[turtle777]

Some Apple fanatics will say this is sacrilegious, but I think it's agreat PR stunt.
A lot of press for $ 60,000 !

http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/...-ad-169851.php

-t

[FeLiZeCaT]

That will cost big on iPod scratches.

[MaxPower2k3]

the commercial will be shown on the huge LED billboards outside of madison square garden during may and june

link

[quilmes]

why are we even paying attention to this? its not that good.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by smellycat

why are we even paying attention to this? its not that good.

I think it's a great PR stunt.

People love iPods, and they hate if something they love would get broken.
So naturally, this ad will be controversial, and get a lot of press. Hence, good PR stunt.

-t

[ironknee]

tekserve's old store was cool ...everything opposite to the apple store ie...cluttered with old macs like a museum...

[abe]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

I think it's a great PR stunt.

People love iPods, and they hate if something they love would get broken.
So naturally, this ad will be controversial, and get a lot of press. Hence, good PR stunt.

-t

Concept: B

Execution: C-

I liked the idea of a bunch of iPods used as dominoes. But it was just unimpressive in it's execution.

That is one of the things that distinguishes local and regional ads from national ads.

Better known agencies with higher paid creatives are available only to national advertisers who have bigger ad budgets to play with.

And while that doesn't NECESSARILY mean a better final product the old rule of thumbs usually apply.

* You get what you pay for.

* Small businesses are small for a reason.

Of course the second of these 'truisms' isn't so true at all, because EVERY big successful firm started out small. But at a certain point they decided to grow. And the decision to grow is the determining factor.

In the case of this retailer you can see that they want to grow. But they either are willing to accept an ad that is sorta good or good enough or they just don't know how to make their ad budget work smarter.

That's why I'm going to give them my free advice. (Keep in mind truism #1)

To make this ad work harder and smarter requires very little extra work. All they would need do is to shoot the iPods falling in sequence as they did here, over and over again, from many angles and then re-arrange them in different patterns and edit the footage to make it seem as though there were a lot more iPods than there actually were.

Mind you, to avoid having the audience watch it and think there really WERE thousands of iPods used, the edit should be done to make it OBVIOUS that it was an exaggeration. (The LAST thing you should EVER do is intentionally try to deceive or be thought of as trying to deceive the public!) This would need skillful editing by an editor with some discernment and good judgment.

This digitally deceptive sequence of falling iPods would be set to some fast paced music with a feel bordering on the frenetic. The trumpet line in the "Flight of the Bumble Bee" comes to mind.

If possible, I'd try speeding up or slowing down the music or the video to match the speed of the falling iPods. Then as we get closer to the end of the commercial having them falling as quickly as possible, in time with the music or not, as though racing toward some kind of conclusion that would only be hinted at or suggested in the spot, the video and the music should both end abruptly without any kind of payoff, leaving the viewer in suspense. Then there would be an invitation to come to the store to see the climax of this great race.

And with this retailer's products and marketing acumen they could devise some satisfying conclusion to reward the visitor with.

For Easter it could be a bunny petting area. For Valentines Day it could be a digitally framed digital snapshot of you to email to your loved one and in the digital frame there would be an image of some delicious looking electronic device or computer gizmo. And etc and so on.

And throughout the store TV monitors could play this commercial on a loop to reinforce the excitement/reward feeling they will be sure to get by visiting the store regularly. It would be the thing they are known for.

There you go. A whole frigging positioning campaign for little more cost than what they've already spent for just so-so results.

FWIW.

[Eriamjh]

I would have done it in CG!

[turtle777]

Wow, abe, you got nothing else to do ?

-t

[ghporter]

That was pretty cool looking! Of course those iPods are going to have to be sold for less than top dollar, but advertising is inherently expensive.

[abe]

Originally Posted by Eriamjh

I would have done it in CG!

How much would it have cost to make it look real? I mean REALLY real?

There's nothing really impressive about a CG effect of dominoes falling unless it looks like it's the real thing. At which point you ask yourself, is there any way this could have been done cheaper and with a greater WOW! factor?

[abe]

Originally Posted by ghporter

That was pretty cool looking! Of course those iPods are going to have to be sold for less than top dollar, but advertising is inherently expensive.

Donate em to a charity auction. Write em off on next years's taxes and get the PR!

And in the weeks building up to the auction they could advertise aspects of the commercial shoot and the logistics and all and thus heighten the appeal of these particular iPods. Have each one specially engraved so the recipient will know it's the real deal and each one has collector's value!

Every bit of advertising they'd do for the auction and to help make these iPods individual "stars" would be image enhancing PR for the store.

[abe]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

Wow, abe, you got nothing else to do ?

-t

Pot kettle black, much?

[olePigeon]

They shoulda done the V for Vendetta domino scene, but with iPods. THAT woulda bee friggin' awesome.

[loki74]

Originally Posted by abe

How much would it have cost to make it look real? I mean REALLY real?

