80 posts tagged “ad”

Now that I’ve figured out how to watch these on the RTL site, I am very much looking forward to this week’s instalment of Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei.

I stumbled across this TVC by accident. It was Norwich Union renaming itself Aviva late last year, and features Bruce Willis, Elle Macpherson, Alice Cooper and Ringo Starr. The idea was that each of these celebrities changed their name before they became famous.
   I am not sure if the first two qualify: the first was born Walter Bruce Willis and from what I can tell, was just known as Bruce. I’ve a few friends in the same boat, where their families called them by their middle names. Elle Macpherson might have been Eleanor Gow, but Elle is a reasonable shortening of Eleanor, and Macpherson was her stepfather’s surname.
   Alice Cooper was indeed Vincent Furnier and Ringo Starr was Richard Starkey.
   I imagine Elton John, Cliff Richard and Michael Caine weren’t available.

For the record, I did not start a discussion on Flash Forward because ABC is advertising it on the Lucire site:

Though it is pretty cool that the ad is there. I never saw it last week, though I did happen across ads for other TV shows from this network.

A pity that John Hillerman is still putting on his English accent and Magnum, PI Higgins persona in this 1989 TVC. I expected to hear his original Texan drawl.

This probably means very little to others, but I thought it was interesting to see some of the fall 2009 US TV shows being advertised on the Lucire site. A couple of years ago, we had Ugly Betty and other shows being pushed heavily on our site; this time around, it’s Eastwick, Cougar Town and Californication, which are a little more adult:

Carrying on from a post that Jaklumen made on his blog, I went to look for the Lucy Lawless-headed Greenpeace campaign to reduce emissions. This is Lucy Lawless as Lucy Lawless, and her accent has changed a great deal since I saw her in the Shark in the Park episode ‘Double or Quits’. It has Americanized slightly, which is no surprise since she is married to an American and has a home in LA.

You just have to admire some ad creatives. There are some ads that aren’t particularly relevant which come in through the networks, but this one on Lucire’s website is very entertaining:

Not that I will get to see it down here in Neuseeland. Those lucky Germans.

The new series of Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei begins September 3 on RTL at 8.15 p.m.

This spot from the late 1950s is very charming. And even when the economy wasn’t that fab, Italian people have stilo.

Un pub pour la Fiat 500 en Italie, des années 50.

There was quite a bit of buzz with the Ford Puma TVC in 1997, which used visual effects to bring Steve McQueen back to life, driving the newer car. The original footage and music are from Bullitt, and a body double was used in some shots, with McQueen’s face mapped on to him. I read some of the YouTube comments and they were quite critical, saying McQueen would never have driven this car, but I beg to differ. Plus, it was done with the permission of Steve McQueen’s children.

   The director even got asked, ‘What was it like to work with him?’ by people who did not realize that, by that time, Steve McQueen had been dead for some 16 years.
   I was very surprised to see Ford used a similar idea when selling the 2005 Mustang a few years ago. Maybe it’s because I knew of the Puma ad for such a long time that this newer one seems less clever. Make a track in your field and dead people will begin emerging. And take your car.