Commercial Throwdown - American Express vs Virgin Atlantic
Caitlin of Smile Like You Mean It is championing this commercial from Virgin Atlantic:
You are now free to vote for ours, which is superior. Just like our last throwdown was superior.
Neither is as mind-blowing as the HTC 'You' commercials but ours amused me as much as the Jack in the Box prison commercial, albeit with a different humor style.
Side note: this song, Bach's Prelude to Cello Suite no.1, is amazing and also featured in one of the best moments from the West Wing
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Just for the record, I did thoroughly enjoy C-Mac's choice. Solid use of 80s references by Virgin Atlantic.
ReplyDeleteOk...let's break this down...first, immediately upon hearing the Bach piece from the Amex commercial, my thoughts went to the West Wing scene...and I spent ten minutes looking for it, before reading the rest of the Post and finding that Royce did the hard work for me. Second, while the Virgin Atlantic commercial is solid, it's long and sexist. That's right, I'm saying that C-Mac is a reverse sexist. Also, this commercial is a much more efficient "let's make fun of the 80's" commercial.
ReplyDeleteMy personal favorite is from a few years ago. It uses one of my favorite songs and over-the-top action/special effects.
And I will always remember this one from the Super Bowl a while ago.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the guy from the Mountain Dew commercial is recognizable...I just have no idea who he is.
ReplyDeleteDamn you Royce - that was the commercial I had up my proverbial sleeve...what a great commercial; all the 'faces' make me chuckle.
ReplyDeleteIn a very related note, I love the music, and am starting to believe a good commercial, for me, needs to have great accompanying music.
What about all those Best Buy/Sony commercials? There are 4 or 5 of them out there and ALL of them are excellent.
ReplyDeleteYou mean these commercials?!?! :)
ReplyDeletePS - I'm copy/pasting a post idea I had a few weeks back into this comment cause I'm uber lazy:
I love the Peyton/JT commercials (yes, I just called him JT, but only cause I'm lazy) - my favorite is the latest with the "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" cast. For some reason, this literally cracks me up every time. This surpassed my previous favorite: the "what do you know about cameras?" commercial. The confused look on JT's face at the end, after originally posing for the picture with Peyton was very well played.
Overall, the whole series (found here) is really well done - great coverage for Sony that's spurned a rather popular copycat: "Auto-Tune the Ads" (incorporating Royce's favorite recently-bashed musical trend)
Shit, I gotta go with Caitling and Virgin Atlantic. What I like about it is that it appeals to sensuality and sexuality but it shows a certain sense of bravado. It keeps you wondering who the women will be, what commercial might it be for, etc. and I watched it to the very end.
ReplyDeleteIf that commercial was actually made in the 80's, I'd say it was much more acceptable. But now, instead of coming off as sensual...it feels like an ad for Deja Vu. If you're going to sell your airline on sex appeal, then make sure you can back it up. I've taken several Virgin flights and their attendants are no more attractice than any other airline. Virgin is a great airline and should be advertising it's newer planes, cheaper flights and great in-seat technology, including a long list of music, movies, TV shows, games, and seat-to-seat chat. (Seat-to-seat chat is rarely used since you are usually sitting next to the person with whom you are travelling, but it's nice to know it's there.)
ReplyDeleteNo Grace, say it ain't so! Although you do have a good point about wondering who the people will be; I certainly wanted to know.
ReplyDeleteThere's no way that's funnier/ more entertaining than the faces one though. And Scott may have ruined us all with the Sony/Best Buy ads, although he has the unfair advantage of massive star power and a whole suite of jokes vs. a single ad.
Aaron have you flown Virgin Atlantic or just Virgin America? Cause I've only flown the latter.
PS, Grace (aka KGB) - did you do some spying for Caitlin's post last week? Have anything to report back?
I have flown Virgin Atlantic once and my experience was exactly the same as Virgin America (except for it being a bigger plane). So I feel it is safe to assume that my multiple experiences on Virgin America are a strong indicator of all Virgin airlines. And seriously, do you honestly think that Virgin's flight attendants are any more attractive than any other airline?
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Sony commercials really do win, but we already used those in a previous post. We'll have to pick this back up after the Super Bowl. Unless the Chargers are playing, because win or lose, Royce and I will be drunk for the following two days.
Ok...after watching the Virgin commercial again, I realized it was a much better commercial than I thought. First, the music does a great job and I'm going to agree with Scott that a truly great commercial requires quality music. Second, Virgin is celebrating a 25th anniversary so it goes back to the year when Virgin is just coming on to the scene and in that context, the commercial makes a lot of sense. In 1984 all the airlines were gray or navy blue and blended in with each other and the red dress stands out.
ReplyDeleteI will give more credit to C-Mac, but I still say the Amex spot is better and both are inferior to Peyton and JT.
Oh, I thought your question about flight attendendants being more attractive than others was rhetorical - of course they aren't. I think the hot flight attendants was a metaphor for the airline being hot (metaphorically speaking)...
ReplyDeleteIt's true we'll be drunk for (at least) two days should the Chargers win the S-Bowl. But let's not jinx it. And that won't stop me from posting drunkenly, even if all my posts devolve into Garnett-esque, post-championship, nonsensical screaming: "Anything is possibbbuuuuulllllllllllll"