Broadcast before the kickoff of Super Bowl XLIV, NBA stars Dwight Howard and LeBron James star in a remake of iconic 1993 Super Bowl commercial The Showdown, which featured hall-of-famers Michael Jordan and Larry Bird in trick-shot competition for a Big Mac and fries. The new commercial titled "Check This" pits James against Howard in their own unique take on the battle for a Big Mac. The TV ad also features the reappearance of Larry Bird. Joe Pytka, commercial director for McDonalds original 1993 Super Bowl spot, also filmed the remake. Check This was filmed in Indianapolis at Conseco Fieldhouse in early January, 2010. It looks like what's old is not so new again.
My goodness just look at the importance and influence of packaging. Someone would pay about 8 bucks American dollars for the Gucci fries and nearly 20 U.S. bucks for that Burberry burger. Why not we do it for this week's hipster blue jeans and in-crowd sneakers everyday. That someone would not be me, but someone. But I would not pass judgement on the fashion slave that did it. That $20 ice dream cup is adorable!
"McFancy is an upmarket temporary McDonald’s store that launches at Fashion Weeks around the globe — London, New York, Paris, Milan, Sydney, Hong Kong. McFancy is part art installation, gathering spot and, of course, a restaurant that offers a traditional McDonald’s menu but packaged in a way that makes a playful yet stylish nod to the lifestyle of the highly desirable, influential consumers that attend Fashion Weeks."
I really like the commercial (not shown above). But the agency only put the 'making of' on youtube (no vimeo either?) and not the actual commercial, go figure. I still don't get why some Black - multicultural shops refuse to put their work out in a more relevant 20-10 sorta way. Is it that bad? Afraid of public opinion? Hey you got a lil heat here (and it's very cold outside) you might wanna really pump this sh*t! Whatever, this is a good spot and could go on to be a great campaign. The agency dips into the hot phenomenon of the "Dollar Van Demos" Which has been delighting me for a minute and brings you one of their most unique talents/discoveries Joya Bravo. She's not just your average, run of the mill sistah singer, shaved tight fade to one side, rapper, songwriter, with a violin. Nope, she delivers lovely by the sonata.
They tie it in nicely with her fun throwback style of innocuous hip-hop from the fun and sporty era of the genre. The combination is as tasty as hot fries and a chocolate shake. It would be nice to see the focus more on this rare talent. But I still hope to see more of this work. By see I mean chance upon it on my TV screen as opposed to finding it through KMBA's crack research team (Google), who by the way will not find a bonus in their checks for this episode of where's Waldo's ad campaign. This spot is really herd to find! However, please keep mining this kind of urban gold UniWorld Burrell and share it witchya boy when you get a chance. 'Sall about the love of the black ads here. And I'm kinda diggin' this one.
P.S.
I think they want to drive people to the 365 Black site. Do people really hang out at corporate web sites? Maybe you're that dude/chick, see it here.
(November 6, 2009) Neil Golden, chief marketing officer of McDonald's USA, told a conference of industry executives that the global food chain used its insights and expertise in marketing to African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians to provide direction and strategy for its efforts in the general market.
"Ethnic segments are leading lifestyle trends," Golden told the Association of National Advertisers' 99th annual gathering in Phoenix, Ariz. last week. McDonald's is so intent on getting ethnic marketing right that Golden said if the company conducts night focus groups, two will be for African-Americans, two will be of Hispanics, two will be for Asian-Americans and three will consist of a cross-section of all consumers.
Golden said the focus on ethnic consumers was dictated by financial realities. Forty percent of McDonald's current U.S. business comes from the African-American, Hispanic and Asian markets, and 50 percent of consumers under the age of 13 are from those segments. "And they're among our most loyal users," Mr. Golden said.
This is an addition to the Dwele McD's McCafé campaign. I've been searching for it (a version I could show love to here) for a while now. I guess they have an aversion to youtube and are trying to maintain control of the spots even after they are aired. It is available at 365 Black however. But some little YouTube pirate picked up their camcorder (and all kinds of copyright violations) and grabbed it right from the old fashioned TV screen complete with warped moiré pattern and all. This is what happens when technology goes wild, but no fault of the agency. I wish they would release this to more public media like YouTube sooner – or at least give your boy a copy?
