Arrested Development sets the bar for modern humour - Creative Excellence Fridays

Double entendre.  As described in Wikipedia -- A double entendre is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Typically one of the interpretations is rather obvious whereas the other is more subtle. The more subtle of the interpretations may have a humourous, ironic, or risqué purpose.


Does the term big ass constitute as risque in this day and age?  According to Kmart it does. 
Okay, not exactly sophisticated humour.  But the editing is tight and the performances perfectly straddle the line of believable and etherial.  




Humour is always a gamble. And humour is not a constant. What we laughed at a hundred years ago is certainly different than 2013.

Society has changed and so has its' concept of humour. Even in the last 10 years we've adjusted the dial a bit in what North America considered humourous. Take Arrested Development for example. In a Rolling Stone interview given recently by Ron Howard to promote the Netflix revival of the show, he explains how the humour was a bit ahead of the curve in 2003.


Then along came Ricky Gervais "The Office" to North America followed by "The Extras". Right behind it was 30 Rock and the Steve Carell version of "The Office".

I personally attribute it to cable. And now internet channels.  A late friend of mine, James Graham said a few years back, I don't watch anything below channel 30.  He was referring to the mainstream networks verses the Showtimes and HBO's of the world.  Those networks programmed "intelligent" and edgy humour to an audience that was forced to grow up watching censored, filtered, generic episodes of the Brady Bunch where Greg Brady showing the top band of his fruit of the looms was considered sacre blue.

Once cable networks reached critical mass, larger budgets attracted bigger talents, and creatives yearning to express themselves with real humour that was previously revered in lonely wreckrooms with George  Carling's "7 dirty words" spinning off vinyl.

Now we're blessed with choice.  If you find Leon's cursing vitriol too much to handle on Curve Your Enthusiam, you can flip over to The Bachelor and slowling listen to the sucking sound of your IQ slipping like wax from your grey matter.  Don't get me wrong.  I have my limits of what's personally acceptable.  Louis C.K.'s stand up is too much.  Two minutes on fecal matter is never going to do it for me.  But his show "Louie" is shear brilliance.

My ambiguity about loathing and loving the same stand up must drive programmers to the edge.  What?  An inconsistency?  But the psychographic demo we pulled on your from your Facebook and google foot print shows you clearly should like both.

We shouldn't and hopefully never will be so predictable, our emotional culture becomes predicated by algorithms.  Throw us a curve every now and again.  The David  Finchers and Cronenberg's of the world will hopefully always keep executives guessing, and the not so lowest common denominator entertained.

With over 30 years experience, Tim McLarty  currently works out of Toronto Canada as a writer/voice performer, producer and media strategist producing advertising and entertainment content.

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.

Abercrombie and Fitch get schooled on rebranding

Budding LA film maker Greg Karber seized an opportunity. His mission? Self promotion. His process? Jump on a story and take it in a bizarre direction. I applaud Karber's initiative. Abercrombie and Fitch made headlines around the world this week when CEO Mike Jeffries announced he didn't want overweight women wearing his clothes. In a sense, Jeffries policy is not unique. He is the only one who bald faced came out and admitted it. That was his tragic mistake. Because now his brand suffered far worse damage than Karber's stunt of handing A & F clothes out to the homeless in LA.

With over 30 years experience, Tim McLarty  currently works out of Toronto Canada as a writer/voice performer, producer and media strategist producing advertising and entertainment content.

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.

Land Rover brands with beauty - Creative Excellence Fridays

Four young men, running through the woods. A ballet of balance and abandon. What does this have to do with Land Rover? Absolutely nothing. Or does it?

A hamburger and a glass of sparkling wine would fill the gap.  But wouldn't a plate of 200 dollar Kobe beef and a $2000 bottle of Dom Perignon 1966 be better?   The answer is obvious. The question is, can you afford it.  Have you arrived.  Are you Land Rover "worthy"?



If you're willing to spend Land Rover money instead of Hyundai money on transportation, that's your mindset. And that's what Land Rover's creative team at Y&R NY had in mind when they called on director Noam Murro to pull these images to life.  Young men  demonstrate Parkour, a military training exercise that utilizes running, jumping and balance to over power the enemy in combat and traverse over difficult terrain. Difficult terrain? Beauty, balance?  The connection of art, beauty and excellence has always been a powerful motivator to the set who could choose anything, but choose, in this case, Land Rover.

This blog is dedicated to creative excellence each Friday. And this commercial lifts itself above the dull roar of mediocrity with brilliance, with a simple statement;  we're about excellence. Yes, it's just a commercial. But as Andy Warhol proved fifty years ago, an ad can be art. Art can be an ad. This works. This is beautiful.

