Beholder’s Eye

Imagine being a marketing executive for Budweiser or Doritos or Pepsi – and having the pressure to deliver a Super Bowl ad that’s more entertaining and effective than last year. You might come up with the memorable ‘Weego’ featuring a dog that fetches Bud Light when you call its name or create the clever ‘sling baby’ that snags a bag of chips out of big brother bully’s hands. Then again, you might have a distorted opinion that your audience is moved to make a purchase because you show Danica Patrick scantily clad or David Beckham in his briefs.

Sometimes I wonder who has more pressure in ‘America’s Biggest Sporting Event’: the players and coaches or the advertisers. Yesterday’s game really didn’t have a clear winner in the ‘what happens during timeouts at $3.5 million every 30 seconds’ category. I heard a radio announcer this morning say, “We kept waiting and nothing outstanding ever appeared.”

The challenge with trying to top your greatest hit is it’s difficult to keep raising the bar. (Think about Madonna’s new single as compared to some of her best-known releases.) That’s why some are questioning Tom Brady’s legacy today… as if taking his team to five Super Bowls isn’t enough of a career accomplishment. On the other hand, experts are talking Hall of Fame for Eli Manning. What a difference a couple of minutes make at sports’ highest level.

For the rest of us mere mortals, perhaps it’s best to just try and be a little better each day. Over time that makes a big difference in the results of your company. Most of all, thank your stars there aren’t 80,000 people and a billion more around the world watching you work right now.

For the record, at the Super Bowl party I attended, laughs were loudest for these five spots:

M&M’s – ‘It’s that kind of a party’
Doritos – ‘Dog buries cat collar’
Skechers – ‘Mr. Quigley dog racing’
ETrade – ‘Speed Dating’
Acura – ‘Jerry Seinfeld’

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Random Selection

The Jury Summons arrived three weeks ago… instructing me to be in the holding room before 9 a.m. today. Traffic during the commute was congestion-free, so I walked through the doors of an empty courthouse 45 minutes early. I had turned in one page of paperwork and read two chapters of a novel on my Kindle by 10 o’clock, when the clerk finally arranged us with instructions to ‘not get out of order.’ I convinced myself it was my juror number that placed me as the first to enter the courtroom and be seated – and not my punctuality.

The bailiff said, “All rise,” and the robed judge appeared from behind closed doors. After swearing in and a few minutes of instruction, he turned voir dire over to the opposing counsels. Thirty minutes later, the Honorable Tom Lawrence told each party to present its ‘strikes’ and soon called out the accepted jurors. Much to my surprise, he skipped past me and proceeded to name numbers two through five, followed by a couple of more strikes, before identifying the final two members of the five male and one female panel that is likely rendering judgment as I write this recap. A quick ‘thank you for your service’ and 18 people – all seemingly smiling brighter than a half hour earlier – quickly left the building.

On the drive back to my office, I thought about the Q&A that led to the half dozen selected to determine a gentleman’s fate. There weren’t any of those ‘I couldn’t possibly find someone guilty’ answers I heard some of the other six other times I experienced this process. The only question asked directly to me was by the defendant’s side. “I’m not trying to be funny or disrespectful, Mr. Handler, but what exactly is an executive business coach?” When I saw him quickly write something on my questionnaire during my response, it occurred to me that “I help business leaders focus on what they’re trying to achieve” probably wasn’t the right juror for someone accused of defaulting on a contract.

Jury duty is a privilege Americans are blessed to have… yet I don’t know anyone who reacts with a resounding ‘how lucky am I’ when he/she pulls a summons out of the mailbox. There are way too many things going on in our busy lives to take a day or two away from work and watch the wheels of justice slowly turn. Good idea – as long as it’s someone else serving. Then again, if I ever have the unfortunate experience of being party to a trial, I hope citizens fulfill their responsibility and show up at the designated time. I’d sure want someone like me on that jury.

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Ho Hum

You would think a Super Bowl that came down to the final minute before the Packers were assured of victory over the Steelers would be memorable; however, last night’s game didn’t seem as suspense-filled as the past three close contests.

The halftime show with the Black Eyed Peas disappointed, thanks to poor audio and over-production. Going forward, maybe it would be better to stick to the normal 12 minutes and skip the entertainment.

As for the commercials… well, it’s clear the golden age of ‘Did you see that one?’ spots is past. Most these days are average, a few are entertaining and some are obvious examples of ad agencies wasting clients’ money. Note to E-Trade: Time to retire the talking baby.

The best ad of Super Bowl XLV was a freebie: the NFL spot in which all the sit com stars of old were outfitted in team gear. (No, they didn’t really wear those back in the day. It was, as my father used to say, ‘trick photography’ thanks to computer animation.)

Here is my analysis, based on the reactions of those around me:

Best

“Hack Job” – The game’s first spot about a kitchen remodeling that consists solely of placing a six-pack of Bud Light on the counter tops the list. Simplicity at its finest.

