Marketing genius = Having Trey Anastasio fake a massive oxycontin addiction for the last two tours, ruining show after show, only to queue up the eventual breakup, breakdown and then re-uniting of those boys from Vermont. With the hordes of faithful followers combined with what will most likely be an unprecedented number of teenage trust-fund hippies (who only know phish through their copious live show releases), the organization can set ticket prices at a record high without fear of not being able to sell-out the three night run (March 6, 7 and 8th) in a place dripping with Phish history - The Hampton Colosseum.
Should be interesting to see the marketing onslaught that will rear it’s ugly head in preparation of this concert - Marketing to hippies is never a pretty sight. Ohh, and go check out www.isphishtouring.com - It’s updated.
Visa has been running a whole slew of commercials as part of their 2008 Olympic Games Go World campaign. Created by TBWA\Chiat\Day, they incorporate a microsite - www.visa.com/goworld/ - into the campaign that features the background story and video (including the commercials) of each of their selected “American Hero’s.” You can view all 10 athletes and their commercials below. Morgan Freeman, who just recently was injured in a car-crash, is the narrator for the entire campaign. Only the initial Michael Phelps commercial is included in this list as the second and third follow-up videos that were produced to celebrate his Olympic victories can be found here: Visa - Go World - The Michael Phelps Commercials
If you’re looking for any other commercials that aired during the 2008 Beijing Olympics (or are even just Olympic-Themed), go visit www.Olympic-Commercials.com. It’s a great resource for current Olympic advertising.
Here are the included athletes in the Visa - Go World campaign and their associated commercial: Read the rest of this entry »
Visa and TBWA\Chiat\Day’s creation, Go World< /em>, has been a widely talked about campaign celebrating Team USA in this years Summer Olympics held in Beijing, China. The most talked about of this series has been three commercials centered around Team USA swimmer Michael Phelps.
Visa first had a Michael Phelps spot as part of their over-all Go World campaign that was nothing out-of-the-ordinary compared to others in the series (as shown above). However after Michael Phelps won his 10th Gold Medal on August 12th in the 200 meter Freestyle, it made him a world-record holder for most Gold Medals won. No one in the history of the world has ever won as many Olympic Gold Medals as Michael Phelps has. To celebrate, immediately after airing Michael Phelps’ victory in the 200 Meter Freestyle, Visa aired a promo congratulating him on his accomplishments.
As Morgan Freeman narrates:
Congratulations Michael, on having won more gold medals than anybody…ever.
Visa - Go World - Michael Phelps - Congratulations:
TBWA\Chiat\Day has mentioned that the idea of a Visa ad commemorating the victory (if it happened) was something that they had conceptualized “as early as April.” They had already purchased the media in case they could use the concept even. Great job, especially for having to turn around the footage into a spot in less than 24 hours!
Shortly after that though, Michael Phelps shattered yet another world record by winning the 4X100 Meter Medley Relay, securing his 8th Gold Medal for the 2008 Summer Olympics. That’s more Gold Medals than anyone has ever won in any single Olympics! To celebrate, Visa aired the following spot shortly after showing his record-breaking performance.
Morgan Freeman once again narrates:
One Gold Medal is amazing. Two is, well, incredible. Three, practically unbelievable. But eight? Eight Gold Medals? Thats… thats, well, we’re going to need some new adjectives for whatever that is. Congratulations Michael.
Taking the iconic video of Marvin Gaye singing the National Anthem at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, Nike has recently released a new commercial/featurette splicing together clips of LeBron James, Kobe, J-Kidd and the rest of the American team with footage of Marvin from the All-Star Game. I remember being emailed the YouTube link of Marvin singing the National Anthem a few years ago and today it’s the most popular video on the site for the artist (over 1 million views).
In a press release from Nike, they explained their reason for choosing this unique version of the song attributing it to a move by the couch of our Olympic Basketball Team, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski.
Coach K took a moment out of practice to share a version of the song with his players that, in its own right, made sports history…
To show support for the men that will represent us in Beijing, Nike Basketball brings Marvin, LeBron, Kobe, J-Kidd and the rest of the team together to pay homage to basketball, America’s game.
Nathan Goldberg and Shannon McGlothin were the Copywriter/Art Director team responsible for this idea for Wieden + Kennedy. Stacy Wall directed for Epoch Films along with Lisa Gunning editing for The Whitehouse (Justin Beere was the Assistant Editor). Jeff Payne from Eleven Sound mixed Marvin’s audio along with Gus Koven from Stimmung as the Sound Designer.
