Commercial Ad Story of the Week: Jameson Irish Whiskey

This Week's Winner of the Commercial Ad Story of the Week: Jameson Irish Whiskey

I was first introduced to these commercials a few months ago and I still find them great to watch. These commercials are great stories and create exciting (and comical to a point) feelings in the viewer. Check out the "Iron Horse" commercial below:

Video found at Youtube

About the Ad Stories:

In my last blog post I compared two different brand mascots Toucan Sam and Trix the Rabbit (both cereal characters I had grown up viewing). Jameson Irish Whiskey commercials to me are basically cereal commercials for adults. Instead of using Froot Loops as an object to save they use Jameson Irish Whiskey. They also use more adult themed subjects and humor than the colorful cereal cartoons, which makes sense for the product.

Instead of Trix the Rabbit they use John Jameson. During each episode something goes wrong, such as a barrel rolls of the ship or a giant hawk swoops down and steals a barrel. What does Jameson do? He saves the whiskey. His most important thing in life, and by the commercials one of the most important things to Ireland.

Picture found at Google Images

How the Stories Are Told:

These commercials are like little episodes; I like to think of them as The Adventures of John Jameson. Each commercial follows Jameson on a separate but no less exciting adventure where he must save his precious whiskey. No barrel gets left behind.

The stories of the ad are narrated by an Irishmen as the story unfolds. The narration moves the story along and has a real legend like feel to it. In a way they are told like they are Irish legends.

Throughout the character of John Jameson never speaks, but rather does fantastic stunts, in a nonchalant, hero-like way.


Picture found at Google Images

What These Stories Do Well:

First off these commercials are great at holding attention. They give the feeling like I am watching a TV show (except the TV show is condensed into a minute long commercial). It keeps me wanting to know what happens next and excited to see how it ends. It holds my attention to the point that I don't want to change the channel when it comes on unlike a lot of other TV commercials.

Secondly, these commercials do a great job creating audience wanting for the product through the Affinity Impulse. Jameson in the commercials is a gentleman yet a rugged hero at the same time. He has some crazy adventures and he does them just for his whiskey. This makes the person (I would want to be like Jameson) want to buy the whiskey so he can relate to John Jameson.

Picture found at Google Images

Lastly the commercials create word of mouth for the product and commercial. I first saw this commercial when a friend showed me and I thought they were great stories. In turn I have showed it to a number of people. My friend showed me because he really liked them and thought they were well done.

Closing Comments:

Overall I think these are great ads. What do you think about these ads? Are there any ads you really like? Any ads that you think have a great story? I am open to seeing and hearing about great ads and their stories anytime. Please comment below

If you like the commercial above the rest can be found on Youtube. I will leave you with this last commercial:

Video found at Youtube.

BATTLE OF THE BRAND MASCOTS: ROUND 1 -- CHILDHOOD MASCOTS

Today I thought it would be fun to take two of my favorite brand mascots growing up and compare them in a little contest. So with out further ado... the two contestants are Toucan Sam and Trix the Rabbit!

THE CONTESTANTS:

Trix:

Trix the Rabbit is the iconic figurehead for the General Mill's Trix Cereal brand. He is a rabbit who wants more then anything to have himself all the Trix he can get his hands (or paws) on.

Trix was always trying to get and taste the fruity Trix cereal. He would where disguises and would try to fool the kids who had the cereal, but always something would go wrong and the kids would figure it out that he was the rabbit and then came that catchphrase ingrained in our minds, "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!" This tag line would  always get me thinking yes, yes they are and it would be followed by 'Mom can I have Trix's?' There were a lot of different interactive games that they would announce on the commercial that I remember as well.

An example is in one the kids were on a train and then the lights go out and all the Trix are gone and the Rabbit was disguised as one of five suspects. To play, clues were on the back of Trix boxes. In short Trix the Rabbit is a great brand mascot who does his job well and was designed well. His unique story of trying to get the Trix with different disguises keeps kids entertained and makes them want the cereal. Fun fact is that Trix actually got the cereal before in 1976 and 1980.

Here is the train commercial I was talking about, found on Youtube:

The Train Heist by the Trix Rabbit. Found on Youtube.

Toucan Sam:

Now for Toucan Sam. This toucan is a beloved brand mascot, which, like Trix the Rabbit, is still around. Toucan Sam is the smell sensitive mascot of the popular Kellogg's cereal Froot Loops.

Froot Loops was a favorite cereal of mine growing up and not just for the great taste. His commercials were great stories to watch unfold. He was always following his nose to find the Froot Loops. He and his two nephews and one niece would go on adventures and then get stumped. They then would need my help to figure it out. Then later on in the next commercial I would figure out what happened. For instance this happens with the Froot Monster who steals the Froot Loops. This dilemma spans a few commercials and in the end you want to know, do the Toucan's give him the cereal or not? The commercials can be found on Youtube. Below I have the second and last part of the story:

The second installment of the Froot Monster series. Found on Youtube.

