Oct 13

Windows 7-branded ‘Family Guy’ special to air November 8th

Posted in: ad, ads, advertising, Microsoft, Today's Chili, Windows, windows 7, Windows7

Of all Microsoft’s advertising moves, this certainly falls in more clever side of the spectrum. Redmond et al. have announced they’ll be “sponsoring” a November 8th variety special on Fox, “Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show.” The episode’ll be a mix of live-action musical performance and animated shorts with the usual celebrity cameos you’ve come to expect. This show will be commercial free, so long as you don’t count all the Windows 7 that’ll somehow be integrated — and that’s the most interesting mystery of all, how Microsoft will get its brand recognition without too many jabs from showrunner Seth McFarlane and company. If you don’t recall the last time McFarlane teamed up with a big company to enliven its image, check out video from “Burger King presents Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy,” a venture also done in tandem with one of the ad agencies responsible for this new deal, Crispin, Porter & Bogusky. It’s just after the break.

Update: As commenter Zebb reminded us, Bill Gates pulled off a cameo in Frasier “answering caller questions” about Windows XP. We couldn’t help but add it to the post just below, jump to the 2:20 mark for the relevant scene.

Continue reading Windows 7-branded ‘Family Guy’ special to air November 8th

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Windows 7-branded ‘Family Guy’ special to air November 8th originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 11

Windows Phone commercial is confusing for a variety of reasons

Posted in: ad, ads, att, commercial, HTC, Microsoft, Today's Chili, Windows Mobile, windows mobile 6.5, windows phone, WindowsMobile, WindowsMobile6.5, WindowsPhone, winmo

Okay, so we understand Microsoft is trying hard to rebrand Windows Mobile as Windows Phone with the launch of WinMo 6.5, but this commercial — labeled with AT&T logos in the US but also running unlabeled worldwide — doesn’t seem to do a good job of pointing out that Windows Phone is a platform and not a device. In fact, if we didn’t know better, we’d think that the HTC Pure is, in fact, the “Windows Phone” — even though the dude in the spot is holding a totally different generic device. See how that could be weird for people? It’s almost confusing enough to distract from the jubilant anthropomorphic app icons in tights. Video after the break.

Continue reading Windows Phone commercial is confusing for a variety of reasons

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Windows Phone commercial is confusing for a variety of reasons originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 09

Bayer’s ‘Media Facade’ redefines building-vertising

Posted in: ad, ads, advertising, Today's Chili

You may think that once you’ve seen one building turned into a massive billboard you’ve seem them all, but that would mean you probably haven’t seen the so-called “Media Facade” now adorning Bayer’s former HQ in Leverkusen, Germany. Built by ag4 media facade GmbH and GKD AG, the massive display apparently consists of 5.6 milion LEDs that cover the entire 17,500 square meters of the building, and which can be lit up at will to pump out gigantic advertisements worthy of any science fiction movie. You’ll note this is the former Bayer headquarters — it seems that the promise of ’round the clock ads visible for miles around saved the building from the wrecking ball. Head on past the break for a video of it in action, and a second showing the facade being constructed.

[Thanks, Gerrit]

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Bayer’s ‘Media Facade’ redefines building-vertising originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 06

44 PlayStation 3 Ads Too Offensive For Even Sony To Use

Posted in: ads, feature, gaming, photoshop, playstation, playstation 3, sony, Today's Chili, top

Sony has a penchant for making questionable or offensive ads. But man, nothing they’ve done comes close to some of the stuff you guys came up with. You’ve been warned; no whining about being offended allowed.

First Place—Brian Garten

Second Place—Jairo Filho

Third Place

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Oct 01

Sony says Nazi PS3 ad is a “mock campaign” and not real

Posted in: ad, ads, advertising, playstation, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, sony, Today's Chili

We can’t say this was unexpected, but Sony just pinged us to say that that Nazi PS3 ad is “totally fake” and was made without their approval — here’s the statement from the executive president of BBDO Chile, which made the ads:

This creative design did not involve and was never approved by Sony Computer Entertainment or Sony. This “mock campaign” was developed by BBDO Chile staff and was submitted to various creative competitions/festivals without prior notification or approval from SCE/Sony, and it is not representative of the views or advertising policies of SCE/Sony. BBDO Chile apologizes for using this creative concept without authorization or prior approval, and for its misrepresentation of the PlayStation brand and its values.

Settles that, we suppose — although we’re guessing BBDO Chile isn’t going to be Sony’s agency of record very much longer.

