Did You Learn Anything, Tiger?

Wow. Nike's first Tiger Woods-centric commercial since everyone's opinion of the golf great drastically changed last fall has surfaced. They aren't brushing scandal under the rug. They have Tiger staring the audience in the eye, while the voice of his late father asks him if he's learned anything. I'm absolutely fascinated by this approach. I find it really powerful. Surprisingly, I don't view it from my regular cynical standpoint. I have lost a lot of respect for Tiger Woods in the last few months, even though I must admit that his personal life is really none of my business. Even so, I really do appreciate the message of facing your demons and learning from your mistakes that this commercial conveys. Nike's standing by their man, espousing responsibility for one's actions. Somehow it almost makes me want to cheer for Tiger's triumphant return. I never would have guessed that a Nike commercial would make me feel this way.

Friday Breakthrough: Twitter Saves Lives, Cola Kills, and Who Knows What Calbee Does?

The Friday Breakthrough is Ottawa's weekly roundup of some of the Internet's best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office.

1. In social media news this week, two celebrity Tweeters, actresses Demi Moore and Nia Vardalos, were involved in the intervention of an apparent suicide threat/attempt by a young man in Florida after allegedly receiving disturbing Twitter messages from him. Apparently, Demi Moore's Twitter account was involved with a similar case last spring. With a great number of followers comes great responsibility, I suppose. It's nice to hear that Moore and Vardalos took action.

2. A group called The Alliance for a Healthier New York has initiated an advertising campaign to garner support for a soda tax bill proposed by Governor David Paterson. Darren Franich of EW.com points out the relevance of this campaign to Lady Gaga's latest hairstyle, wondering aloud if the pop star is showing her support of this campaign with this new look.

3. Well, this video certainly was the highlight of my Friday so far. Check out this weird/creepy/unintelligible commercial for Calbee, a Japanese snack food company. Why? Why not? It's Friday. I can't say I get how the commercial's content relates to the product being sold, but I'm sure it catches people's attention!

Have a nice weekend!

The Most Worthy of the World’s Best Commercials 2009

Recently, I had the pleasure of viewing the World’s Best Commercials as per the 2009 London International Awards. Although some spots were obviously made with the sole intention of winning awards, others were able to do the near impossible: connect us with the brand in an entertaining and surprising way. Here’s my top pics from the World’s Best:

First up, an automotive ad for Volkwagen that actually had an idea in it. I say that because the other automotive spots that took home hardware were all about making the Art Directors look like gods, and little else. You can’t help but be charmed by this one and good on Volkswagen for keeping up their tradition of amazing advertising.

How do you take a 19 second beer commercial and make it not only memorable but also absolutely freakin' hilarious? See for yourself.

Although these were my absolute favs, there are plenty more on the list that are worth watching. Check them out after the jump.

Jane Austen is to Zombies as Sir John A. MacDonald is to the Rolling Stones

Lately, I've noticed a few OC Transpo buses around Ottawa sporting a new ad by Chez 106. They are certainly eye-catching, due to the uncanny image of Sir John A. MacDonald with a bright red Rolling Stones' Forty Licks-style mouth supplanted on his face.

I'm impressed by Chez's mashup in the ad. It's clever and modern, reminiscent of the recent book "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", by Seth Grahame-Smith (and Jane Austen).

How about you, Daily Breakthrough readers? What local ads have appealed to you recently? Let us know.

Based On A True Story

Tim Hortons is in a bit of hot water due to a marketing misstep. Their latest television commercial is a touching one, so much so that many viewers were moved to learn more about the featured family, the "true story" that this commercial was based on. The problem there is that there isn't one.

Dakshana Bascaramurty of the Globe and Mail burst everyone's bubbles today, reporting that Tim Hortons spokesperson David Morelli says the commercial was in fact based on "an amalgamation of stories". Cue eye-rolling by cynics everywhere.

Does this fib take away from the commercial? It is still heartwarming and patriotic, but it would definitely be even more so if we knew that it was 100% authentic. What do you think? Are you disappointed in Tim Hortons for misleading the public or should we expect such little white lies in today's advertising realm? Let us know what you think!

Friday Breakthrough: Olympic Edition Part One

The Friday Breakthough is Ottawa’s weekly roundup of some of the Internet’s best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office. For the duration of the Winter Olympic Games, the Friday Breakthrough will be dedicated to reviewing The Good, The Bad and The “What Were They Thinking?!” of the marketing of the Vancouver Olympics.

Part One: The Good

1. Nike’s Force Fate

Nike nails it with “Force Fate”. No commercial in recent memory better captures the attitude of our determined athletes. And what about those golden expectations? Their defiant retort: “Destiny doesn’t decide if we win. We do.” Wicked line. Pow! They hit you in the gut with that. The music is killer, too. It’s a crank-up-your-ipod-I’m-gonna-run-10miles-flat-out kind of song. Honestly, if this spot doesn’t get you psyched up for Team Canada Hockey at Olympics, I don’t know what will.

If there’s one downfall for the commercial, it’s how pretty it looks. It’s shot beautifully, which makes me wish that it wasn’t. The attitude of this spot is so gritty that it leaves me wanting imagery that matches. Give me raw footage of practice; with sweat everywhere, whistles blowing, coaches yelling, and the heavy breathing of athletes pushing themselves past their breaking point. Now that is some serious “destiny” butt kicking. That would be the ultimate “Force Fate”.