There's nothing really impressive about a CG effect of dominoes falling unless it looks like it's the real thing. At which point you ask yourself, is there any way this could have been done cheaper and with a greater WOW! factor?

well I can tell you this--it probably would not cost $60K. You'd have to take some very precise modeling measurements, take a very high resolution HDRI panorama, plan out the shot, film the footage, matchmove your 3D camera, render, and composite. For something that realistic, it would cost you a pretty penny. But I highly doubt it would be $60K. *

as for the WOW factor... I wasn't terribly wowed. I mean... dominos falling, and theyre iPods, woopdeedoo. Now if there was some actual breakage going on, as in, things falling apart and pieces flying everywhere, and really good camera work, that would be a different story.

I think the real wow factor in this commercial is the fact that they spent $60K on it, not the commercial itself.

(EDIT- * and I do mean, photorealistic.)

[rickey939]

I dig.®

[abe]

Originally Posted by loki74

well I can tell you this--it probably would not cost $60K. You'd have to take some very precise modeling measurements, take a very high resolution HDRI panorama, plan out the shot, film the footage, matchmove your 3D camera, render, and composite. For something that realistic, it would cost you a pretty penny. But I highly doubt it would be $60K. *

as for the WOW factor... I wasn't terribly wowed. I mean... dominos falling, and theyre iPods, woopdeedoo. Now if there was some actual breakage going on, as in, things falling apart and pieces flying everywhere, and really good camera work, that would be a different story.

I think the real wow factor in this commercial is the fact that they spent $60K on it, not the commercial itself.

(EDIT- * and I do mean, photorealistic.)

Cool, if photorealistic!

I'm not saying their current domino footage has wow factor, I'm saying that people enjoy watching really long, elaborately designed and executed domino falls. But if it looks CG, it would be difficult for me to imagine even the most ambitious design being impressive.

The human factor plays an important part in making domino falls as enjoyable to watch as they are.

[Mastrap]

60k is very little for a commercial. A decent budget starts at 150k.

[abe]

Originally Posted by Mastrap

60k is very little for a commercial. A decent budget starts at 150k.

Haha, $60K was the 'talent' fee, ALONE! The production costs are on top of that, as you probably well know!

[Salty]

I'd have arranged the iPods to be doing more. Like... have em on a few different things, going up or down stairs or something... in loops, whatever. Not to mention it'd be cool if they had nanos and minis in there too.

[FeLiZeCaT]

I have three iPods and I tried it.

The whole thing turns in disorder at the shuffle.

[vinster]

Agree with Abe. I like the concept but this should have been done on a much grander scale with some tricks like having an iPod fall from a hight and set off a formation of iPods. At a cost of $60,000 I don't even think it'll get much PR, and I won't buy an iPod from Tekserve (in the very remote chance they decide to resell them without disclosing their use in this ad). And something like this needs be real no matter what, pulling it off via CGI, even on a grand scale, wouldn't impress anyone.

This seems like a poor attempt to imitate something great like the Honda Cog advert from 2003 which is not a cheat and took 606 retakes to get right.

[ironknee]

a) i hope tekserve is not reselling those ipods as "new"

b) it was disappointing because i expected a lot more ipods...a lot more...but i guess the reality is ipod's prices.

c) agreed salty, even if they didn't have 40,000 ipods, they could have pretended they did and cut/paste 10+ different scenes together to make it more creative...even if we know it was stitched together, if it were, well again, more creative...that would be a good director

====

totaly agree with vinster

[Ratm]

Tekserve is the isht. Love the place.

[quilmes]

what's to say that all of the iPods dont have that protective tape on them and in fact are all still "perfect"?

[MaxPower2k3]

Considering they're all iPod photos, i don't think anyone's in danger of buying one of these by mistake.

And, while they definitely could've done some cooler stuff than a straight line, it is only a 15-second spot, so they're not going to be able to fit in any huge record-breaking setups.

[Cowwie]

Not to mention, it's running on an LCD screen in the middle of NYC. Gotta get your message out quickly and without sound and it does a decent job of doing so.

[loki74]

Originally Posted by abe

Cool, if photorealistic!

I'm not saying their current domino footage has wow factor, I'm saying that people enjoy watching really long, elaborately designed and executed domino falls. But if it looks CG, it would be difficult for me to imagine even the most ambitious design being impressive.

The human factor plays an important part in making domino falls as enjoyable to watch as they are.

Oh yes, totally. The human factor could be there even in a CG setup, as all the other elements would be actual footage. To achieve the photorealism, the trick would be less in the modeling/texturing (iPods are fairly simple shape and texture wise) but in the lighting and especially the compositing.

and I definately agree about that it could be a more elaborate setup--use a limited field of view and lots of cuts. Even if they didnt, more cuts/camera angles would be nice.

[greenamp]

Apple should contact these guys, negotiate some royalties, and set up an IPod commercial like this, except on a much more massive scale. They could simply use the cases with no guts.

[quilmes]

I think we are giving these guys WAY too much credit. It's not that original.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by smellycat

why are we even paying attention to this? its not that good.

Exactly, it is totally Meh.

To me it looks like they just had 20 iPods and did some creative editing.