Crowley Webb Blog

This should really be an anti-drug campaign.

by Liz Maimone

A couple nights ago I saw a commercial for the Samsung Propel. The phone, well, it’s not that impressive. But the campaign promoting it, now that’s another story. And it’s all thanks to Ozzy Osbourne. It makes perfect sense – have someone who speaks gibberish as their first language remind us that having a full keyboard for texting is crucial when it comes to communicating. I like this spot so much, I’m not even going to focus on the fact that he just randomly has everyone’s phone numbers.

While the commercial is already pretty good on its own, the banner ad just makes me love the whole idea even more. In case you can't tell from the picture, when you roll over the ad there’s a clip with Ozzy speaking his normal mumbo-jumbo. You then have to try to guess what he said by typing your answer on the phone’s keypad of course. I tried it about eleven times. Bloody fun.

Best Thing I Found On A Monday.

by Liz Maimone

Things I wish I’d thought of first:
1. Corn dogs
2. Soap-on-a-rope
3. Overcharging women for oil changes
4. The kissing booth at the carnival
5. This

Superb audio and video that’s personally disfiguring.

by Chris Muldoon

First they said cell phones give you brain tumors. Now, apparently listening to an MP3 player will result in horrific mutations. What am I talking about? Take a good, hard look at this poor woman’s left hand. Perhaps she should have listened when the record industry told her to stop stealing music.

For more examples of advertising defying common sense, and sometimes physics, check out my new favorite blog, Photoshop Disasters.

Random Thought for Thursday.

by matt low

Someone in a big truck flipped me off while I was driving to work this morning. How unimaginative. (I'm still thinking about it.)

Hey, it’s that thing from that other thing I saw a few months back on the TV.

by matt low

So Volkswagen has reached the point in its current campaign when it must stop simply selling brand and actually move product with its advertising. We see it all the time. Ford can’t simply tell you over and over again that its trucks are built Ford tough. No, the company must eventually tell you that its financing rates are also tough. Tough enough to walk into any Midwest bar and throw some disco on the jukebox. Who’s going to stop them? They’re that tough (meaning good).

The trick when moving from pure brand advertising to spots that move product is maintaining continuity between the two. In Volkswagen’s case, our friend the talking car with the awful German accent shows up for a brief moment and says something someone somewhere thought would be mildly funny being said by a car at the end of a car commercial.

Sigh.

This is my formal request to Volkswagen to please cease using that car with that voice in any capacity. I mean, they even have the thing on their website delivering clever little quips. Not amusing. Please stop.

As I’m sure they won’t until this campaign runs its course, my only hope is that the free credit report dot com kid needs a new car, discovers he still has bad credit, is forced to purchase this late model automobile, and immediately crashes into a wall. The car screaming in agony. The young man singing a silly song about how his fiery death is due to his ignorance concerning his poor credit. Splendid. 

Hot, fresh, delicious genius.

by Chris Muldoon

This truly is a great time to be alive. Thanks to ingenuity and dedication, recent years have produced some of the most amazing technological advances in the history of mankind. Space travel. Nanotechnology. Numerous medical breakthroughs. And now, the pinnacle of human achievement – ordering pizza through your TV.

Thank you, Domino’s and TiVo. Never again will I be tortured with the rigors of getting off my couch, picking up a phone, dialing a seven-digit number, and verbally communicating with another person. Well, that is until the deliveryman shows up. Science, you still have a long way to go.

Best Thing I Found On A Monday.

by Liz Maimone

I love dogs. I love Obama. I love this ad.

Random Thought for Thursday.

by matt low

Would anyone mind explaining monster truck rallies to me?

Best Thing I Found On A Monday.

 by Liz Maimone

I’m really bad when it comes to giving away surprises. (See, I shouldn’t have even said that.) And as much as I want to ruin this one, I’m not going to. Just watch this and this and I’ll shut up. But be sure to stop back next week so I can tell you what you’re getting for Christmas.

Random Thought for Thursday.

by matt low

At home, battling my kitchen. (My kitchen is winning.)

Best Thing I Found On A Monday.

by Liz Maimone

Democracy.

Now get out there and vote.

So apparently, I’m a motorcycle.

by Chris Muldoon

If you’re an avid reader of this blog, and I know we have a least one out there (thanks Liz’s mom!), then you may remember my rant about an obnoxious Toyota Prius owner. In said article, I made a claim that in walking to the train station, I get “approximately 10 miles per glass of OJ”.

On top of being superbly clever, I also grossly underestimated my efficiency. At least, according to the website How many miles per gallon does your body get? Pretty sure the name says it all.

And for your information, my toothpick legs pump out around 44 mpg. Hence the motorcycle comparison. Not sure if I’m a Harley or a sports bike, but either way I hope I have sweet flame graphics down my side.