Dentek Nutcracker Ad

If you read this blog, then you know my rules for advertising, which are to communicate why anyone would want the product, in a fun or memorable way, and if possible why they should buy the advertised brand versus another brand. Most advertising is not successful on one or the other. But this one is a prime example of the first part: to communicate why someone might want to buy the product.

This spot shows a nutcracker in bed, trying to sleep, but the tooth grinding makes it impossible.

Perfect. It gives you an unforgettable image of why you might need a mouth guard in one image. It’s so succinct, it would make an equally good print ad. I hope they’re doing it as a print ad too.

The only thing it doesn’t do (which most ads, even my own, don’t do) is to show us (or explain) why we should buy this particular brand versus another one. But like I said, almost no ads do that ever anyway, so it’s hardly to its detriment.

Here’s the tooth-grinding commercial:

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/A47i/dentek-maximum-protection-dental-guard-cracking-nuts

(I thought maybe the nutcracker guy in this ad couldn’t sleep because he was worried Mr. Peanut would break into his home and get revenge for when he bit Mr. Peanut before.)

(BTW: My rules for advertising are as follows: Show in a simple & funny/memorable manner why someone would want the product, and if possible, why they should buy this brand as opposed to another brand. It's amazing how many ads do not adhere to either of these scenarios.)

JetBlue United Airlines Overbooking Ad (Joke/Proposed)

United Airlines overbooked a flight so badly recently that they had a customer violently dragged off of the plane. This made the news, and caused the CEO to apologize, saying: “No one should ever be mistreated this way.”

An ad for a competing airline could cite the United Airlines CEO’s quote and then say: “That’s right! Passengers should never be mistreated like that! They should only be mistreated like this!” And then they list a number of ways United Airlines is mistreating their passengers, such as sub economy seating with no legroom and no (and I mean no) frills, routinely overbooking flights so people get their seats canceled and have to take another flight, etc.

Then the ad says that if you’d rather avoid this type of mistreatment by United, fly (whichever airline; I would suggest JetBlue).

Here’s a news story about the incident and the CEO’s apology:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/united-ceo-apologizes-full-no-one-ever-mistreated-way-200648829.html

Mark of the Wry Lance

Mark of the Wry Lance: Starring Mark Rylance: A story about a Zorro/Robin Hood type hero operating in 16th Century England. He rides on horseback, using a lance as a weapon, helping the poor and downtrodden peasants and out of favor nobility and leaving behind a mocking, wry lance mark on all foes he defeats in battle.

(Writing on defeated foes with a lance turns out to be quite the difficult skill to master!)

Cat Treats Treat Trot Ad (Proposed)

A cat tries its best to lead its owners into the kitchen where the treats are every time anyone gives her any attention, and the family who owns her says to each other about this attempt on her part to keep getting more treats: “There she goes again with the ‘Treat Trot’. Always trying to lure us back into the kitchen where the treats are.” And eventually one of the family caves to their cat’s desires and follows her into the kitchen to give her some cat treats. Then the announcer says: “Cats will try anything to try to get more (whatever brand of) cat treats! Cats just love them!”

(My sister has a little cat that’s super cute, and she tries to lure us into the kitchen every time she gets our attention because she just can’t get enough cat treats.)

Cat Treats Sylvester Ads (Joke/Proposed)

In Warner Brothers cartoons, we see Sylvester the Cat doing all kind of crazy stunts to try to get to Tweety Bird. So in this spot for a brand of cat treats, we’d see clips like the ones from Sylvester’s Warner Brothers cartoons where Sylvester tries all kind of hazardous things to get to a bag of treats, and each time Granny catches him and stops him, saying: “Shame on you, Sylvester! You know you’re not supposed to have so many treats!” And then, eventually, Granny feels sorry for Sylvester and gives him some more treats, saying: “Okay, okay, you can have some more treats. I see you working so hard to get them, so I think you’ve earned them.”

In a further spot in this ad campaign, we see a joke version of the Sylvester cartoon: “Birds Anonymous”, only this time it’s “Treats Anonymous”, showing a group of cats who meet regularly to help curb their appetite for cat treats. But as hard as they try, they can’t help themselves. And as a tag, we see a truck carrying cat treats drive by, with the cat treats logo showing just over the fence that is the backdrop for the “Treats Anonymous” meeting, and all the cats immediately begin chasing after the truck like a pack of dogs.

Dr. Scholl’s No Mean Feet Ad (Proposed)

We see film from martial arts movies of people kicking people and things with their feet, causing injuries, breaking bones and objects, etc., and the announcer says: “Mean feet. Why are they mean? It’s because they’re uncomfortable! How do you expect feet suffering from pain and discomfort to be nice? But with a pair of Dr. Scholl’s Comfort Fit Orthotic Inserts, the pain goes away, leaving the feet feeling fabulous so they’ll be nice again.”

Dr. Scholl’s “Little Bit O Soul” Ad (Proposed)

This proposed (that is to say, “spec”) spot for Dr. Scholl’s comfort shoe inserts would use the classic song: “Little Bit O’ Soul” (by John Carter and Ken Lewis), but with altered lyrics to sing about how Dr. Scholl’s help aching feet feel better, like so:

Now when you’re feeling low ‘cause your shoes feel tight,

You need a pair o’ Dr. Scholl’s to put you right.

You feet are making you want to kneel and pray,

You need a pair o’ Dr. Scholl’s to come your way.

Now when your girl’s shoes are on, feet broke in two,

You need a pair o’ Dr. Scholl’s to see you through.

And when you raise the roof when in pain you bawl,

You’ll get a lot of relief with a pair o’ Dr. Scholl’s.

And when your party fails ‘cause your feet are hurtin’,

A pair o’ Dr. Scholl’s and for foot pain it’s curtains, yeah.

And when foot’s a mess and you feel like cryin’,

Just remember these Dr. Scholl’s of mine,

And as you walk through life on a pair of shoe’s soles, (on uncomfortable soles?)

Just remember that your feet need a pair o’ Dr. Scholl’s.

A pair o’ Dr. Scholl’s, yeah (A pair o’ Dr. Scholl’s).

(And as we hear this new version of the song singing about Dr. Scholl’s inserts for shoes, we’d see different people (one per pair of lyric lines) acting out what the lyrics sing about.)