I'll Never Make An Obligatory Blog Post Of My Favorite Ads of 2011

Going to a first interview for a job is a lot like going on a first date.  I get dressed up, spend 10 minutes trying to get my hair to look just right, and I get really nervous.  The date usually goes okay.  We spend some time telling each other about ourselves and try to get a feel for each other.  I get asked, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" which I really have no answer for because I don't know where I see myself in five days.  Then we dive into our favorite things where we see what we have in common.  I babble off my favorite music, movies, television shows, books, etc... which is radically different from what my date likes.  Rob Gordon once said "...That what really matters is what you like, not what you are like... Books, records, films - these things matter. Call me shallow but it's the (expletive deleted) truth."


This brings me to my favorite 20 minutes of an interview at an agency: "What are some of your favorite ads?"  Unfortunately, it's mostly about shoes, video games, and alcohol.  But what else is there?  Car insurance?

The Puma FAAS commercial turned into an inside joke between one of my friends and I.  Our conversations devolved into us yelling "SHUT IT!" at each other.  It reminds me of the days when people would greet each other with "WAZZUP!" and there was always that one person who screamed it for a ridiculous amount of time.  That, and the song is really catchy.  

I used to have a negative perception of K-Swiss.  I have a positive perception of Danny McBride.  His character in Eastbound and Down is now the MFCEO of K-Swiss in this NSFW spot.  Sure it's filled with cursing and with it being 5 minutes long isn't really a television ad, but it's my list and now I'll at least look at getting a pair of Tubes when I buy my next pair of training shoes.  Plus, the writer of the spot, Matt Heath at 72andsunny, is apparently a writer of the third season of the show.

Captain Morgan just has this swagger to him.  He's under attack but he's not worried because he has plenty of rum to share with his enemies.  I can only imagine his pick-up line.


Captain Morgan: "ARRRR!  You got a little Captain in ya?"
Woman: "Yes, as a matter of fact I do."
Captain Morgan: "Ye want some more?"

One of my all-time favorite songs is "Undone" by Weezer.  The song is about a knit-sweater unraveling by pulling on a single piece of string.  The sweater is a metaphor for a relationship that is coming undone by a tiny issue, but that issue was enough to snowball and bring up other things, causing the demise of the couple.  This commercial is a giant metaphor.  Not only is Derek Rose in beastmode, he's doing so against two horsemen (one wearing Magic blue, the other in Celtic green) and three matadors with Heat red and yellow capes, who are representative of Chris Bosh, LeBron James, and Dwayne Wade.  And let's not forget the obvious: he plays for the Bulls and he is the bull, and his last name is Rose, which are normally thrown to the matador.  Perfect spot.

Blake Griffin wants to be in Rage?  In case you don't know, Rage is an ultra-violent post-apocalyptic shooting game similar to that of Mad Max.  Blake Griffin is an up and coming NBA superstar.  The two don't mix.  I think it's great because it's acknowledged in the commercial, breaking down the 4th wall.  There's that and "TIGER JUMP!"  In case you're wondering, he did make it into the game.

One of my first jobs was working as a bagger at a grocery store.  During my training, I had to watch a campy video that wasn't meant to be campy about how to do my job.  It was incredibly boring and I quit that job two months later.  This is the complete opposite.  The Stella Artois Perfect Pour is a campy video that's meant to be campy.  It uses puns to entertain the audience.  The spot also does what it intends to, teaches how to perform the Perfect Pour.  Sure, the brew doesn't taste any different and is a show for the customer, but it's a process that isn't done by any other brewer.


Honorable mentions go to (1) State Farm Casual Wednesday commercial for the "Office Space" reference, though Gary Cole should have asked for the TPS reports, (2) DirecTV's The Truth spot, (3) Allstate's Mayhem, and (4) any T-Mobile commercial with Carly Foulkes.