With over 30 years experience, Tim McLarty  currently works out of Toronto Canada as a writer/voice performer, producer and media strategist producing advertising and entertainment content.

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.

Creative Excellence Fridays - Evian hits another one out of the park

Evian knew they were on to something when the first "baby" viral came out in 2009.  On the official Evian link alone they have almost 67 million hits, and people are still talking about it.   This is the classic definition of the act of branding. It doesn't talk about the water. It doesn't mention anything about the health benefits of water as an ad category. It just rips it up with adorable computer composited babies for 60 seconds with the Evian billboard beginning and end.

Hey, if your product already has brand acceptance, it's about turning it up to the next notch right?

 

 I know, I know, this doesn't clearly adhere to the golden rule "build your entertainment around a product sell point". But 67 million plus impressions on a product that is all about perception is reason enough to stray from the rule book yes?

Evian babies is the technical progeny of MP, a 25 year old visual effects shop whose client list is a who's who of commercial and film professionals.  And now the follow up has dropped and it was worth the wait.


Yes the compositing is world class, but the editing also is superb. The reveals of each character are brilliant; either starting with the adult and then cutting to their doppel baby, or showing the adult first and then beat cutting over to the baby.

I love this campaign.  And with 35 million hits in less than a week, I'm not alone.

With over 30 years experience, Tim McLarty  currently works out of Toronto Canada as a writer/voice performer, producer and media strategist producing advertising and entertainment content.

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.

Light painting - where imagination meets photoshop

Light painting has been around since man invented the camera. Or at least since man invented shutter speed for the camera. Light painting is when you extend the shutter speed to expose the sensor for a longer than normal period of time. At that time you can take a light source, move it around and create... well....magic. Imagine the look on the face of the person who first accidentally produced a light painting image. He or she must have thought demons had invaded the inside of the camera.

Famous light painting artists include Picasso, who in a legendary series done in 1949 was documented in Life Magazine. It's what kept Picasso relevant, always reaching out to new mediums. You can rest assured if he were still alive today he'd have a tablet in his studio mastering digital painting.


Here's a site with more examples and background on light painting.

Light painting is like any other type of photography; your result is only limited by your imagination.

With over 30 years experience, Tim McLarty  currently works out of Toronto Canada as a writer/voice performer, producer and media strategist producing advertising and entertainment content.

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.

Gum will get you some - Creative Excellence Fridays

I can thankfully say I haven't been to a laundromat in years.

But after seeing today's first commercial, I may "accidentally" trip over the power source and load up for the nearest one.


Gum. It's kept jaws busy since the time of the ancient Greeks who chewed the resin from the Mastic tree. It has provided nervous jaws something to do, and allowed one the opportunity to express him/herself through the size and pop of the bubble snap.

Since Walter Diemer accidental stumbled on the perfect recipe for snap, pop and no crackle bubble gum in 1928, it's been a favourite of the chew set ever since.
But whether it's bubble gum, or chewing gum, it's still a challenge to market. What makes the brand unique?

Sheldon Cooper of Big Bang Theory had his own ideas about this before, well, before he became Sheldon Cooper. Here's Jim Parsons in the 2006 commercial for Stride Gum.




And here's a bit of a bizarre commercial with a definite English flavour to it from Orbit gum.




And another Orbit ditty featuring "food breath."



The common denominator? Gum will get you some. It's not a new message. But it is definitely a message that won't end up on the bottom of your shoe.

With over 30 years experience, Tim McLarty  currently works out of Toronto Canada as a writer/voice performer, producer and media strategist producing advertising and entertainment content.

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.

Creative Excellence Fridays - Passing of Roger Ebert

The movies. They have always been like a comforting old friend. The ultimate escape from whatever ails.  And they've inspired many a Creative Excellence blog on Friday mornings.  Roger Ebert escaped to the movies as film critic of the Chicago Sun Times since 1967. His type writer went silent yesterday after his final battle with cancer.

His words so eloquent, he was always one of three critics I would base my hard earned movie going dollar decision on. If the triumvirate of Ebert, Peter Traverse and Richard Corliss of Time magazine all gave it the thumbs up, I would plunk my money down on the counter and know chances were excellent I was in for the thrill ride or the emotional departure I needed for that drug free fix of the week.

Roger Ebert lived his life with class and his words moved many far beyond his film recommendations.
This passage from a few years back creates the perfect eulogy penned from his own mind.

 Salon-Roger Ebert - I do not fear death

We can only hope that Gene Siskel took the time to have Roger's celestial seat in the balcony steam cleaned and put on a fresh batch of Orville Redenbacher.

With over 30 years experience, Tim McLarty  currently works out of Toronto Canada as a writer/voice performer, producer and media strategist producing advertising and entertainment content.

Ontrackblog is a division of OntrackCommunications Inc.