Space/World of Warcraft mash-up. I like this one.

Then, we have the A Christmas Story/Cingular spoof. I hate this one.

What’s the difference? How can I be so fickle, throwing one spot to the wolves while praising another for it’s clever application?

To me, both of these films are classics. One is a spot on account of cubicle life, complete with stapler wars and TGIFridays. The other is a cult Christmas institution of epic proportions, a movie that has transcended all other Christmas movies to take the place of “The Best Holiday Movie Ever Created.”

When you mess with a classic, it needs to be done carefully, with an importance placed on preservation of the overall idea. If you subtly drop a product in, and it makes perfect sense to connect the two ideas, then you have a success. If you try to cram a product in, regardless of the connection, you end up with a disjointed and nearly insulting effort.

Office Space is about office culture. It’s about wasting time while you’re supposed to be working. It’s about fiddling on computers. And it connects with people who enjoy subtle and smart humor. It matches the World of Warcraft crowd perfectly. It seems logical.

On the other hand, A Christmas Story is a movie about quirky families, character-driven relationships, and the art of getting what you want for Christmas. It is often held up as an example of holiday values – of family and caring and the old-time sensibility that Christmas can, at times, still conjure.

It has nothing to do with cell phones. You could sell bb guns, promote a kinder, gentler Santa at your department store, or develop an “Eat more Turkey” campaign around it. But not cell phones. It just doesn’t work. It’s insulting. It’s like using It’s A Wonderful Life to sell credit cards or other greedy vices.

Using a classic movie, even if it’s done well – shot for shot, word for word – needs to be done to accentuate the product, not just because it seemed like a good idea in a creative meeting, and not simply because it matches the season.

The World of Warcraft spot helps promote the product by creating a logical connection between computer games and cubicle workers. The Cingular spot misses this target, and instead instills a feeling of betrayal, as if someone took your favorite book and changed all of the characters.

Is nothing sacred?

By Corey

Filed Under Advertising, Criticism

Sioux Falls Chamber Annual Meeting Set-up

November 14, 2006

Finally, the event you’ve all been waiting for. Click here to see the 12 hour initial setup at the Convention Center on Monday October 16th, 2006! The 12 hour time span is condensed to 1 minute, 38 seconds.

Enjoy!

By Don

Filed Under Off Topic

Post-Election Recovery

November 9, 2006

Driving to work this morning, I saw a man standing at a busy street corner.

Instinctively I looked away, assuming he would be holding a sign telling me how to vote. A split second later, remembering through my morning fog that the election was over, I looked again. He was just waiting for the light to change.

What a relief it is to have the yard signs removed! As a writer, I tend to skim everything I see, looking for words. The last few months have been excruciating.

But now I’m considering selling media space in my front yard.

Why not? If I can put a sign in my yard for a candidate – or a sign bearing a realtor’s name – can I put up a yard sign advertising Diet Coke?

I imagine there’s some sort of ordinance preventing this, but it does make sense.

In the last days before the election I saw a yard sign in my neighborhood that simply read “Jesus.”

In context (near yards with as many as 10 different signs, expressing opinions on every candidate and ballot issue), this was very refreshing. A single word in black type on a white background. It actually made me wonder why no candidate had tried that.

Then I wondered what would happen if someone put up a sign that read “Mohammad.”

In this community, that wouldn’t go over so well. In fact, many people were afraid to put up signs declaring their views in this last election. Even though some of them were quite passionate about the issue in question. This fascinates me – not that people care what other people think – but that one position was somehow socially unacceptable, even though it was the majority opinion.

But, back to my plan. When we put up a sign that reads “Jesus” or “Candidate Name,” we’re not being paid – we’re expressing a point of view.

However, when we solicited estimates to have our house painted, one of the contenders said he’d knock 50 dollars off the price if we put a sign advertising his company in our front yard.

If I can accept payment (essentially) in return for putting a painting company’s sign in my yard, I should be able to put up that Diet Coke sign. In return for, say, $300 a month.

What do you say, Atlanta?

By Clara

Filed Under Advertising, Criticism

Make it good, sir. Make it good.

November 8, 2006

Makegood: The rescheduling of an ad or commercial by an advertising media operator when it has been incorrectly printed, broadcast, or distributed or when unavoidably canceled or preempted.

At HenkinSchultz, we deal with a wide range of media sellers. These sellers do what they can to help us out, but there are times – especially during the election season – that our clients’ spots need to be moved, either because they were outbid or because of a programming mistake. This is called a makegood.

Now, because of their hard work and dedication, we’re giving them a little makegood of our own – a Media Makegood party, just to let the sellers know that we feel their pain. The election season is over now. Advertisements can begin to flow smoothly again.

These are our invitations – an election campaign sign urging media sellers to vote YES for their Media Makegood Party.

Media Makegood

The invite.

Media Makegood Closeup

And a closeup.

This goes out to all of the media sellers in the world – thanks! Without you, we’d have nowhere to peddle our wares.

By Corey

Filed Under Advertising, HenkinSchultz

Political ads: Goodbye

November 7, 2006

After today, we’re free.

Free from long lines of lawn signs. Free from a paper so full of political advertisements it gave the illusion of a seven-day-a-week voters guide. Free from horribly designed and produced commercials, complete with fake smiles and exaggerated promises.

The races in South Dakota have spent millions if dollars on political advertising. But how much of it do you remember?

The problem with political advertising is that no one tries to break through the clutter. Very few signs make any sort of impact. There are very few newspaper ads or commercials that have been noticeable. Personally, I wasn’t knowingly influenced in any positive way by any political ad. I was, however, negatively influenced by a few – ads with such poor quality that the candidate’s platform and beliefs couldn’t be taken seriously.

Candidates have admitted that their political advertising doesn’t work that well. They why do they do it?

Special interest groups expect their donation money to be used. If a candidate isn’t advertising, it looks as though they’re not helping the cause. So if you’re running for office, it seems to make sense to advertise Just Because.

Also, there are so many names being bounced around – in every race – that a candidate sinks their campaign if they don’t have their name out there. During September and October, the only thing you can do is pay huge amounts of money in order to simply keep your name out in the open.

In that case, maybe the advertising works.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing spectacular. You’d think that with all of the candidates, and all of the money being given for promotion, and all of the great minds we are supposed to have in political public relations, we’d see a few “outside-the-box” marketing methods.

Running for Public Utilities Commissioner? Send your advertisements on a piece of plumbing. Or on a light bulb. Running for Governor and promising better education? Send some direct mail pieces that mimic a teacher’s lesson plan. It isn’t hard. It just has to be different.

Listen, if I can listen to the radio and remember the name and location of a local auto parts store but can’t manage to figure out what you’re running for, or why I should care – you’re doing something wrong. Next time around, think a little differently. You’ll be surprised what it might do for your campaign.

In the meantime, please come take these lawn signs away.

By Corey

Filed Under Advertising, Criticism