Great commercials (1 Viewer)

[ThomasC]

There was a topic on the worst, so now let's commend those who have made memorable/great commercials. Volkswagen is the first that comes to mind for me, I love their new commercial with the Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr. Blue Sky." The "smiles" one with the Beetle convertible is great too, as well as an "old" one, with "Da da da." There's another that I can't think of right now, but it might still be airing. Nike is another company bringing us/me great commercials, but of course, their entire company is pretty much based on marketing. Snickers is also pretty good. What are your favorites?
http://www.vw.com/commercials/
The "Mr. Blue Sky" commercial is in the middle of the top row.

 

[Carl Miller]

I love the Sprint commercial where a farmer (?) ordered 200 Oxen, but ended up with 200 Dachsunds because, of course, he wasn't using Sprint when he ordered. It's got a couple of funny pictures of Dachsunds pulling (or trying) a cart and the stampede of Dachsunds at the end is terrific.

My wife and I were talking about this commercial tonight and it's funny...We both commented that Catherine Zeta Jones has been on TV practically every hour for a cell phone company, but neither of us know which company those commercials are for. She may be gorgeous, but the Dachsunds were more effective, to us anyway.

Geico's Gecko series and the Aflac commercials have also been especially funny and creative.

 

[ThomasC]

We both commented that Catherine Zeta Jones has been on TV practically every hour for a cell phone company, but neither of us know which company those commercials are for.

C'mon, are you kidding me? It's not that hard to remember...oh crap, what was the name?
It's T-Mobile.
I don't think I've seen that particular Sprint commercial, but now that you mention Sprint, I really enjoy all the commercials with the spokesman, Brian Baker.

Yes, I think Geico and Aflac are pretty good as well.

 

[Andrew Chong]

My favourite is IKEA's "unboring" commercial concerning lamp replacement.

In case you haven't seen it: A desk lamp is taken to the curb after having been replaced by a new lamp and you are made to feel sad for the old one as it stands on the curb in the rain through camera angles, editing, and music. Suddenly, a gentleman standing in the same rain exclaims in what I presume to be a Swedish accent, "You are feeling very sorry for this lamp? Well you're crazy and the new one's much better!"

I laugh every time I see it.

One tidbit: Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) directed it!

 

[LennyP]

I, of course, like the VW commercial where everything is synchronised to the music as Sarah Clarke/Nina Myers drives by.

 

[Michael*K]

The Visa commercial with Martin and Charlie Sheen is particularly hilarious, as is the new Apple spot with Yao Ming and Verne Troyer.

 

[Brian Perry]

The Visa commercial with Martin and Charlie Sheen is particularly hilarious,

Speaking of this commercial, I looked at Charlie's driver's license (via Tivo frame-by-frame) to see if they put some obviously bogus info on it, and while I don't know if his address is correct, I know his birthday is accurate, as he was born on the same day and year as me. (I know, pathetic.)

Another recent commercial I like is the Charles Schwab "Wall Street" parody, where the sales manager urges his staff to promote the latest hot stock ("go out and put some lipstick on this pig"). Classic.

(I wonder if I was thinking about this commercial solely because both Sheens were in the Visa commercial and in Wall Street!)

 

[Dan Rudolph]

I like the classic G.I. Joe Saturn commercial.

 

[ThomasC]

During the shoot, that beat was blared over loudspeakers "to keep everyone in sync," creative director Alan Pafenbach says. "It's a wonder we weren't arrested."

http://www.nebulus.com/nebzine/nebne...nn_990129.html
You can view the commercial here.

 

[Paul McElligott]

Love the Sprint commercials, especially the new 200 Dachsunds spot. I really loved "Monkey with a cold." It came out just when the Angels were in the World Series with their rally monkey. Talk about good timing.

The Aflac commercial with Yogi Berra in the barber shop is a classic. The older one, with the couple on a roller coaster, was also hilarious.

Another vote for the VISA commercial with the Sheens. For me, just the idea of Charlie renting all of his old movies is a better gag than "It did when I came in here."

