Post Advertising

In his guest slot on Madonna's recent hit "4 Minutes," Justin Timberlake intones, "We've only got four minutes to save the world." And if you look at his work rate over the past decade, the young man means what he says. Somehow managing to crawl from the boy band wreckage of *NSYNC with his credibility intact, JT has managed to grow and thrive creatively in many a milieu.

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When the brilliant Paddy Chayefsky was penning the script for the classic film Network, I doubt he was watching television news in Las Vegas. Now I'm not Chayefsky, or brilliant, but I did watch TV news in Las Vegas for the three interminable years that I lived there earlier this century. 

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If you watched last night's instantly classic MLB All Star Game, you probably saw a Gatorade spot that featured a Spiderwoman-like catch of a fly ball by a long-legged ballgirl that was rather mindblowing. What's really mind-blowing to this follower of the post-ad game is the back story behind this mishmash of media, reality and maybe some marketing magicianship. Two weeks ago, my 72-year-old dad/baseball fan emailed me a clip of this very real-looking "incredible play" free of logos. Duly impressed, I showed it to my wife and kids in a "holy cow" moment. Even went so far as to point out to my son that girls could kick guys asses in sports, so respect your sister. 

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I've just emerged from the bathroom from my last trip to Denny's (Grandpa likes it), and what doth pop up on my monitor but yet another zeitgeist-capturing promotion from the creative geniuses in their creative lair at Denny's. Not content to jump the indie rock train, they've hopped aboard the Straight Talk/Change Express for the clichéd roll-it-out-every-four-years election promo. Wow. Their powers of imagination make Salvador Dali look like George Costanza. 

Let's peer in on the lair:

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A much younger version of me saw Crooner/clambake host/golfer/pothead Bing Crosby sit his son Nathaniel on his knee and extol the virtues of orange juice in ads for Minute Maid many times on TV. I'm not sure if Der Bingle contributed to my lifelong love of the orange stuff, but I'm still hooked. Who knows, he may have contributed to my love of golf, and da kine as well. I am fairly sure he contributed to my love of the holiday season. I've never given it much thought until today. The paper of record took a long look at the celebrity endorsement game this past Sunday. A long look, but I'm still unsure as to whether it was a good look. It wasn't easy for me to discern from reading the piece whether consumers like, dislike, or don't care when a celebrity endorses a product.

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I'm trying to give the folks at State Farm, and their branded entertainment agency Fire Advertainment, credit for having their hearts in the right place ("There," if you will) in its attempt to give three struggling Mexican musicians, Los Felinos de la Noche, their "big break" with an "unpaid" opening gig tour. Trying. Not necessarily succeeding. 

Hey State Farm/Fire, answer a couple quick questions for me.

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I'm scratching my head like Chim Chim. As a kid, I raced home from school to watch the original Speed Racer cartoon. I can still sing the lyrics to the theme song. I was actually looking forward to taking our nine- and ten-year-old kids to see the movie when it hit the radar months back. About midweek of any week that a major flick aimed at kids (and Dad's wallet) is due out, our ten-year-old spawn starts talking up said movie. Sometimes, even the week before if a sneak preview lurks in the multiplex. He drops all the right hints, the talking points straight out of the spots he sees on Nick or Disney Channel. It's about this time he develops an unusual hankering for McDonald's or Burger King, places he seldom eats...unless there is a free toy in exchange for the resulting upset stomach. Last week? Silence. Speed, Chim Chim and the gang were in trouble. And not just of the Racer X variety.

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I don't have that big an issue with product placement.  If a brand's need to be noticed and a production budget's need to be augmented can fit comfortably on a screen, who am I to argue?

Coca-Cola provides convenient tumblers to the American Idol panel of judges each week.  Paula may have found extra utility in them as a convenient place to dump pills and booze.  Thank goodness they're made of Coca-Cola red plastic.

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