Official website of writer Aaron Johnston

Archives for October 2008

New Holiday Inn Express Commercials

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A few years ago Holiday Inn launched a campaign for their Express line of hotels that basically implied that Holiday Inn Express makes you smarter. You see, you get such a good night’s rest at HIE, that the next day you’re always at the top of your game. It’s a strategy that’s both ridiculous and ingenious at the same time. We’ve all stayed at uncomfortable hotels and tossed and turned all night. We all know what it’s like to have a crappy night’s sleep. It affects your performance. Well, working with ad agency Fallon Minneapolis, Holiday Inn Express is back with three hilarious additional executions entitled “Baby,” “Fainter,” and “Rapper.”

Enjoy.

American Airlines commercial “Big Man”

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An awesome new spot for American Airlines. The casting is spot on. Brilliant. I only wish this youtube file was less pixelated so you could see all the nuances of the actors’ performances.

Also, this youtube version isn’t the funniest cut of the spot. The one I saw has Milos getting a spot on the Shanghai team. It’s a funnier ending. But hey, this one’s worth the peek-a-loo.

Apple’s Response to the Recent Microsoft Campaign

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Microsoft just spent a boatload in advertising in an attempt to bring a little credibility back to the brand, but all of that came crashing down the moment Chiat Day, the LA-based ad agency with the Apple account, created this humdinger of a spot.

This is, without question, the best ad I’ve ever seen to discredit a competitor. Two guys in front of a white background, a desk, a stack of money, and a bookie cap. That’s it. That’s the production.

Oh, and some brilliant PC/Mac banter.

Compare that to the super-expensive 90-second Seinfeld spots or the subsequent (and super-expensive) global-hopping “I’m a PC” spots created for Microsoft, and Apple wins hands down for getting the most bang for their advertising buck.

The Apple spot is so dead-on brilliant in fact, that I can’t help but feel a little sorry for Microsoft. Before they launched their campaign, Microsoft was like the nerdy IT guy three years behind the times. But now, after a $300 million global ad campaign and a single Apple spot, Microsoft seems more like the real Wizard of Oz: all theatrics and no substance. Pull back that curtain, Toto, and you’ll find a very desperate Bill Gates turning all the knobs and switches.

It’s genius, folks. Genius. If Microsoft thought they had egg on their face before, this is what I’d consider a whole omelet, complete with cheese and ham and all the fixings.

It’s advertising at its greatest and yet most cruel. Sorry Microsoft, this battle goes to Apple.

I Simpsonized Myself

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Burger King, in conjunction with ad agency Crispin Porter, which has been getting far too many blog posts from me recently, created a website some time ago that allows users to upload a self portrait and turn themselves into Simpson characters. I decided to give the site a try. You can do so yourself by clicking here.


You have to answer a series of questions, like what color you want to be, your age and style of hair. I think the final outcome is more a product of the answers to the questions than the photo you upload. My character didn’t even have glasses when it finished. I had to ask the site to add them.

In the end, though, I thought the final outcome looked surprisingly like me. What a handsome devil!

The Routan Boom by Volkswagen (starring Brooke Shields)

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My office at work has TVs hanging from the walls. It’s nice. The screens nearest me are broadcasting ESPN all day, so I never miss the day’s Top Ten plays or the biggest news in sports. I’m not really a sports fan, but I do enjoy watching two-second clips of athletes doing amazing things. And since we are a business after all and have to get work done every now and again, the volume on the TVs are all turned down so as not to disturb us.

The lack of audio, however, didn’t keep me from noticing a new Volkswagen spot from ad agency Cripsin Porter Bogusky that features the never-aging Brooke Shields. I love the current campaign with the talking, black VW beetle because it’s a nod to the Bill Bernbach days and the invention of modern advertising he initiated back in the … 60s, was it? Anyway, it’s advertising history, and I respect Crispin for resurrecting what worked so well in the past, even if they weren’t the ones who thought of the campaigns in the first place. (See also Burger King’s “The King” and Crispin’s work for Orville Redenbacher.)

In any event, when Brooke Shields came on screen with the new Volkswagen Routan, I took notice. I had heard that Volkswagen would be introducing a minivan, and as a minivan owner myself, I was intrigued.

Since the sound was off, I didn’t hear a word of the commercial, but I assumed it was funny and particularly noticed the url at the end of the spot. www.routanboom.com.

Go to this website. It’s hilarious. The idea there is a simple one: the Volkswagen Routan is such a marvel of German engineering that it has initiated a baby boom. People are so desperate for the Routan that they’re having babies in order to justify the purchase. Brooke Shields calls it “the biggest challenges we face as a nation” and calls for those watching the video to take notice and join the cause. “Please,” asks the straight-faced Shields, “have a baby for love, not for German engineering.”

It’s great, and more importantly, completely different from anything else anyone is doing in the minivan market. Bravo, Volkswagen. You continue to stand out. You clearly understand the mindset and attitude of your demographic and nail it in your advertising every time. As an ad lover, child-rearer and minivan driver, I applaud you.

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