they get paid for this? comcast edition

UPDATE:

missed a couple of anon comments but here is my response...

fairplay anon 1 & 2. once I posted this I noticed the URL on TV as well, but in little bitty tiny type that is next to impossible to see unless you are looking for it. also why would you have a version on the website that is different from your tv spot in that small of a way. seems like a waste of money to create two versions that differ only by the URL being on screen.

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we were discussing the new comcast ad campaign in my psychology of advertising class today and noticed a huge miss that I can't believe neither the agency or client noticed.

If you haven't seen the ads yet they put real people in to a habbo-like virtual environment and they speak-sing about the benefits of integrating tv/internet/phone with comcast.

I find them annoying personally and I think they miss the mobility boat but I think they do a number of things well:

• they touch on benefits that you should look for and that comcast provides
• they show a variety people with different needs benefiting from the product
  
• they make it seem like it is easy to get these benefits

However if you watch the end of the commercial you may notice something missing (have you noticed it?)

what's missing is may not be obvious unless you realize that this is a fully integrated campaign with a dedicated website, but the URL is never shown.

also the commercials have the tagline dream big but that has nothing to do with the website name.  If you search the googles for "dream big" a paid ad shows up on the right, bit the comcast town website doesn't even make the front page.

I know I am still in school for this stuff, but this just seems like junior league mistakes here for such a big client and campaign.

Wheel and Come Again - Apr Dubstep mix

So I thought I would share all the mixes I have made for myself this year.

Wheel and Come Again is the first dubstep mix I recorded so it might not be the best but it has some amazing tunes on it as you will see from the tracklist.

Again it is currently encoded as VBR until I find a better hosting location and of course feel free to send to friends or embed a link anywhere that won't get me sued.

Tracklist:

1. Unkown - White label - ASBO
2. Distance - Battle Sequence - Chestplate
3. Fracture - The Phone Call - Compound One
4. N-Type - Way of the Dub (Caspa RMX) - Dub Police
5. Caspa - Louder - Pitch Black
6. Benga - Out of Phaze - Tempa
7. Silkie - Cyber dub - Disfigured Dubs
8. Movado - Gangster 4 Life (Coki Rmx) - White
9. Benga & Coki - Night - Tempa
10. Black Ghosts - Some Way Through This (Plastician & Skream RMX) - Southern Fried
11. SPMC - Trust Nobody - Tempa
12. Dubwoofa - Devoliz - Dub Police
13. Mala - Lean Forward - DMZ
14. Skream - Sublemonal - Soul Jazz
15. Quest - Deep Inside - Deep Medi Musik

Bass Transmitter - Nov Dubstep Mix

Just completed a new dubstep mix at the end of November entitled Bass Transmitter.

The tracklist is a little heavy on Tempa records, but they seem to have waited until the end of the year to release all the dubs they've been sitting on since last fall.

The file is currently encoded as a high quality VBR, so the sound quality kills a little of the bass weight, but I am looking for a free hosting service that I can post 320 kbps files to.  Feel free to pass along to friends or embed a link in your blogs or whatever.

Set list is as follows:

1. Shut Up and Dance - Epileptic (Martyn's No Strobe Mix) - SUAD
2. Silkie & Harry Craze - French Knickers - Break the Habit
3. Skream & D1 - Hitch - Tempa
4. Pangaea - Router - Hessle Audio
5. Ramadanman - Bidding War - Tempa
6. Breakage - Untitled - White
7. Headhunter - Royal Flush - Tempa
8. Quest - Eden - Deep Medi Musik
9. Headhunter - Prototypes - Tempa
10. Seven - Sirens - Tempa
11. Skream - Simple City - Tempa
12. Luke Envoy - M.U.G.E.N. - Wonderland
13. DZ - Old Timers - Black Acre
14. Silkie - Skys the Limit - Deep Medi Musik
15. Pacheko - Bi-Polar Bear (Starkey RMX) - Lo Dubs
16. Gemmy - Bass Transmitter - Punch Drunk
17. Sukh Knight - Shooting Stars - True Tiger
18. Joker & Rustie - Play Doe - Kapsize

2008 Top Ten

It is that time of year when fellow musicheads begin to look back at the year in music. 2008 has been a mixed year for me. on the one hand, I have been really into dubstep and buying lots of 12"s, but on the other hand, there has been a huge number of disapointing albums released by bands I really like this year. The shear number of less than stellar albums made this a little more difficult than in years gone by but in the end this is what I came up with.

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War); Best album of the year-period. now where is that part 2?
Cat Power - Jukebox; a lot of people don't seem to like this album but I think her arrangements of the covers performed within are incredible. add a couple of stellar new songs and you have a great album all around
Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold; what can you say about Atmosphere? Every album rocks and every album is better than the last. I have no idea how they do it.
Menahan Street Band - "Make the Road by Walking"; members of the Dap-Kings, Budos Band, and Antibalas. They also cover "Going the Distance" from Rocky. How coudl you possibly go wrong here? Simple you can't, awesome album that I will be listening to for many years to come.
Jeremy Messersmith - The Silver City; yes the Dan Wilson production makes it a sound like a Dan Wilson album, but the songs!!! great storytelling inside great songwriting point to a great future.
Nick Cave - Dig! Lazarus! Dig! ; I've never really been into Nick Cave before, but I am sensing that I may have to start investing in his back catalog after this album.
Nomo - Ghost Rock; Discovered this album late in the game via The Current and I don't really know anything about them. One of my new year's resolutions however is to learn more because this is an awesome update of afro-beat to dance around the house to.
Various Production - Versus; of collection of remixes they have done of others and that others have done of their tracks showcases the wide variety that comes out of this incredible production group. add to this the various new songs that have come out online and on vinyl and it has been a productive and strong year yet again.
The Heavy - Great Vengeance and Furious Fire; part lo-fi indie and part Curtis Mayfield and all awesome. This has been in regular rotation on my iPod since I bought the album.
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes; I didn't want to succumb to the hype machine but this album really is good.

paying to watch commercials or the 2008 BTAAs

Went to the 2008 British Television Advertising Awards Friday night at the Walker.

As usual they were entertaining. Lots of laughs and many of the PSAs were just devastating and powerful.


It is interesting to me to watch these ads with slightly more critical eye than I have in the past due to being immersed in school work. I feel like I experience them in an entirely different way.

Since we were there the first night we were treated to an introduction by Peter Biggs and he talked about changing media and how we are now getting our content in so many ways that weren't available just a few years ago--cell phones, online, video billboards etc. With this in mind, they have started to include ads that are not specifically television ads which included online ads of course but also an intriguing ad campaign from digital billboards as well.

I did think it would be fun to share what I thought were the best and the worst of the BTAA winners and so without further ado I present my top five favorite ads. I chose these because I think they are creative as well as communicating a strong message about the brand:

Glennfiddich "Every Year Counts"



Florence & Fred for Tesco "Revenge"



VW Genuine Spare Parts "Cuckoo"



Volkswagen Golf "Night Drive"



Big Yellow Storage "Tide"




Now on to those ads that didn't do it in my opinion. Most of these are visually/creatively stunning but the message and brand seems to be an after thought:

Audi A5 "Lines"



VW Golf "The Great Pretender"



Heineken "Jamaica"



Sony Walkman "Music Pieces"



Skoda Fabia "Cake"



And finally I know most of you might not agree with me, but this year's winning advert, while I enjoy it immensely, doesn't have any connection to the brand at all. I dare anyone to make a connection. IMHO this was only made to go viral, but how many people remember what this is advertising?

Cadbury Dairy Milk "Gorilla"