I Pinch

So there's this TV commercial for the Honda Element that is absolutely priceless. It makes me giggle. I don't know how you can't just grin watching it. Go to ElementAndFriends.com and click on the "crab" ad in the lower left (If you listen close you can even hear the crab say "Jess, I pinch" :-D). You can even Download the crab ad so you can keep it and watch it forever and ever. Frank is currently trying to figure out how to play it on a loop... I don't think he's figured it out yet.

Ads are a funny thing. I mean... they've got to do a lot of stuff in 30 seconds. They've gotta tell you what the product is, tell you why you want it, and make you remember it. As I've learned from my small involvement with the Head First series of books, if you want people to remember it, you have to make it memorable -- apply to their emotions some how. And that's what these ads have done. They make you smile, they make you giggle, they make you laugh. They make you talk about it. "Hey -- did you see that new Element ad?".... "I pinch"

When the new MINI Cooper came out, their ad company took a very bold and very unique ad campaign. My favorite is an ad done for MINI Canada where they express the amount of space that the new MINI has. I wonder how the ad would have done in the US.

The same company that did the MINI campaign is doing the current ads for the new VW GTI. A bunch of the VW guys think the "Fast" commercials are good... they're ok, but *eh*. The "German engineering" ads crack me up. They're so stupid its funny. I think the Wrecking Ball ad is my favorite.... "It's definitely sucking"

They're short, simple, apply to your emotions (silly funny, "gosh!" funny, stupid funny). They're effective. They got me to laugh, they got me to take notice, and they got me to remember them. Hell they got me to write about them. Did they get me to test drive the car? No... but if I were in the market, they'd be in the back of my mind. I approve.