“Young Darth Vader” – Everyone loved the little kid trying to find his ‘force.’ The shock on his face when dad remotely starts the VW was a terrific finish.

“Detroit” – The teenagers at our party unanimously felt Eminem’s third quarter Chrysler spot was the highlight of the game.

“You Gonna Finish Those?” – There was great laughter when the Doritos lover licks the fingers of his co-worker. Pulling off another’s pants and smelling them… not so much.

“Dog Party” – There weren’t a lot of animal spots, so this Bud Light commercial where canines put on a blowout while master is out of town stood out.

Worst

“Godzilla” – Outstanding animation in this Coke spot but it left our room saying, “What was the point of that exactly?”

“Compact” – After much build-up in the playoff teaser commercials, the multiple Hyundai spots were big letdowns.

“Cram It in the Boot” – I have no idea what Mini was trying to accomplish with this ad.

“Shape Up” – The night’s last spot in which a beautiful woman tantalizes her hunky trainer missed the mark. Oh, that’s Kim Kardashian?

“Tibet” – Something tells me a few folks are getting fired this morning at Groupon for making light of a serious situation. Timothy Hutton should look for a new agent.

Noteworthy

“1984 Redux” – Thought Apple had hit a home run with this sequel to their legendary Super Bowl XVIII ad. Then it turned out to be Motorola Zoom. Talk about stealing your competitor’s thunder. Nice surprise.

“Product Placement” – This Bud Light spot spoofing how filmmakers allow advertisers to impact storylines was a hit. Everyone should take a lesson from Bud Light: terrific ads throughout the game.

“Just Send” – Faith Hill is always worth watching, although a few executives at TeleFlora are asking right now, “Who approved that?”

“Reply All” – Good comment by Bridgestone on the perils of e-mail. I also liked their commercial where the beaver pays back a driver six months later.

“Joan Rivers” – I thought it was hilarious when the new Go Daddy celebrity turns out to be the face-lift queen. Then one of the teenage boys near me said, “We were getting all excited until she showed up. Then we were just grossed out.”

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In Search of Leaders

Here in Texas yesterday was primary Election Day… as Republicans and Democrats squared off to determine who represents each Party head-to-head on November 2nd. The big race was for the Governor’s Mansion. Incumbent Rick Perry beat Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison on the Republican side, while Democrats chose former Houston mayor Bill White over Farouk Shami, who made his fortune by creating the CHI hair straightener.

Either Perry or White will probably do fine as governor; however, the bigger question in my mind – both here in the Lone Star State and in Washington, D.C. – is “Where have all the statesmen gone?” Political campaigns these days consist of one side chopping up the other… with minimal amount of time spent explaining “Here’s my platform and here’s how we’re going to do it.” Instead of hearing plans for change, the Great Unwashed electorate is served up regular courses of complaints and criticism.

Of course, the shouting displayed in elections leads to the inevitable stalemate by the chosen ones. That’s why Congress continues to point fingers and take sides rather than work to find common ground and take action. Grown men and women act like three-year-olds – unwilling to compromise or accept another viewpoint. Those of us on the outside looking in are left to observe the melee presented in the partisan proclamations of CNN and Fox.

Somewhere George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and the founders of this nation are shaking their heads. They understood that putting the needs of the people first is Job One. They gave to receive… and 223 years after signing the Constitution their insight and approach stands as the brightest of lights. Today’s politicians would do well to take a pause and read some history. That would be a better use of their time and your tax dollars than what they currently do on a daily basis.

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This Gun’s for Hire

You may not recall what you were doing exactly 25 years ago tonight…but I remember where I was. At the time, I produced shows for a cable sports channel. That was shortly after MTV debuted, so my co-producer and I decided to take advantage of our access to technology and record music videos for about a month, then throw a party at my apartment complex for our friends to watch them.

A week before the big event, with the help of our director and engineer, we entered the studio after hours and recorded segments to introduce the videos. As amateur versions of J.J. Jackson and Mark Goodman, we named our program “Me and Lee TV.” Once the party rolled around, we were quite surprised – first by the number of people crammed into such a small place, and second that whenever the videos played folks would be loudly socializing…yet as soon as the two of us appeared on the gigantic 24″ screen everyone would run over and listen in silence to our improvisational comedy routine.

The reason I know the date – September 23, 1984 – is because the apogee of our production was the ‘world premiere’ of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark – and it happened to be in celebration of his 35th birthday. The Boss turned 60 today, which means most of the people at that party soon are hitting 50. While I’m amazed at how fast the years flew, today my thoughts are about lifelong friends who are always just a phone call, e-mail or reunion away, specifically Lee, Chris, Mark and Paul…

Once we made a promise we swore we’d always remember
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Blood brothers in a stormy night
With a vow to defend
No retreat, baby, no surrender

© Bruce Springsteen 1984

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