For what it is and its intended audience it is pretty good. The commercial is a great continuation of the smart branding and promotion of the Mcsweet stuff. I'm not mad at the "Dualing Dweles" concept and the exclusion of 70's voiced MC from the last spot. Although I have noticed dude got his Don Cornelius like rousing rhythmic rapping introduction to a cup of coffee spot out too, "Introducing an Indulgent Interlude..." there's some intense illustrative ill iteration going on there! The cast of Dwele is so perfect for this product. Is talent off the meter, he has enough cool minus the edginess of some performers. Dwele also posses the perfect blend of hot and cool sounds that make this spot work. Good job. Keep pushing it Burrell!!! https://sites.google.com/site/mayuradocs/PinIt.png
**Posted @ estewartartist THURSDAY, JUNE 04, 2009** do me a favor, watch this commercial:
i've seen this commercial a lot lately, and somewhere in there i started to really think about the commercial and what i was seeing. the subtle things. the little things. maybe it's because i teach sociology. maybe it's something else. i don't know. maybe i'm seeing things that aren't there, or blowing things out of proportion. what i see in this commercial is a common theme in a lot of movies.
let me throw this out there: we see an african american woman waiting at the bus stop, dissatisfied. next, we see a caucasian male show up with the mc cafe and it's all good for him. cut scene, now we have the african american woman on the bus, all disjointed. who's satisfied? it's a white woman with a mc cafe. scene three, we again have the african american woman toiling away in her cubicle. thankfully, the caucasians arrive, bringing her a mc cafe, saving her day.
it's not overt racism. i don't think the makers of the commercial intended it. but, in some ways it's the same message that gets put out into the media. it's an especially common plot in movies: the lives of minorities are messed up and the whites bring the answer to the problem.
it's very subtle in the commercial. and maybe that makes it worse.
or maybe it really isn't there and i'm reading too much into a commercial. https://sites.google.com/site/mayuradocs/PinIt.png
It seems I missed out on just where to find the Dwele and McCafé extended remix version featuring Conya Doss. Well, it's right here! I mentioned the 365Black McDonald's site last week but apparently forgot to check it for relevant material. So while I was talking all that yang about what they coulda-shoulda had did. Well, they "had" did it already. Yep, did it and did it well. It comes complete with background footage of the recording session with ubiquitous cups of McCafé in camera shot. They also drop in the wonderful singer Conya Doss to spice things up just a bit more through expressing her love for vanilla. Calm down black ad-radicals she means the flavoring. They even give you the extended 90 second spot where Dwele actually gets to sell you a song, I mean sing you a sip, I mean croon you a cup of liquid love. We still get the tongue twisting M.C. brewing up his bubbly brotherly banter (I'm one to talk) at the top of the spot but hey, it works.
Here is the McCafe commercial that features Dwele. I think it's a pretty good R&B track on it's own. Dwele's always creamy smooth flow works wonders for the brand. This makes for such great blend of marketing, smooth quasi-neo soul and syrupy sweet coffee concoction. I'd really like to see more of the performance that's what is really telling the story and wonderfully i might add. The music is an audio personification of this product! Personally I could go for a lot less of the 1970's DJ-speak & hard sell in the beginning. The agency did a good job, but all the voice-over sounds like the marketers were afraid to let the spot be what it was intended to be. I assume that it was a smart musical introduction and an ongoing brand support piece for the "new" drinks. We get about 6 seconds of the real commercial. That is Dwele singing an incredibly un-commercial sounding ode to a cup of coffee and dude nails it. That's what everyone is talking about on the wonder-tubes aka the inter-blogs. Man, give us a uninterrupted (not stepped on, no V.O. perhaps viral ) long version of the video and a leaked track, you know like the record industry would do. https://sites.google.com/site/mayuradocs/PinIt.png
Above is the general market version of the McCafe commercial, which I really dig. It's a smart usage of the brand nomenclature with a smart and catchy repetition.
There is a 'smooved' out McD's McCafe commercial featuring Dwele out there on them there nets 'sunwhere'. I can't find it. So here is a bootleg youtube homemade jigga-rig version of it.
I have notice that McD's is ready to kill Starbucks in this whole "War on Flavor™" thing they got going. Ronald McDonald and friends see S-Bux on the ropes and they are going in for the knock-out! They've done a complete site take-over at BET.com. Looks like somebody knows where their coffee gets creamed or vice versa, if you know what I'm sayin' here.
