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Tuesday, December 26, 2006

MADNESS VS MAXWELL HOUSE


WHAT IS THIS ?

Before I go off the deep end I have a question for you.
Do you know how many board meetings it takes to get a clip like the "maxwell house" spot off the ground?

A Lot.


Thats a lot of late nights, a lot of memos, a lot of meetings and a lot of crappy take out food. Thats a lot of 80 hours weeks and a lot of unnecessary beaucracy. To be trite, its a lot of wasted time.


I don't know if some knucklehead was looking for a promotion or what when they chose to ruin a classic Madness tune. But the song, "Our House" was not about selling coffee. IN fact, it had nothing to do with coffee.

The song, "Our House" was about dreary life in a drab town that celebrated the little things in life in a congested household. It was catchy and it was fun -- end of story. Because Americans didn't have a lot to offer MTV it got a lot of airplay in the early 80's. As Americans started to produce rock videos with over the top budgets we saw a lot less of the UK influence.

But that was years ago.

This song embarrases me for some reason. On its own I can listen to it. I can watch the original video time and time again. But when you put it in a commercial it takes on a very different meaning. There are more in this series where the gang at Maxwell House church it up a bit with some choir singers, (O Lordy). These spots actually do get a bit worse. This one takes place in a firestation.

The reason why I don't think it works well is because this is an english band with a fun post ska beat. The video is classic and the song shouldn't be toyed around with. It belongs in its own category. Imagine hearing a Tom Jones song for a tampon commercial, "She's A Lady" for example. Or what about..... "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones for Viagra.

I should shut my mouth now, I'm probably giving execs ideas for their next raise. But this is very interesting AND this is where you should be careful when you create your own marketing message. The people in the neighborhood that lived in this firestation loved this spot. They even wrote in fan mail. I suppose they were excited to see their community put on the map.

But what about the rest of us? I don't feel impulsed enough to run out and get some of this stuff for myself. I don't even drink Maxwell House because I find it to be very weak. This commercial talks directly to the firestation, the employees of its firestation and the neighborhood that it serves but it doesn't communicate to nobody else.
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CANTU - FASCUBE - 2006

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