This is the final part of 3 posts showing all the ads TED deemed worth spreading. Please click on the links for Part 1 and Part 2.
The TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) community just released its 2011 Ads Worth Spreading contest winners, and the ads are better than the ones I have seen for the Super Bowl in any year! But what did you expect from a brilliant group who’s moniker is “Ideas Worth Spreading”?
These ads aren’t like those in the Super Bowl where they last 30-60 seconds. They tend to be much longer, often the full version of the ad rather than the truncated TV time version. However, with ads like these, I could watch commercials in place of TV shows because I don’t notice how long or short the ads were. I’m actually a little sad once it’s over, alongside whatever mood the commercials left me in.
I have posted the ads here because I have found higher quality versions of the ads than the ones available on the TED website. Otherwise, I’d have just linked to them all on TED’s site.
Here in Canada, for a lot of American sport events, the American commercials are replaced with terrible Canadian ones. This is true even on cable on the American channel itself, not just the simultaneous broadcast on the local network. In Nova Scotia, where I am located, the commercials are even sub Canadian standards. They’re so awful I will often skip watching a show or an event, or go out to a place where I can watch it without those commercials. Or I’ll get what I’m looking for from another source, like news from CBC NewsWorld or MSNBC instead of CNN that’s now proliferated with ghetto budget local business ads when I’m there to be thinking globally.
Do these Canadian ad buyers think they’re getting their money’s worth for those prime spots?
I know there are some rules about rights across the borders, and Canadian content rules and such, but that’s for the channels to worry about. The ad buyers don’t have to buy in to this, and without them, the channels don’t have commercials to run. The channels probably offer ad time with events like the Super Bowl as a bonus to a package rather than selling ad time during the event like it’s done in the US. Still, I would decline it if I were a Canadian ad buyer cause I don’t think people think of those spots fondly.
This comes to a point with the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is as well known for its ads as the game itself. Just observe the chatter the day after the Super Bowl. To watch the Super Bowl with local commercials is like to watch the Super Bowl with one real team and one team of local substitute players. I resent having to watch the Super Bowl with crappy Canadian commercials so much I watch the event on broadcasts with American commercials now, I have blocked the Canadian channels overriding American signals. That means CTV for this Super Bowl, and Global and ASN from previous other offences.
Now, those channels don’t even have a chance that I might surf by and catch something I like when channel surfing. I get local news from the CBC solely now, and you know what? I’m doing just fine without those other channels. I’m not even losing Canadian content, cause it’s not like they show much Canadian content anyway. Why bother with Canadian commercials on prime events, or even just for the Super Bowl, if resentment like this, with some people turning it into action, is what you get?
For events less prime than the Super Bowl, where I might put up with Canadian ads on overridden American shows, I take note of some of the advertising companies and occasionally put them on my “no buy” list. It’s not that I end up watching the commercials to do this. Usually, they annoy me enough from what I’m doing to distract me, and then it’s an easy choice. Eastlink was the first on my list.
I wonder if some of these companies ever imagined their advertising strategies to lead to this?
Oh, and here’s a great example why I go the extra distance for the Super Bowl with the real ads. 🙂
For Earth Day 2010, I made a pledge to eat better and have added periodic updates to define and refine the pledge, as well as update on progress. This is the latest one and involves several topics I’ve encountered since my last update.
I created these tagging challenges for fans of North American professional football, or people who know lots of those fans. The tagging challenges can be done on Facebook, MySpace, LiveJournal or other platforms where you can tag people on pictures.
The idea is to see how diverse is the group of football fans you know, and how does that compare to your fellow football loving friends. It’s no fun if everybody supported the team you supported, you know!
Tag one person you know whose favourite team is represented by the team logo. It has to be that person’s favourite team as you can’t tag a person twice on the same photo.
How many teams can you tag? And how does this compare to your friends who might have done this same challenge?
Here’s how to get these graphics for your tagging fun:
Click on a picture below to get it at full size.
Right click on that picture and save to your computer.
Upload it to your Facebook profile.
Tag your friends!
Fancy yourself quite the social sports fan, or this isn’t your sport? Try the same Facebook tagging challenges for:
I created these tagging challenges for major league baseball fans in North America, Japan and South Korea, or people who know lots of those fans. The tagging challenges can be done on Facebook, MySpace, LiveJournal or other platforms where you can tag people on pictures.
The idea is to see how diverse is the group of baseball fans you know, and how does that compare to your fellow baseball loving friends. It’s no fun if everybody supported the team you supported, you know!
Tag one person you know whose favourite team is represented by the team logo. It has to be that person’s favourite team as you can’t tag a person twice on the same photo.
How many teams can you tag? And how does this compare to your friends who might have done this same challenge?
Here’s how to get these graphics for your tagging fun:
Click on a picture below to get it at full size.
Right click on that picture and save to your computer.
Upload it to your profile.
Tag your friends!
Fancy yourself quite the social sports fan, or this isn’t your sport? Try the same Facebook tagging challenges for:
For Earth Day 2010, I made a pledge to eat better and have added 
Digital Citizen 