Of course! Just after I get done taking a small pot shot at Budweiser for having ads that are funny just for funny’s sake, they go out and create a beautiful piece of work like Swear Jar (from their Bud.TV site) .

Maybe it’s just me, but I really think you have to steer a commercial towards your product.  Just the other day while helping my Dad on his new house, he did something dumb that almost sent him tumbling off a 20 foot drop-off (Dad almost kills himself or a member of the family pretty much every weekend we’re out there.. this blog may be short-lived).  Anyway, I start singing that “Woo-hoo!  Woo-hoo-hoo!” like from the Vonage ads where people are doing stupid shit.  His reply: “Oh yeah, I love those commercials.  What are those for?”

If people don’t remember your commercial and link it with what you’re selling, what’s the point?  Bud has been guilty of this in the past, but Swear Jar is on the money.  Very funny, and everyone in the ad is working toward the common goal of enjoying a Bud Light.  The ad is almost compelling enough to make me forget that Bud Light tastes like piss.

Thanks to Inna A. for the link!

Sorry for the short hiatus, all.  Weekends are generally my time to catch up on posting, and my parents are now laying claim to them for free labor as they build their new house.  When your mother pulls the “I was in labor for {fill-in-the-blank} hours delivering you, not to mention subsequent back surgeries due to the pregnancy!” card, what can one possibly rebut with, honestly?  Absolutely nothing - you man up and grab a pneumatic nailer… and then shoot it at your little brother. :)

I was sent this ad quite awhile ago, but I have to post it anyway.  It’s just so well done, and I have yet to see it on TV so maybe it’ll be new to you.  Here’s Tiger Beer’s ‘Tasted it in this life’ spot.

This spot is great on a few counts.  First, there are no words - you can play this spot in any country without a reshoot.  Second, it’s culturally clever, playing into the Buddhist reincarnation belief.  This spot was made by a New Zealand ad agency, but I could see this really being a popular throughout Asia.  Show Jesus coming back to Earth for a Tiger Beer and US consumers would go apeshit, but Buddhists generally have a better sense of humor about things!  And lastly, this spot is humor that reinforces the product.  I love those Budweiser “Real Men of Genius” ads, but they have nothing to do with the product.  Showing a cat willing to stick his paw in a light socket to get some Tiger Beer, now that’s effective.

So, Buddha blessings to Saatchi & Saatchi’s New Zealand office for an ad well done.

Did I get your attention?  I would assume at least somewhat if you’re reading this.  Now, do you actually think cocaine is currently being stocked on retail store shelves?  I would guess that answer as “no”.  After all, you’re probably not a dumbshit - after all, you have impeccable tastes in blogs ;) .

Unfortunately, the Guardians of our Republic do think we’re dumbshits.  They have forced the makers of Cocaine energy drink to pull their product from the shelves.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not a big fan of the name.  I think it’s kind of weak to tie your product to something illicit just for cheap shock value.  But did it merit being “warned” by the FDA?  Threats of legal action by Attorneys General?  Said Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal, “Our goal is to literally flush Cocaine down the drain across the nation”, proving that one does not need to know the meaning of “literally” to pass the Bar exam in Connecticut. (btw, Blumenthal seems to have a nasty habit of skirting the law)

Yours and my tax dollars have funded the time and efforts of a bunch of govt assholes to basically bully a marketing campaign into pulling their product, despite the fact they couldn’t find one law that had been broken!  The best they could come up with is that it “glamourizes cocaine usage”.  Really.  I know young adults are, by definition, stupid, but I find it hard to believe that an energy drink - no matter the name - is going to be a “gateway” to anything more than a couple cavities.  Grand Theft Auto “glamourizes” stealing cars and beating up hookers; yet I haven’t seen an increase in auto theft, and my call girl still looks great!  (Kidding, Mom)

Left alone, Cocaine energy drink sales would have probably emulated its namesake - enjoying a quick high from the marketing buzz, then a nasty come-down once the fad-appeal wore off.  I doubt it would have lasted 3 years.  Now that they’ve changed their name to “Censored” and gained a rebel image, they could do quite well.

I guess to those of you marketing folks out there, watch your ass.  Our country has douchebags in high places… literally.

As we’ve already covered, ad execs are now reaching into the early 80s for music to put to their commercials.  Here’s yet another one - Wendy’s use of the Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun”

Life imitates marketing. A man on Death Row in Tennessee ordered for his last meal that free vegetarian pizza be delivered to all the local homeless. Why vegetarian, you ask. Said convict Workman, “Cuz I’m the only grilled meat on the menu tonight, bitches!” (Actually, I made that up, but how pimp would it be if he said that? I would totally say that on my way to the chair, between rapidfire bouts of pissing and shitting myself.)

Yep, good ol’ Phillip Workman just had to outdo newly elected Pizza Hut Vice President of Pizza, Nick Mathis (who recently offered up a free slice of pizza to the nation last month). Of course, the prison had to be dicks about it and didn’t honor his request, so the residents of Nashville answered the call, ordering thousands of dollars worth of pizza to be delivered to area homeless shelters.

