Once upon a time there was love. Then, came Marketing.

Once There Was LOVE

A wonderful love between Mush & Moo.

One where they LAUGHED together

SKIPPED together

SANG together

DANCED together

and were HAPPY together.

What they didn’t realize, was that it was true love.
Then, one day a big man knocked on their door.

“Would you like to be happy and in love?” he asked.

Mush & Moo nodded their heads and replied “Yes please…we’d like that very much”

“Have you heard of Valentine’s Day?” the man asked.

“No.”

“Well, Valentine’s Day is the day of love. I will come back just before this big day and bring lots of goodies from my Corporate Candy Factory. These things will make you happy, and you will fall hopelessly in love.”

Mush & Moo were excited. They started counting down to Valentine’s Day.

Soon they got so caught up in keeping count, they didn’t have time to do all the things they used to do together. No skipping, or dancing, or singing. But they weren’t worried because on Valentine’s Day they would be happy.

So, they waited anxiously for the day that true love and laughter would come knocking at their door.

Then one day, there heard a knock.

The big man had come back with brown paper packages tied up with strings.

Inside were lots of goodies.

Boxes and boxes of CHOCOLATES.

Bags of CANDY.

Note cards sprinkled with GLITTER.

Scented CANDLES.

Pink RIBBONS.

Paper HEARTS.

 

Mush & Moo’s eyes began to SPARKLE.

They felt giddy.

They loved it all.

They wanted it all.

They bought it all.

 

Then came THE BIG DAY!

Mush gave Moo his brown paper package. Inside was a box of Lindor chocolates, Häagen-Dazs, and a glittery Hallmark card with the words “I love you”.

Moo gave Mush her present. His Carlton card was sparkly and full of hearts, and inside were the same words “I love you”.

They looked at each other. They didn’t have to articulate the words. Their cards had already done it for them.

Greedily, they ate up all their goodies. “Ouch” said both of them at once. They felt ill, and not very happy.

Resting in bed, they stared out at the sun, remembering all the times they skipped and played and laughed together in the garden. Mush & Moo smiled. They remembered how they felt. They felt love…all the time.

So, when they got better they went back to the beginning, where Once There Was LOVE and no brown paper packages tied up with strings.

 

Ideas that make you blink!

Mix two teams, a Super Bowl virgin, and a bucketload of wings. The result? A Blink Wink!

When you factor in two beloved teams, a Super Bowl virgin who’s all poised to delight us during halftime, and the colourful theatrics of Canada’s own Moment Factory, you know it’s going to be the greatest event of the year. If you missed it, well you missed a great show. But, hey, you’ll still have the commercials.  Here are some of the highlights:

Tom Brady: 3 SuperBowl rings.
Manning Brothers: 3 SuperBowl rings.
LET’S CALL IT EVEN!

Samsung continues to take a bite out of Apple! it!

Acura & Jerry Seinfeld. If you are a Jerry Seinfeld fan, you may appreciate this and the reference to a special someone at the end. I chuckled.

DO you still work with Monkeys? Don’t despair. CareerBuilder is here!

Budweiser, Return of the king Super Bowl ad – evokes The Untouchables and The Natural.

Since I worked on Honda in my past life, I have a great affinity for the brand and it’s possibilities. Great attempt at reprieving the role of Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller, but perhaps lacked a proper director and tight script.

Pizza Hut supporting budding artists. Not particularly a creative breakthrough but thumbs up for attempted brand initiative.

Time Warner Cable incorporates shows. But could have been a bit more creative! Ricky Gervais guest stars.

It’s HalfTime in America by Chrysler. Starts somber, transcends product, conveys an imp societal message.

When the world ends, all that remains is Chevy & wait for it, the Twinkie. @WendyWilliams what do you think?

Coca Cola - Interesting idea – Makes you wonder why they didn’t think of this years ago.

Madonna’s nemesis endorses Pepsi.

Was it Victoria’s Secret? Was it a Yogurt ad? No, it was the Fiat 500 Seduction ad. Definitely kept you guessing. 

Chevy Aliens - Go Home! 

And if you’d like to catch the complete list of superbowl, catch up on the entire list here: Super Bowl Ads 

CONGRATS Giants! 

Super Bowl 2012 – Will it make you Blink?


Let’s face it, there are only 2 reasons you would spend over 6 hours watching the Super Bowl.

             One, if you are really into the game.

             And, two, if you are an ad junkie.

I fall into the latter. But it doesn’t really matter what side you are on, because Super Bowl Sunday is surely going to make you blink, wink and think.


Here’s a few sneak previews of the Super Bowl 2012 – video stream via Brand Channel

Samsung Super Bowl Ad Makes Us Wink
Most of us have a soft spot for the underdog. And even though I have an obsessive love for the Apple brand, I can’t help but smile about how smart Samsung has been with it’s marketing strategy in the past year, slowly but decisively planting the seed to go after the #1 position. Avis did it years ago with Hertz, with their brilliant tagline “We are number 2: so we try harder.” It worked.

Personally, I like that Samsung is taking a different approach. Not choosing to play the part of the victim, but rather carving its own identity, confidently owning a space and pitching the benefit of their product over Apple.

Volkswagen Star Wars Super Bowl Spot 
Makes Us Think
Remember the Darth Vader kid from last year’s Super Bowl spot? That was cute and surprising. This year’s spot keeps the same Star Wars theme, making it fresh, intriguing and best of all, cleverly referencing last year’s spot. Brilliant!

Audi’s Truth In Engineering Makes Us Catch a Wink
Now here’s one of my least favourite ads. Check out the Audi video. Don’t get me wrong, for I totally understand the recent obsession with the Twilight saga and vampires being cooler than sliced bread. But seriously, for me, this direction for Audi feels a bit off brand. I’ve always considered Audi chic, sophisticated, mature, stylish. Perhaps they are trying to appeal to the Gen Y demographic, but in my opinion feels like they will lose their current loyal brand followers, like me, who buy an Audi because it stands for something. And that is the truth in advertising.