Monday Night Football meets Hammer Time

Now put down that keytar and get your ass on the couch. Football is back.

CP+B Pulls out the big guns for Microsoft

The Jerry Seinfeld factor:

Does his humour lighten up the brand?

Does the Seinfeld brand overshadow Microsoft?

Is CP+B selling out by going with a big name actor? I think that it could have been executed without the "Jerry Seinfeld" factor. Maybe we wouldn't have paid as much attention, but is Jerry really needed?

Thoughts or if you have seen other spots let me know in the comments section.

UPDATE:A quote from Microsoft SVP Bill Veghte
Found on Adrants via techcrunch.

"Today, we are kicking off a highly visible advertising campaign. The first phase of this campaign is designed to engage consumers and spark a new conversation about Windows - a conversation that will evolve as the campaign progresses, but will always be marked by humor and humanity. The first in this series [...] aims to re-ignite consumer excitement about the broader value of Windows.

[...]

This first set of ads features Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Think of these ads as an icebreaker to reintroduce Microsoft to viewers in a consumer context."

Well they have definitely sparked a conversation, lets see it evolve to something of substance.

People Don't Like Display Ads...

Another shocking article from today's Marketing Magazine update: Canadian's don't like online display advertising and they don't trust it. (well, approximately 62% of us feel that way):

"62% of respondents said they are skeptical of paid advertising included within their Internet searches. This may be a reflection of the early days of the Internet, where pop-up advertising and viruses were more commonplace, said Mark Laver, study author and associate vice-president of Ipsos Reid."

Sorry Mark - it's not the early days, it's everyday. Nobody wants to be bothered by a voken, pop up, boring rich media execution or in-your-face standard ad.

We go to sites for content, to connect with others and to research information about a product or something that we're interested in. I'm pretty sure nobody has ever searched the web frantically hoping that they'll come across a display ad that they're interested in clicking on.

Search, on the other hand, is working. Especially from a consumer confidence standpoint. The Marketing article shows that 44% of Canadians have clicked on sponsored, search links. It makes sense right? I'm looking for something and the sponsored link answers that call.

Remember my angry post about how I wanted proof for certain things? Now I want something else:

• Marketers to consider (just consider) banning display ads from their media plans

Why just consider and not eliminate completely? Because once you consider you'll start down the path to thinking about digital performance (through enhanced metrics) and not just throwing up a few ads on the most popular sites.

Think about it. How many people actually remember an online ad? 5 out of every 100? 10? Eyetracking studies have shown that we are pre-conditioned to ignore sponsored sections of a page and just focus right on the content. Even if it's a hot shiney ad, chances are we don't care.

So what's the problem? Well for starters, even though we don't care, the site and media company still counts that as an impression for client. Sure, the traditional buy will included millions of impressions but what are they worth if 90% of your audience doesn't even see the ad and only 0.03% of them click on it?

This is where you say, "But AdJoke, online advertising spend has been increasing dramatically in North America over the last 4 years. What do you make of that?"

First off, just because advertisers are spending more to garner more impressions online doesn't necessarly mean it's translating into sales or ehnancing brands. Second, a large chunk of that increase comes from search because it makes perfect sense.

Rich media executions and pre-roll video are decent ways at grabbing attention, but in the long run, aren't we going to try to avoid these annoyances as much as possible? Firefox, IE7 and Chrome all have "ad blocking" tools pre-installed. What happens when these tools become the norm and display ads aren't even seen?

Oh wait. They're not really seen anyways. What the hell are we worried about?

Bolt's Golden Marketing Quote

Is this a dream for McDonalds or what? A quote, from the new World's Fastest man Usian Bolt, about his pre-race meal:

"My masseuse brought me nuggests, of course...I'm serious...mycoach said I should not eat more [than two] but [it was part of his pre-race routine."

Here's too the next generation of sprinters - the fattest humans in the world. I can't wait to see Bolt in 40 years after his about 25,000 nuggets.

Found on copyranter.

Hanna's Penis [Candy]

Who knew that Disney was cool with this type of thing? I'm just glad to see that the URL for Hanna Montana's Penis Candy is "bestweekever.tv". Good times.

Thanks to Coulson for the link!

The Rules - Kennedy Style

When David Kennedy quite his old agency to start W+K, this note was found in his remaining stuff. Pretty simple but still holds true today. Found on the great, W+K London blog.

The Links

Mulling through my RSS feed, I star a ton of articles each week. Rather than link to every one of them through a number of posts, I'm going to do a weekly post with some of my favorites. As always, please feel free to pass on any links you find interesting.

- An in depth look at the Batman Begins ARG developed by 42 entertainment. Pretty amazing.
- A new list of the Top 10 Business related apps on Facebook - I'm a fan of the free conference calling.
- Trying to sell your boss on the validity of social media but can't find any of the right stats? The folks at Mashable have put together a great list.
- Toyota wants people to pitch them their ad ideas. Another brand who doesn't believe in agency ideas. Good strategy.
- Google awards some Canadian students for their hot cellphone app. Booya.
- Microsoft trying to unload Avenue A/Razorfish to WPP.
- Creatives, handcuff free, create some good examples of Presidential campaign ads.
- Want to turn your 8GB iPhone into a 1 Terabyte mega-device? You can.

Keeping up with Volkswagen

Great example of how to show value without saying it.

Quote of the Day

"Understanding the consumer is much more than knowing how and when to talk to them -- it's also knowing when not to."

- David Droga