Meanwhile, back at the Pike Place MarketPlace original Starbucks HQ. A crack savvy team of slightly pissed but, strangely still kinda polite baristas, not to be undone by the newly caffeinated red and yellow clad clown, have thrown a few baby-punches at the competition. The campaign in a nutshell implies that McDonald's coffee better watch it.
Yeah, it's about five bucks less
than ours, but... but nevertheless a price!
Ughn! In your clown paint!
~or~
"nanny-nanny boo-boo, you muffin-head"
Take that, take that!
"Ummm... we're rubber, you're glue?"
I thought I told ya that we won't stop!
The word on the nets is this is a One Hundred Million Dollar take-down. Does Starbuck even have an African American Agency of record? Word to Howard Schultz, Black people like coffee too and we over index on just about everything we buy (see wikipedia under gold dookie rope chains in the 80's). If I were them I'd be trying to sell Lattés to the mocha choca-latté-ya-ya set stat. Black people could actually make Starbucks cool again. You know yall would. We'd be drinking Grandés all pretentiously with gang signs wrapped around the cup. Then there would be slow trickle of other folk watching but not commenting and then mysteriously doing the same thing. We see you lookin'.
"Have you guys heard about 365 Black? McDonald new attempt to celebrate the being of African Americans. I am just discovering it with through the help of SteelCloset. Cas, one of there writers there talks about a "lack of tact." Well...to put it simply, I'm offended. I am well aware that McDonalds has a minority agency (if not multiple) that does some hardcore minority focused work. I gave them a pass for the ridiculousness that was the R&B Themed 10 Piece Nugget spot. I actually laughed with them. I looked the other way for the double fist pump. I said to myself, "If they think this is the way to Market to Minorities...good luck to them." But this 365 Black initiative rocks the boat a little too much in my opinion. Is that really Keith Sweat talking about sharing his love of Chicken McNuggets? Is the love of Chicken McNuggets what you mean when you say, We Are Deeply Rooted In the Community? Who cares if Laurie Anne Gibson, a dancer from a reality know best for sayin "BOOM-BOOM-CAT" and being fired by Diddy worked at McDonalds?"
"WHAT IS 365BLACK?
At McDonald's®, we believe that African-American culture and achievement should be celebrated 365 days a year — not just during Black History Month. That's the idea behind 365Black.com. It's a place where you can learn more about education, employment, career advancement and entrepreneurship opportunities, and meet real people whose lives have been touched by McDonald's. Plus, you can also have a chance to win exciting once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. So make sure you visit often — you just might get inspired."
The ad above is a spoof. But this idea in general is a gross idea and it upsets all of my sensibilities. And I have alot of those things. And no, my sensibilities are not rooted deeply in the community of Chicken McNugget lovin.
Now personally, I'm not offended by 365Black and when I first saw it years ago I thought it was a good concept. Let's hope they keep pushing it to be better and better. https://sites.google.com/site/mayuradocs/PinIt.png
Child Reaching For The Stars Gospel Choir Scratching DJ Multigenerational Family Graffiti Artist Athlete Singer and/or Spoken Word Artist Graduate Jazz Musician Cute Baby Copy Referencing Marches, Elections, Traditions, etc.
Mickey D’s covers the most BHM clichés in a single page.
If you have not spent hours reading, learning and having your mind blown @ MultiCultClassics you – are – missing – it! https://sites.google.com/site/mayuradocs/PinIt.png
I guess red, black & green colored fries would be too much to ask.
cred: DDB Helsinki, Finland Art Director: Jukka Mannio Copywriter: Vesa Tujunen Illustrator / Photographer: Pinata https://sites.google.com/site/mayuradocs/PinIt.png
I like that they tried something new. They get a "B" for effort. It's interesting, gets your attention. I wonder what it would be like if they parodied the music video genre more tightly. They found an video regular in the female lead. A real "artist would have really had you fooled for a second, perhaps leading to a greater payoff. Isn't Glenn Lewis available, hell Bobby Brown is looking for a payday. He could be the black K-Fed.
The Nationwide spot really went there. It was uncompromising in its approach to the parody. You really believe it's a K-Fed video (which is a joke within itself) before they let you in on the big pay off. https://sites.google.com/site/mayuradocs/PinIt.png
