ESCAPE VELOCITY

1 - @1 - For the record, I don't miss an episode of Better Off Ted. It's hilarious. Search YouTube for the Veridian Dynamics ad on diversity.

2 - LOL

that was MY tweet u r talkin' bout, willis!

how do you know i was talkin' bout YOU?

LOLOL!!

you go, sarcasm boy!

3 - I love the sentiments expressed in the IBM ad, but... what am I supposed to buy? I've already forgotten everything they said except that they said "join us" at the end. Oh... I get it, it's a recruitment ad. Wait, IBM's hiring? Didn't they just have a big round of layoffs? I'm confused.

I see ads all the time that are cute or clever, but before they've told me what to buy, the ad ends and it's on to the next. Which means the advertiser spent money putting their content where I can see it, but haven't convinced me to reimburse that expense by purchasing whatever it was that I was supposed to guess they were promoting. The IBM ad didn't show me anything I want or need, much less something that I didn't realize I want or need until I'd seen the ad. I got a warm, fuzzy feeling about the company, so maybe when they show me something they sell it'll be easier to convince me that I need it, but in the meantime I'm left wondering what exactly it is that they do. Maybe I'll visit their website later and find out if I remember to... hey look, a Papa John's ad. Weird, I wasn't hungry until now but that pizza sure does look tasty. What was I going to do? I forget. Honey, wanna go get pizza?

4 - One didn't blow anything up?
The IBM ad is not bad, but if it speaks to you, there is no way to connect with it, the website goes nowhere and does not engage the customer who is coming to check it out. We don't want to read, we want to act.

5 - Nathan, I could not agree more with your on-going commentary on IBM advertising. I've never watched 'Better Off Ted', so I didn't get the joke initially. I was watching the Veridian ad and thinking, "Gee, this company actually says what their products are and shows them in use--what I wouldn't give for Lotus to follow this model." Of course, the end of the Veridian ad clued me in. What's that say when a spoof ad is more appealing than an actual IBM ad?