hrlaser@sactoh0.UUCP (Harv R. Laser) (10/24/89)
"Famous faces in odd places - Astronauts, musicians make Commodore ads shine" By Bob Garfield The Sacramento Bee, Monday, Oct. 23, 1989 What are your favorite celebrities up to? Enquiring minds want to know! Well, Elliott Gould has done a horrifying Jenny Craig weight loss commercial, heaven help him. Kay Ballard has drilled 600 beet below rock bottom in a pitiful spot for Francesco Rinaldi spaghetti sauce. And they say John Madden has just signed as official spokesman for the Belgrade People's Tire Belt Factor 4, bringing his endorsement deals to a round 1,000. No siree, it just doesn't seem like a commercial these days unless there's somebody famous in it, or marginally famous, or formerly famous. If Gertrude Ederle were a little healthier, she'd probably be the Jiffilube Girl. Selling Cranberry Juice Cocktail? By all means sign Bobby McFerrin, whose fruit-beverage relevance is manifest. Peddling stocks and bonds? Get Henry Kissinger to croak about "trading blocs," whatever they are. Above all, do not do a Fruit'n'Fibre spot without nabbing Tim Conway and Harvey Korman. These guys' careers are hot, torrid, on fire! Have you seen "Nutt House"? Very, verrry, funny. I believe you get the point. Using celebrities is fine, unless they're used gratuitously and haphazardly - which is to say, most of the time. So you'll probably also appreciate an instance when, in a universe of Celebrity for the Hell of it, a procession of otherwise unrelated famous faces is used to the utmost advantage. The lead commercial in the new Commodore Amiga campaign trots out astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Gordon Cooper and Scott Carpenter, Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda; the Pointer Sisters; composer But Bachrach; Little richard and former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill. All under one roof. A middle-class, suburban roof, no less. What brings them to this typical, white-bread home is Stevie, a 15 year-old kid who owns an Amiga computer. In the hilarious 60- second version of the spot, the astronauts arrive at the front door to "compare notes with Stevie on the new space station." Stevie's mom is nonplussed, but upstairs the kid is working on a real-time-animation, full color schematic of the space station - on his Amiga. When Lasorda calls, "Just a question about moving (Willie) Randolph to the number two position." With a few keystrokes, Stevie calls up a ball diamond graphic, superimposed on which are Randolph's photo and stats. "This'll work," Stevie says. The Pointer Sisters are next, for help on their new album. Then Bachrach and Little Richard, as Stevie calls up a keyboard graphic from the musical-composition software package. Downstairs, meantime, Mom and Dad can scarcely believe what's happening. Dad doesn't mug or scowl or bristle. HIs bewilderment is expressed with an incredulous blink. Then comes Henry Morgan's dry voiceover: "The Amiga. Color, sound, graphics, power. At a price to make it truly a thing of beauty for the creative mind." By this time, Tip O'Neill is at the door, and Mom is barely surprised. She just offers him some of her husband's fried chicken and sends him upstairs. The next shot, O'Neill blundering into the commotion of Stevie's room, awkwardly wielding a drumstick, is a genuine classic. The entire spot - from Messner Vetere Berger Caery Schmetterer, New York - is wonderful. Tom Messner's copy is spare, yet witty. When Mom first opens the door and says, "Aren't you astronauts?" there's no punchline, per se, but the line is still funny. All Bachrach and Little Richard say is "Burg Bachrach" and "Little Richard" and THAT's funny. Art director Berry Vetere has got the settings to a T, and director Matthew Robbins' packing is perfection itself. Moreover, he has gotten flawlessly understated performances from everybody. Dad says not one word, but speaks volumes doing it. More importantly, the commercial speaks volumes about a remarkably versatile computer. If Commodore is ever again to turn a profit in this country, it must somehow magically create an image for - and convey the hitherto unconveyed advantages of - a product that does much of what the Apple Macintosh does at a much lower price. The parade of personalities makes just that point. No willy- nilly, "Who's" eclecticism here. A home computer that does professional-quality work for all these varied disciplines is truly a cause to celebritize. Rating: * * * (three stars = notable) Bob Garfield is a columnist for Advertising Age magazine. (end of typed-in article) ---- My comments: 1) "...does much of what the Macintosh does.." !?!?!?!? Coff.. sputter.. gag... puke... You were doin' great, Bob, till you got to that line. 2) Curiously enough, although this article appeared in the largest-circulation daily newspaper in the State Capital of California, which has no fewer than four Amiga dealers within a 20 mile radius, the Amiga teevee ads are NOT running on any Sacramento stations! At least if they are, THIS teevee watcher has yet to see one! :-( -- | Harv Laser | SAC-UNIX, Sacramento, Ca. | | People/Link: CBM*HARV | UUCP=...pacbell!sactoh0 |
langz@asylum.SF.CA.US (Lang Zerner) (10/27/89)
In article <1976@sactoh0.UUCP> hrlaser@sactoh0.UUCP (Harv R. Laser) writes: >...has no fewer than four Amiga dealers >within a 20 mile radius, [but] the Amiga teevee ads are NOT running... >At least if they are, THIS teevee watcher has yet to see one! :-( Harvey-- Commodore has sent advertising schedules to dealers in the vicinity of their advert markets. In Boston, a member of the MIT Amiga User's group got a copy of the metro Boston schedule from a local dealer, along with permission to post it. It looks like C-A is doing a good job with scheduling -- many (most?) slots are in high-audience shows like Oprah and the Cosby Show. If you are friendly with any of local dealers, why not stop by and see if they know what's going on with advertising in your area. Commodore seems to be working with dealers, and if you ask nicely you may be able to get a copy of your area schedule (if there is one yet ;-). -- Be seeing you... --Lang Zerner langz@asylum.sf.ca.us UUCP:bionet!asylum!langz ARPA:langz@athena.mit.edu "...and every morning we had to go and LICK the road clean with our TONGUES!"