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Sony says Nazi PS3 ad is a “mock campaign” and not real originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 29

Chilean PS3 ads show gamer giving blood transfusion to a Nazi

Posted in: ad, ads, advertising, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, sony, Today's Chili

You’d think Sony’s ad teams would have learned to stay away from needlessly controversial imagery after that whole “White is coming” PSP debacle or even those “Take a Running Jump Here” ads, but… they haven’t. Check out these Chilean PlayStation 3 ads, which show a modern-day gamer giving a heart transplant to Joan of Arc and a blood transfusion to a Nazi. Yes, Sony has Godwin’d its own advertising. The Nazi in question is supposed to be Erwin Rommel, a highly decorated and respected German field marshal, but it’s not like Sony’s really riffing on that here, and making an ad with a swastika in it that relies on your audience to know the subtle nuances of WWII history just isn’t the smartest move in the world. It’s a pretty simple rule: if you make a video game ad with Nazis in it and it’s not about shooting the Nazis, you’ve screwed up. Let’s just stick with those creeptastic Japanese PS3 spots, okay?

P.S.- We’ll shut off comments in a heartbeat. Behave yourselves.

[Via Copyranter]

Continue reading Chilean PS3 ads show gamer giving blood transfusion to a Nazi

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Chilean PS3 ads show gamer giving blood transfusion to a Nazi originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 16

Zune HD commercial hits major selling points, forgets to include unsettling female spokesperson

Posted in: ad, ads, commercial, Microsoft, Today's Chili, zune, zune hd, ZuneHd

Looks like the Zune HD commercials are now hitting the scene, and unless multicolored flashing lights aren’t your thing, this isn’t likely to cause uneasiness or provoke blatant fanboyism. Instead, we’ve got a neon spectacle highlighting four of its big selling points: HD radio, video playback, wireless, and yes, games are there, too. See it for yourself after the break.

[Via Dark Zune]

Continue reading Zune HD commercial hits major selling points, forgets to include unsettling female spokesperson

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Zune HD commercial hits major selling points, forgets to include unsettling female spokesperson originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 11

Brilliant PS3 Slim ad loses Nigerian scam reference, internet rumors now known to have started WWI

Posted in: ad, ads, commercial, playstation, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, sony, Today's Chili

Turns out not everyone was amused by Sony’s tongue-in-cheek PlayStation 3 Slim ad about internet rumors — just ask the Nigerian government. The line in question, “you can’t believe everything you read on the internet, otherwise I’d be a Nigerian millionaire by now,” apparently caused a bit of a stir, and the local authorities demanded the company pull the commercial. It’s now been replaced in the company’s Viddler account with a slightly altered version that claims online FUD is “how World War One got started.” Someone should tell Sony Director of Rumor Confirmation Kevin Butler that there’s a certain assassinated Austrian Archduke who would beg to differ. Revised video after the break, and just for kicks, we found the old video on YouTube for comparison.

[Via Joystiq]

Continue reading Brilliant PS3 Slim ad loses Nigerian scam reference, internet rumors now known to have started WWI

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Brilliant PS3 Slim ad loses Nigerian scam reference, internet rumors now known to have started WWI originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 27

Sony’s new PS3 Slim ads prove it ‘gets’ the internet

Posted in: ad, ads, advertising, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, sony, Today's Chili

We have to hand it to Sony, they’ve followed up nicely on their “worst kept secret” trade show jokes with an ad campaign that is fittingly self aware. Our only gripe? That cheap shot at Bernie Buncalan — his blog is pretty good. We also packed in another video after the break. Enjoy.

Continue reading Sony’s new PS3 Slim ads prove it ‘gets’ the internet

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Sony’s new PS3 Slim ads prove it ‘gets’ the internet originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 24

Apple enlists David Puddy to take on the Laptop Hunters

Posted in: ad, ads, advertising, Apple, commercial, PC, Today's Chili

Apple’s created a whole new chapter in its “Get a Mac” ad campaign based on targeting Microsoft’s successful Laptop Hunters series, and while at this point it’s just a lot of muddled back-and-forth, the gang in Cupertino managed to spice things up a little by bringing in an all-too-recognizable face and voice: Patrick “David Puddy” Warburton. Mr. Brock Samson / Joe Swanson / The Tick comes on as the top-of-the-line PC who some say has a “much too fast” processor but prone to viruses and causing headaches — you knew were the narrative was going. Video after the break, and you can go ahead and start work on your parody video, “You got a question about PCs, you ask the eight ball.”

[Thanks, Travis]

Continue reading Apple enlists David Puddy to take on the Laptop Hunters

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Apple enlists David Puddy to take on the Laptop Hunters originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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