PYF marketing silliness
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- Mr. Big
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
Sadly the woodpecker-dinosaur alliance did not last.
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
Everything having its own hotline was the boomer equivalent of everything having its own app.
Every jumbled pile of person has a thinking part that wonders what the part that isn't thinking isn't thinking of...
- Mechanical Ape
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
"Hot woodpeckers are waiting to talk to you. Don't just fantasize ... call 1-900-GET WOOD and connect to the woodpecker of your dreams. Just $10 per call and $4.99 per minute after the first minute. Why settle for two in the bush ... when you could have a bird in the hand. Adults only."
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
One for Care Bears, too. Now I wonder if G1 MLP had a hotline.
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
An old ad for Bank of America. Mostly sharing because I really love the walk cycle in this.
The animation was done by Rod Scribner. He was an ex-Looney Tunes animator, notably working for Bob Clampett. Dude's animation was very wild, as you can imagine.
Directed by John Hubley. Hubley got blacklisted from UPA when HUAC accused him of communism. However, Hubley continued finding work doing commercials. HUAC didn't pay attention to the TV commercial industry, and nobody got screen credit in ads, which allowed John Hubley to slip through unnoticed.
Yeah, an animator accused of communism found work in one of the most capitalist part of the media industry. Go figure
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
(DISCLAIMER: money is not meant to be eaten)
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
The best part is how well they faked it being a one-take shot. The secret cuts are when he walks in front of the blank wall saying "Even if you're only visiting our great nation" (when they switch from a high-rise office to ground floor) and when he walks in front of the truck (which is actually a bluescreen; you can see they flubbed the editing of the people following him a bit at the left edge).
There's a making-of video that's mostly just a collection of random behind-the-scenes moments, but at the end you can see more or less how it would look with the parts just mashed together raw.
Modern methods would make some of this easier to do nowadays (no need to build a track or hire a helicopter when you can just use a drone, and you can probably match the two outdoor shots even better if the drone is moving at a pre-programmed speed both times), but the basic principles would probably be the same.
I'm getting really off topic here but it reminds me of this Tom Scott video.
There's a making-of video that's mostly just a collection of random behind-the-scenes moments, but at the end you can see more or less how it would look with the parts just mashed together raw.
Modern methods would make some of this easier to do nowadays (no need to build a track or hire a helicopter when you can just use a drone, and you can probably match the two outdoor shots even better if the drone is moving at a pre-programmed speed both times), but the basic principles would probably be the same.
I'm getting really off topic here but it reminds me of this Tom Scott video.
Every jumbled pile of person has a thinking part that wonders what the part that isn't thinking isn't thinking of...
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
I love that Pole Position ad.
Hey! You look like a real jerk!
Well, I am a corporate executive.
She stops exciting things from happening.
Hey! You look like a real jerk!
Well, I am a corporate executive.
She stops exciting things from happening.
("Don't try to reform me, Hag, because I'm made of cold stone.")
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
There's been a number of commercials starring the "B.C." characters over the years, including this for Monroe Shock Absorbent.
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
I made this for some thread ages ago (edit: 2014):
The story I heard about HeadOn is that they had tested a few campaign ideas, and as a control they had an ad that was just the name of the product repeated for 10 seconds. And that was the one that ended up testing best, so they said "let's use that then."
The story I heard about HeadOn is that they had tested a few campaign ideas, and as a control they had an ad that was just the name of the product repeated for 10 seconds. And that was the one that ended up testing best, so they said "let's use that then."
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
Pfft, I may have seen that before, but I didn't know what it was spoofing until recently.Mechanical Ape wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 11:36 pmI made this for some thread ages ago (edit: 2014):
The story I heard about HeadOn is that they had tested a few campaign ideas, and as a control they had an ad that was just the name of the product repeated for 10 seconds. And that was the one that ended up testing best, so they said "let's use that then."
Another story I heard is that an earlier HeadOn commercial that described what the product did caught scrutiny from consumer watchdogs because it's basically a placebo product for headaches, so this was done to avoid being accused of false advertising.
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
Ha ha, I can believe that. “We’re not saying it DOES anything, we’re just telling you what to do with it.”
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
I found a number of Japanese ads with Woody Woodpecker on YouTube.
- Mechanical Ape
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
Ha-ha-ha-HEAD-On! Apply pecks directly to the forehead!
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
Mechanical Ape wrote: ↑Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:43 amHa-ha-ha-HEAD-On! Apply pecks directly to the forehead!
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
The Walter Lantz studio, best known for Woody Woodpecker, did a series of shorts promoting Coca Cola in the early 1950s. They would run in movie theaters, meant to urge people to buy Coke at the concession stand.
These follow a format where it starts out looking like a regular cartoon, but then they bring in the Cola plug. There's no indication the cartoon is promoting Coke until the very end.
Here's an example:
These follow a format where it starts out looking like a regular cartoon, but then they bring in the Cola plug. There's no indication the cartoon is promoting Coke until the very end.
