another epic fail used to totally win at branding.

friendly warning: before you hit play, make sure your volume is at a reasonably low level.

similar to how twitter followers have embraced the Fail Whale, Croc (shoes i hate) are capitalizing on that hatred in an endearing fashion. [i caught this commercial at some point on G4 while watching the Heroes seasons 2 marathon saturday, when i should have been swimming.]

this commercial worked for me because i do really, really bloody hate them. hate hate. Crocs knows this. they know that we hate them. they also know that no amount of advertising is going to make me want to purchase a pair [due to said undying hatred]--but, they did improve their communications, in my eyes, for recognizing and using this to their advantage in a funny way that i can relate to, even as a non-Crocs wearer; moreover, it creates this rebellious subculture among those who do wear them. Yeah, We Wear Those Shoes You Hate. And Eff You, Too.

where it doesn't gain, it reinforces.
it is that culture around a brand--it's accomplishments as well as its shortcomings--that help to make the brand an integral part of your life. when the brand isn't just a word, or a product, but a personal statement. congrats on Crocs achieving a piece of that with this commercial.

Yeas & Nays: I

the site, brandweek, re: Crocs.
Riot saith: NAY!
Brandweek feels that Crocs have lost their 'bite' and i tend to agree. i NEVER liked them. i always thought they were ugly and smelly (literally, they gave the visual impression that because they were plastic, they would smell) and so regardless of supposed comfort i stayed far, far away from the fad. turns out, i wasn't the only person who thought they were ugly. despite making high heeled crocs, people still aren't buying. and guess what? they're still ugly. adding a chunky, "funky" 4 inch heel is not going to fix that.

the site, mtlb review, re: Cadbury.
Riot saith: YEA!
i like the use of exclusivity (you need a password to get into the vault) and how it fosters interaction (the password is somewhere on the site... i haven't had time to find it yet). it also responds to engaged customers by a) posting consumer cadbury commercial remixes, and, b) offering a nifty 'trick out our truck' contest. moreover, in case i don't have the stamina for all the cool mouse-responsive images (nice floating milk glass sculpture!) there's also an html version, which many flash/etc sites tend to forget or forgo. so generally, i say yea to this, even if i'm not quite certain what spawned the link between chocolate and truck racing.

the site, mediapost, re: Sony.
Riot saith: NAY!
i don't care about your "knowledge transfer." i don't care that someone who thought up the "$100,000 professional camera that films the Super Bowl are the same minds behind Sony's $500 to $1,000 camcorders you use to film your child's birthday party." the quality is different, the technology is different. you're not going to assuage me with reassurance that 'the best minds of NASA Sony' came up with my mini-dv. make a better product, if you're concerned about the quality of your image. telling me smart people made it doesn't change the thing i bought. it's not a 100,000 dollar camera, and we both know it.

site1, site2, adage review, ian schafer, re: Myspace.
Riot saith: YEA!
i am not the biggest lovefool for myspace, but i still log in. i've had it since high school. i still check it, at worst, monthly, and at median bi-weekly. i don't go daily but i used to. i would again. that's a big deal. facebook creeps me out too much, still, and nothing has replaced myspace yet. with their new music merger, i think it's too early to discount myspace as relevant. i think that deep focus is doing it right, and i think offering long-term branding aspects that are relevant to the myspace user (KEY here) are much more valuable than the hit-and-run campaigns. i'm for the development. (consequently, i'm also pro-packet.)

the site, adweek review, re: Garmin/live commercials.
Riot saith: YEA! ...for now.
until everyone else jumps on this retro-savvy bandwagon, i think this is a really cool and interesting idea. i'm for the break-up in the usual visuals in commercials and a retro throwback always wins with nostalgia value. i like how Garmin used this technique; i think a company that represents an improvement on the "old ways" (maps < gps) is the best sort of brand to harness live commercials. kudos to Garmin; we just bought one, ourselves. i look forward to more until i'm too tired of seeing them.