 

[Carl Miller]

C'mon, are you kidding me? It's not that hard to remember...oh crap, what was the name? It's T-Mobile

I kid you not. Actually thought it was Cingular. Catherine Zeta Jones just can't compete with animated Geckos

 

[Dan Rudolph]

I also love Cingular, particularly the "Soap Opera Star" spot.

 

[Scott L]

There's this new Philips commercial where this fat guy at the office keeps trying to throw things in the trash can but misses everytime. He then makes a 3-pt shot in an NBA court and slaps his buddy 5, but misses and smacks him on the head instead.
Other is the Snickers telemarketing commercial (long version) where the guy flies all the way to the telemarkerter's cubicle and smashes his phone.
edit- on the subject, adcritic.com is back up, but they want $70/yr for any access! Sheesh...

 

[Thomas H G]

I swear I entertain myself for hours with it but it's the Dodge Ram Commercial with a "hammy"

"Hey, that thing got a hammy"?

"YEA"

"Sweet"

There was also the Gap "Those Crazy Stripes" commercial that was on during the holidays that for some reason, I couldn't look away when it was on and would always stop what I was doing when it did come on.

 

[Rob Speicher]

The "unboring" ad with the lamp is especially funny. Also the DirecTV ads, especially the one with all the little kids watching TV with porno music in the background.

What is tha - sssssh.

 

[Paul McElligott]

I swear I entertain myself for hours with it but it's the Dodge Ram Commercial with a "hammy"

You mean the truck with a "Hemi"? That's a good one.

 

[Keith Mickunas]

I love the sprint dachsund commercial, that one is wonderful. Several of those commercials are really good, a couple of my favorites are monkey with a cold and flour the kids.

I love the VW commercials, especially that smile one, it really fits the car. Of course, I drive a Jetta, so I gotta like the commercials.

One of my new favorite commercials is the Miller Light with the girls fighting over Less Filling/Tastes Great.

Those T-Mobile commercials annoy me. Catherine Zeta-Jones just seems so stiff in them. For some reason the way she speaks and acts reminds me of Kirstie Alley. But nothing about the commercials seems smooth and natural. Plus that name, T-Mobile, how stupid. Sounds like a model number or brand, not a cell phone company. I too don't remember that well.

 

[Doug_B]

One of my new favorite commercials is the Miller Light with the girls fighting over Less Filling/Tastes Great.

Funny you should mention this, as I was just doing a Miller Lite search in this forum.
Why?
Because the network folks usually cut out the very end of this commercial, where one of the women in the cement says to the other, "Let's make out". Does anyone know the details of what happened here? If there was some directive from the censorship gods, it hasn't been completely effective (just saw the end tonight on ESPN).
Need a little "levity" at 2am with the Mrs at work all night
Doug

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Scott L wrote:

Snickers always has entertaining commercials. A couple of years ago they had a series of absolutely brilliantly hilarious commercials that I wouldn't mind owning on DVD. The tagline went: "Not going anywhere soon? Have a Snickers bar."

The KIA commercials are somewhat amusing, as well. The ad campaign they had a few years ago was brilliant. The funniest in that batch was the "gay trucker" commercial (with the background singing by a woman: "When I fall in love, it will be forever.").

IBM's new series of commercials featuring a corporate group looking at "magic genie business lamps", "UBAs" ("universal business adaptors"), that, of course, need further adaptors to work in Europe, "server pixie dust", and other gimmicky gadgets is quite amusing. Too bad Big Blue didn't have those when it was pushing OS/2.

Have to disagree about the VW Beetle commercials, though. In addition to not liking the music, I absolutely HATE commercials that keep you guessing what product or service is being pitched until the end (or never tell you). Thumbs down!

 

[Scott Van Dyke]

How about the one from a few years back where the guy and his wife are stranded on the roadside in a blizzard.

He bought her a WAFFLE iron. Instead of a cellular phone. She busts it out of her purse and starts dialing on the waffle iron. The look on the guys face is priceless.