2. CTV’s Believe, narrated by Donald Sutherland and set to the music of Oscar-winning composer Howard Shore.

Now I am a self-confessed Olympic junkie who loves those touchy-feely athlete profile stories that tug at your heart strings, but I have to say CTV has done a nice job with their promo spots. Donald Sutherland has the perfect pitch to carry the tone of the Canadian Olympic dream and adding in the music from the guy who won an Oscar for his work on the Lord of The Rings trilogy isn’t too shabby either.

Although I love the spots that profile our athletes, I am not such a fan of the other “Believe” spots that feature young Canadians. The thought is right and the message is right, but somehow it doesn’t feel authentic. It doesn’t pull at my heartstrings and it seems forced, like I know those kids were fed those lines. Canadian kids do have Olympic dreams and they’ll tell you about them, but I just don’t buy that they would tell you in the way that CTV is presenting. So overall, they got it right with Donald Sutherland, but they dropped the ball on the spots featuring the kids.

3. IOC (International Olympic Committee) – The Best of Us

This IOC spot with the cartooned athletes from the different continents in their respective Olympic gear. In the spot, these enormous cartooned athletes are standing on top of their home continents and each have a rope. They pull hard until they bring all the continents together. The different continents coming together is like a visual interpretation of the Olympic rings – emphasized by the continental colours. It’s imaginative, memorable and fun to watch. Kudos to the IOC!

Stay tuned for next week’s Friday Breakthrough. It’s gonna be ugly. I mean bad. Actually, Olympic marketing bad. Ok. You get the idea.

Friday Breakthrough: Tigers and Ketchup and Comebacks, Oh My!

The Friday Breakthrough is Ottawa's weekly roundup of some of the Internet's best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office.

1) I have a new favourite commercial (and not surprisingly, it's a Super Bowl ad). How cute is that baby tiger? Simon Houpt of The Globe and Mail explains that Cars.com is one of many Super Bowl advertisers that are connecting their ads to social media (in this case, YouTube) to build anticipate and start a dialogue. For more on Super Bowl ads, check out this previous Daily Breakthrough post by our own Casey O'Brien: "My Most Memorable Super Bowl Commercials".

2) The Globe and Mail reports today that the ketchup geniuses over at Heinz have revolutionized the ketchup packet. 40 years after they were first invented, the packets have been redesigned so that it "has a base that's more like a cup for dipping and also a tear-off end for squeezing, plus it holds three times as much ketchup than a traditional packet", reports Sarah Skidmore. On behalf of all ketchup lovers out there, I say "hallelujah!"

3) I received an email from Club Monaco in my inbox this morning and experienced major flashbacks to grade 8. The email announced the return of their iconic crest - "back by popular demand!", available in select Canadian stores only.

They say that if you wait long enough, everything will come back in style. Back in the late 90's, every girl I knew had a Club Monaco sweatshirt with the big crest. If memory serves, mine was a dark navy blue hand-me-down from my older sister. I would hope that my fashion style has progressed since back then, but I've gotta say... the more I look at those comfy looking sweatshirts, the more nostalgic I feel. I may have to get one, just for kicks, but I promise I won't pair it with a scrunchie.

Travel Destinations in Our Own Backyard

The other day, I happened upon a web banner for the "Locals Know" campaign. Since I was, at the time, planning a mini vacation to Toronto, I clicked the link to check out what the website has to offer. The main messaging of the website urges Canadians to "Discover the Canada you don't know." Is that a challenge, Canadian Tourism Commission? As their press release for the campaign explains, they aim to inspire Canadians to explore Canada's "surprises and secrets" such as "desert-like dunes in the middle of the country", "volcanoes on the verge of the Pacific", and "tropic-like waters within hours of vibrant cities." Tell me more!

Visitors to LocalsKnow.ca are encouraged to post their own "spots" - they must be in Canada and they should be places that "most people have never heard of." As I perused through the photos, I noticed that there were in fact intriguing Canadian hot spots that I was unaware of. For example, check out this photo of beautiful turquoise water. Can you believe that this is an Ontario destination? Crazy!

The website also boasts travel deals from "partners" of the campaign. Most of the deals here in Ottawa are care of Ottawa Tourism. The great thing about Ottawa is that, as Canada's Capital, there are countless tourist attractions. That said, these attractions are not just for tourists! People come from miles around to see our great museums, check out the Byward Market or Parliament Hill, attend Bluesfest or the Jazz Festival or the Casino du Lac-Leamy Sound of Light festival... I could go on forever! What's your favourite Ottawa attraction or activity? (My favourite attraction is Saunder's Farm at Halloween-time, located just outside of the city in Munster.)

Although I didn't end up finding any deals to take advantage of for my upcoming trip, I did find that the site was inspiring in that it reminded me that you don't need an expensive plane ticket to experience something new and exciting!

They Call Him Dr. Love

Check out the new commercial for Dr. Pepper Cherry, featuring the none other than Gene Simmons. Dr. Love doesn't come cheap, so clearly the recession hasn't hurt the ad budget of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.

Enjoy!