Thursday, July 26, 2007

'Cavemen' Evolved Too Fast



ABC producers have decided to re-shoot the 'Cavemen' pilot, after failing to establish them properly. Two of the original Geico actors in the commercial spots were unavailable, but Jeffrey Daniel Phillips, will be in the series. Hopefully it was Joe Lawson, creator and producer, who spoke up on how much the pilot preview sucks and how the actors' personalities do not resemble the savvy, yet Paleolithic minds, featured in the great Geico commercials. If it wasn't him, maybe the network actually listened to us.

(via Drudge)

Friday, July 20, 2007

It's About Time

Sorry for not updating in a while. I got a new job for the summer, and a lot of my time has been occupied checking in travelers, making sure there are enough towels, and reminding them that breakfast is served from 6 to 9. We do have wireless Internet, but I'm only allowed online for work-related activities.

The following is an update of happenings previously mentioned here.

Tread Lightly

Boeing has unveiled its environmentally conscious 787 Dreamliner. It's big and beautiful. Airbus has been marketing its A380 as environmentally friendly, but it's big and ugly. The two companies are using the same USP, which is not unique at all. Staying with the eco-friendly people pleaser, airlines should no longer serve beef, as it makes a bigger carbon footprint than driving a car nonstop for three hours.

Experienced Virgin Gets Her Wings

Also in airline news, the first ever mood lighting on a U.S. commercial flight has been introduced. Virgin America, its hub located in San Francisco, has officially opened booking for its flights. Features include 3,000 mp3s, open source Doom (the game), the largest seatback TV available on a U.S. airline, and over 20 pay-per-view movies to choose from. Save your playlist, and it will remember you the next flight. An ethernet jack is at every seat, in case you don't have wireless; WiFi is available. You can also order food/drinks while at your seat with the swipe of your credit card.

Before Virgin America launched, while it was having some problems getting off the ground, VA wanted the general public to name its planes and vote on the best ones. You could do so on nameourplanes.com. 'Jefferson Airplane' is one great name that has joined the fleet. The link is no longer available and redirects the user to the VA home page.

Prof Gilzot is Real?

No, he's not real. Yesterday, though, the bot instant messaged me out of the blue. In this new age of permissive marketing, steps are being taken to give consumers more control. AOL gives you the option to accept or deny an instant message. But perhaps someone who has never heard of Prof Gilzot could be mislead. Also, I was very disappointed to see that the question he asked me was not even related to SATs or education, but a matter of his own personal opinion of a current event.
















London 2012 Gets Even More Retro
The logo for the 2012 London Paralympic Games is even worse than the 2012 London Olympic Games. It adds more color and crazy 80's style patterns.



London 2012 also uses an antiquated idea by using the New Year's Resolution and adding five years. What would you challenge yourself to do by 2012?





BBDO CCO Wins Breakfast, Award

David Lubars, Chief Creative Officer of BBDO North America, has won the Wall Street Journal's Creative Leaders contest. Lubars has won countless awards, from Emmy's to a Titanium Lion. He's changing the model of agencies, which for most is a good thing. Look for a new face within the next week on a full-page ad for the WSJ. Lubars is now joined in notoriety with the creative ranks of Alex Bogusky, Gary Goldsmith, Lee Clow, Jeff Goodby, Tom McElligot, and more.

In other news, the site still sucks. Words and graphics overlap that aren't supposed to overlap. It would have been nice if they had filmed the event and posted it online. At the least -- tell us that it's over, who won and why.

BBDO Sidenote

Not only does the agency have a winning creative mogul on their hands, but they themselves are winners. In Cannes this year, the agency won "Network of the Year", a brand new award that "recognizes an agency network's creative excellence across the full range of marketing communication channels" (PRNewswire).

Harry Potter Lives On

Plans have been made, and the paperwork has been signed. The Harry Potter theme park is slated to open in 2009. Harry will live on in the hearts and official merchandise of fans worldwide.

Feed Me!

The Ad Feed's creative portion is still not up yet. But I'll be sure to let you know once the stellar renovation is at 100%. Meanwhile, visit Ads of the World or Shedwa.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Codename Cloverfield

Bad Robot Productions has opened with monster marketing on Independence Day, in a teaser trailer before the "Transformers" movie plays in theatres across the nation. The company is owned by Cloverfield's producer, J.J. Abrams, who is responsible for creating the hit TV series "Alias" and co-creating the very successful series' "Lost" and "Felicity". A jack of many trades, he composed the theme song for "Alias" and co-composed for "Felicity", and he made his directorial debut with "Mission Impossible: 3". Matt Reeves, who has worked with Abrams as co-creator, producer and writer for "Felicity", is the film's director. Drew Goddard, who has written for Abrams in some of his TV dramas, is the writer for this production.

The credits do not tell the title of the film. And like many others, I immediately came home to find out what the heck this was all about. To me, the tempo was like a movie, and I thought that maybe it was the opening of "Transformers". The credits at the end were shown for about one second, and all I could read in time was "Bad Robot Productions", which was already seen at the beginning. Wikipedia tells us that the movie project by Abrams is codenamed "Cloverfield". There are already rumors of this being a Godzilla-like blockbuster, or perhaps a project that will feed off the popularity of "Transformers" and produce something similar.

We do know that is a science fiction film with the monster referred to as "The Parasite". Like it's counterpart, a viral campaign has been released. Following in the footsteps of "Batman: The Dark Knight", a teaser Web site, www.1-18-08.com, has been launched. It shows a still from the camcorder, aptly taken on the same date. Interested viewers hope to solve the puzzle. Look to the stars for help. A blog has been created in protest to show how Ethan Haas is wrong. (Look for something special on August 1.) The videos for the trailer have been taken off YouTube due to a copywright claim by Paramount Pictures Corporation, but it doesn't take too long to google and find the trailer.

This is a brilliant move of precision and timing by Paramount, catching the attention of the same demographic that has brought the highest July 4 single-day gross of $29.1 million to "Transformers". Everyone wants what they can't have.

Update (July 6, 2007): Some news on the mystery casting, budget, and more can be found here.

(Attention: Possible Spoiler. Visuals are much better than written descriptions. Please do not read further, unless you want to read it before you see it.)

The Teaser
The introduction leaves no time to waste, as the Bad Robot Productions treatment is quickly shown (for about 2 seconds). It opens on a surprise going away party for a well-respected guy named Rob who's moving to Japan. Most of the shots are taken with a handheld consumer video camera, much like The Blair Witch Project. A few friends are interviewed to talk about Rob and how they will miss him. A roar is heard in the distance, along with the sound of car alarms. The party of hipsters are concerned and watch the news for any clue of what's going on. The news anchor tells them that many people are calling the newsroom to report of the "thunderous, roaring sound". The party decides to go on the roof to get a better view. A huge explosion occurs from far away, and pieces of the flaming, flying debris come hurling towards them. With a panicked videographer in a rush to save his own life, the shots are also edited to show only bits and pieces. Everyone runs down the stairs, only to see hundreds of New Yorkers running for their lives. An ominous roar erupts from a closer distance, and something is thrown into a building, which then richochets and bounces on the city street, rolling past the camera. It's Lady Liberty's copper head. The credit for J.J. Abrams is shown. Rob tells everyone "it's going to be the best night ever", and the trailer closes with the opening date and credits.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.