Workman’s reported last words were: “I’m Phillip Workman, and I am the new Vice President of P-p-p-pizzzzzg-g-gg-g-GGGAAAGGHHH! THE PAAAAIINNN! FFUUCCKK!” (Again, made it up.. but that totally would have won the video submission contest. Hands down!)

Hot stock tip: Invest in German cattle futures. David Hasselhoff is drunk… and eating a Whopper (you have to see this clip)

Someone turned this into a BK commercial, replete with the “man song” theme. Just perfect. Half-naked, eating a cheeseburger off the floor. Fucking classic.

This is so awesome to me. So awesome that I had to honor the Hoff in the proper way: I had some Scotch and got drunk before posting. Yes, got drunk, went to Taco Bell, got a 7-layer burrito (add chicken), drove home (back roads), dropped the burrito in the parking lot, brushed the rubbish off the tortilla (oh hell yes I’m still eating it), walked into my apartment and turned on “Man vs. Wild” at 1:30am (I am watching Bear Grylls eat a rotten zebra and light elephant dung on fire for warmth (oh yeah, he’s a fucking badass) and fired up the laptop (not badass). I’m ready to do this post justice… oh shit! Bear’s run into some angry hippos! Eh, another post…

Being German, I have long had an identity crisis - Germans love David Hasselhoff. And while I have always been amused by his career, I have not shared in that adoration. And then he went and got Totally Fucking Shitfaced . There is no other way to describe it. He’s on a floor, borderline-passout-drunk, eating a cheeseburger while talking to his daughter (original vid). I can now be proud and say, Germans love David Hasselhoff!

Let’s review. First it was Knight Rider. Gay (granted, totally cool when I was 10, but in retrospect, gay). Baywatch. Gay. Whatever the fuck this is. Funny. But Gay. The Hoff has, for most of his career (no matter how entertaining) been gay. He has been this phony tchotchke of culture. (God damn this 7-layer burrito’s good!)

This video finally makes Hasselhoff human. He’s one of us now. ‘Cause we’ve all been there. We’ve all been drunk off our fucking asses, stuffing our faces like it was our last meal on earth. This is his rite-of-passage with the public. He said “Fuck you” to his daughter, for chrissakes! I mean think about it. Have you ever been able to “relate” to David Hasselhoff? Hell no. It’s like he was fiction. But now? “Dude, you completely Hoff’d that Whopper!” “Holy shit, I shouldn’t have had that last shot…I am fucking 3 sheets to the Hoff.” Hell yes. David’s one of us now.

Huh. This post didn’t turn out so bad, considering I’m drunk.. ooh, Hasselpuppets!

Here’s a new flash game from Houlihan’s - the flash version of “I Never”.

I guess the web version of me is about 5′6″

I’m sure you all know the game. You get drunk with your friends and start asking revealing questions, starting with “I never..”. Those that have done said actions lift their glass. Well, now you can play that same game! On the web! Without alcohol! How awes- oh wait..

Seriously though, this one might just catch on. Great idea by Houlihan’s.

The circle is complete.  First, it was the Internet watching TV and talking about it.  It was people biting TV clips, digitizing them and posting them on YouTube.  Now, the TV empire strikes back!

In this SNL clip from last Saturday, they have bit material from YouTube and worked it into their sketch.  (Credit to Scarlett for some great Grape Lady sound effects)

So basically I have here a clip from YouTube, that is from SNL, covering YouTube, covering TV news, which covered a real event.  We are 5 degrees of separation from our own reality!  Our culture is basically in the restroom of the local MoviePlex, looking at our reflections recede into infinity in the two opposite-facing mirrors.

Wait!  You are reading this on Adchops, which is simply writing about and linking over to the YouTube covering the SNL covering the YouTube covering the TV news covering reality.  Six!  Six degrees of separation!

I know… I just blew your mind.

” ‘ello, Loves!” I give you the most powerful sales team known to man (not “man” in the “all of humankind” sense, since I’m sure many women will disagree)…

What with viral, buzz marketing, word-of-mouth, etc, it’s good to remember the stuff that will always work. This Fab Four could sell dust on the Moon. They could sell mustard gas to Jainists. They could sell heroin to a priest… well, actually, I could probably do that.

Yes, we men are simple, simple creatures. I would honestly give one joint off one of my toes (big toes excluded..I might need those if I lose a thumb) to have frequent sex with just one of these women. I’m not kidding. What other marketing tool can claim that?

It’s always good to remember the basics in marketing, I guess. Oh, and it’s good to remember names. Isn’t it so adorable that they all have their names on their shirts so they don’t forget what to call each other.. well, other than “fucking bitch whore!” (the name they call each other when out of earshot).

I just realized I have no link in this post. Ummm… this’ll have to do.

A couple months ago, Pizza Hut joined the new wave of advertising - user submissions - with their Vice President of Pizza campaign.

Well, the submission period’s over, the selections are down to the final 3, and it’s up to the public to decide. This is a great trend, people. Instead of focus groups and other bullshit deciding how products are marketed to us, companies are letting us choose. Granted, this campaign’s not about making a commercial like Doritos (et al) did, but it’s all in the same vein. Take advantage of it! Vote!