Here's an example:
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
You know what’s weird? Everything about that cartoon and ad is so old-timey — but then the very last shot is the Coca-Cola logo, and it hasn’t changed a bit.
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
Hey, do ads that run before videos on YouTube have their own regular video IDs that I could use to embed them on here? And if so, how do I find out what they are? Because there's one I've seen lately that probably merits discussion.
Every jumbled pile of person has a thinking part that wonders what the part that isn't thinking isn't thinking of...
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
Coca-Cola is releasing a limited edition beverage, “Coca-Cola Starlight”. It’s a drink that starts as a villain but later becomes best pony.
No, in reality it’s a mystery flavor with Coke claiming it “tastes like space”, whatever that means.
No, in reality it’s a mystery flavor with Coke claiming it “tastes like space”, whatever that means.
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
No, in reality it’s a mystery flavor with Coke claiming it “tastes like space”, whatever that means.
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
These ads were made in Cleveland back in the 1960s, believe it or not (the studio eventually moved to LA, where Disney outsourced "Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore" to them).
The first minute is a bunch of ads for Yellow Pages. What gets me is that the animation is limited...except for the mouths. They move SUPER SMOOTH, while the rest of the bodies move like Hanna-Barbera characters.
Also, there's an early Peanuts animation (pre-"Christmas") in the 3:50 range, NOT by Bill Melendez
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
OK, I’ve got a bottle of this “space flavored” Coke Starlight and let’s see how it actually tastes.
*sip*
Huh.
It doesn’t taste like anything in nature. But does it taste like s’mores, as some have said? Well … it doesn’t not taste like s’mores. It does seem a graham cracker-esque undertone.
Obviously it basically tastes like Coke. Where it differs from classic is being a bit lighter and less syrupy and whatever unidentified flavor hint they added. There’s nothing wrong with it!
*sip*
Huh.
It doesn’t taste like anything in nature. But does it taste like s’mores, as some have said? Well … it doesn’t not taste like s’mores. It does seem a graham cracker-esque undertone.
Obviously it basically tastes like Coke. Where it differs from classic is being a bit lighter and less syrupy and whatever unidentified flavor hint they added. There’s nothing wrong with it!
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
Little Richard is dead too, since 2020.
But Michael Winslow is still alive!
I saw Gottfried some years ago when he came to Chicago; he was, of course, terrific. Anyway, here he was at BronyCon 2019:
But Michael Winslow is still alive!
I saw Gottfried some years ago when he came to Chicago; he was, of course, terrific. Anyway, here he was at BronyCon 2019:
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
A commercial for a British tabloid made by an American studio. UPA, specifically.
UPA was a studio largely run by leftists (to the point that it got in trouble with the HUAC), so seeing them do an ad for a newspaper that printed an article titled "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" seems like it would go against their principles.
Then again, work is work (and UPA desperately needed them to stay afloat). Also, they probably figured Americans won't see the ad anyway.
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
Have we spotlighted Mr. Delicious before? (EDIT: Yes! Mr. Big posted about him on page 7.)
Fast food chain Rax, just prior to its bankruptcy, introduced spokesman Mr. Delicious, a black-and-white fellow who looked like he stepped from the blandest hollow of the 1950s.
And sometimes he'd discuss his vasectomy.
There's clearly a knowing irony to Mr. D. I'd put him in a category of "anti-mascots" alongside Quizno's spongmonkeys and Burger King's creepy King. The idea is to have an intentionally off-putting spokesperson who drives engagement just because it's so weird. That's a risky move -- risky in the sense that I don't think it has ever worked -- but Rax was desperate for any kind of identity, it appears.
Fast food chain Rax, just prior to its bankruptcy, introduced spokesman Mr. Delicious, a black-and-white fellow who looked like he stepped from the blandest hollow of the 1950s.
And sometimes he'd discuss his vasectomy.
There's clearly a knowing irony to Mr. D. I'd put him in a category of "anti-mascots" alongside Quizno's spongmonkeys and Burger King's creepy King. The idea is to have an intentionally off-putting spokesperson who drives engagement just because it's so weird. That's a risky move -- risky in the sense that I don't think it has ever worked -- but Rax was desperate for any kind of identity, it appears.
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Re: PYF marketing silliness
Man, that vasectomy ad. Because that's what I want in my fast food advert!
So in the 1970s Dr. Pepper had a bunch of commercials featuring then-popular celebrities singing along to "I'm a Dr. Pepper". Well, celebrities include cartoon characters, too, who would appear out of nowhere singing along. They range from Bugs Bunny to Popeye to Fred Flintstone.
So in the 1970s Dr. Pepper had a bunch of commercials featuring then-popular celebrities singing along to "I'm a Dr. Pepper". Well, celebrities include cartoon characters, too, who would appear out of nowhere singing along. They range from Bugs Bunny to Popeye to Fred Flintstone.