The fourth installment of the Froot Monster series. Found on Youtube.

STATS:

Trix The Rabbit

                                                                       

Physical Status: White Rabbit. Taller than children.  

Special Abilities: Master of Disguise, Stealthy (possibly at the level of a ninja), Master Strategist.

Weaknesses: Disguises seem to fall apart. Too much celebration when he gets Trix in his hands

Enemies: Children that seem to be related to Detective Holmes.

Designed by: Joe Harris in 1959 (who was an advertising illustrator for Dancer Fitzgerald Sample ad agency before he left and started story-boarding for TV cartoons).

Age: 54 years old. 

Cereal: General Mills Trix Cereal.

Commercials: Stories of his plots and expeditions to steal the Trix cereal.They are interactive and create a want for the brand among its target youth audience. At times they keep the audience on the edge of their seats to see what happens in the next commercial.  

Toucan Sam

Physical Appearance: He is a Toucan, and exotic bird that has a beak with multiple colors on it. His beak is yellow, red, pink, and black and his feathers are blue.

Special Abilities: Amazing sense of smell (possibly better than a bloodhounds), Peoples Person, and Mad Sharing Skills.

Weaknesses: Not too observant of the area around him. Headstrong leader. 

Enemies: Dr. Peacock, Froot Monster, Froot Queen, Blackbeak, and many more.

Designed by: Manuel R. Vega in 1963, campaign now done by Pepper Films, Inc. 

Age: 50 years old

Cereal: Kellogg's Froot Loops

Commercials: Stories that featured him following his nose to the Froot Loops and then something would happen and they would have to reacquire the Froot Loops. They are interactive and keep their target youth audiences wanting to be tuned in to see what will happen next.

MY DECISION:

So which one is the better mascot? Well both are great at getting kids attention and getting them involved in their stories, which leads to more brand awareness and want for their respective cereals. Both mascots have great stories that keep the viewer (the children) involved and makes them want the product. This in turn gets them to ask their parents to get the product and thus hopefully leads to the parents purchasing it. Each has stories that are interactive and campaigns that keep suspense for the next commercial that comes out. In a way their stories act as mini cartoons. These are the reasons that I believe make Trix the Rabbit and Toucan Sam such great mascots.

So who wins?

Like I said I am a big fan of both Trix the Rabbit and Toucan Sam, but I would have to say that I like Trix just a little bit more. For me as a kid each commercial was like a new suspenseful moment waiting to see if he got caught or not trying to get the Trix and how it all played out. Toucan Sam is close behind because his campaigns always were interactive and kept my attention when I was a child. 

Let me know what you think. Who do you like more Trix or Sam? What brand characters would you like to see compared? Which are your favorites? 

Commercial Ad Story of the Week: Geico, Happier Than...

          There are a lot of great ad stories out there and in these parts of my blog I would like to look at some of the ad stories that are out there each week. Welcome to the Commercial Ad Story of the Week:

This Weeks Winner is: 

Geico, Happier Than... commercials.

The Commercials:

Listed below are a few examples of these videos so you can check them out if you have not seen them before:

This a video from Youtube posted by GEICO Insurance. In celebration of this Wednesday!

This is a video form Youtube Posted by GEICO Insurance.

This is a video form Youtube posted by GEICO Insurance

         If you liked these three commercials there is a Youtube mix you can check out with all of the other commercials they have done for this campaign.

Reasons I Chose These:

          I chose the Happier Than... ad stories for a couple of reasons. They are inventive stories that take people/animals/others/situations that people are familiar with and put comedic twists on them. For instance Paul Revere is a someone who is known by most people as the person who rode on his horse to warn everyone that the British were coming. Giving a cellphone adds comedy to the story but also gives the audience a base to judge Geico insurance. At the end they say people who get Geico are happier than the characters in the commercials which is pretty happy. This instills a sense in the audience that Geico can really make them happy. Who wouldn't want to be happier than an Antelope with night vision goggles? I would.

          Each of these different stories that pair the characters and what they have or are doing together are well thought out and obviously a lot of work was put into deciding which situations would really work and are funny. They tell good stories that have well written script. The ending is always consistent with the two guys with a ukulele and guitar who explain the commercial action and how happy people would be, at the same time with Geico's name displayed largely on the screen. These commercials lead to good brand awareness and also appeal to the audiences curious side, making them want to look up what Geico is and does. They leave them wondering how it will make them happy.

          Prepare for another Commercial Ad Story of the Week next week. If you have any ad stories you think are good let me know and maybe they will appear on of the Ad Stories of the Week.