Superbowl, Brands and Exploding Whales

It’s Superbowl Weekend, which for many means the biggest sporting event of the year. It is also an advertiser’s dream, with way more people watching an event on TV than usual. Usually, the audience for the Superbowl is about 130 million people worldwide. Advertisers are paying 2.7 million for a 30 second spot, all in an attempt by companies to get people to buy things and to increase loyalty to a brand.

A few nights ago, I had a discussion with my wife about brand loyalty (that was not spurned by a Superbowl discussion, but my love for a certain brand of coffee). How many brands are you truly loyal to? Think about it for a second. If Starbucks, Tim Horton’s, Second Cup and Timothy’s were all within a 2 minute walking distance and you were going for a coffee, is there one that you would go to every time? This is how I define brand loyalty. You would consistently buy a particular brand and never look to vary your choice. There are not many instances where this happens. There are not that many things, let alone commodities in life that one person is truly loyal to. Bands and sports teams don’t count. Here are a few that we came up with:

Starbucks. I answer to the beacon of the “green lady.” Seriously, this one is not even close. My parents got me a $25 Tim Horton’s gift card for Christmas and I was disappointed because it wasn’t Starbucks. We went to Barrie for New Years and after dinner, we wanted a coffee. While we didn’t know the city of Barrie, we knew that there was a Tim Horton’s on the way back to the highway and a Chapters down the road. What lovely, Seattle based chain is in most Chapters stores? That would be Starbucks.

Heinz Ketchup. I don’t know if it is the consistency of the ketchup or the taste, but I haven’t found a better ketchup than Heinz. There is that “country” brand, the name escapes me, but you’ll find it when you stop at truck stops on road trips, or in restaurants in northern Ontario. It comes in a wider, glass bottle and it just looks “country.” It’s pretty good, but sweeter than Heinz. President’s Choice brand is too runny. I have heard some people argue that the ketchup that McDonalds uses is the best. Guess what? That’s Heinz, too! Heinz all the way.

Subway. Despite the ridiculous “Resolution Time” ads that are on a ridiculous amount of times during any recent sporting event and are annoying as hell, I am a fan of the Subway. Quiznos is overpriced and the quality just isn’t great. The problem that I have with Mr. Sub is the lack of freshness with their bread, although Mr. Sub’s ad’s are kind of funny. I would take Subway over any other chain sub shops.

The question of true, unbridled brand loyalty is a tough one. Other than those 3 brands, I am struggling to come up with any more. I am curious as to what you think? Are you loyal to any one brand and if so, why is that?

Here are my Random Thoughts of the week:

TTC Metropass Sales
I am usually good at buying my Metropass before the first of the month, to avoid line ups on the first of the month. But for February, due to a series of unfortunate events, I was unable to buy one before the 1st. The morning of the 1st, I thought that I would beat the line and purchase my Metropass from the Dominion and Yonge and Eglinton. They were sold out. I went down to the station and they were sold out at the automated kiosk. The manned kiosk had Metropasses on sale, but sales were cash only and I didn’t have the $110 on me, so I had to pay a cash fare to get to work. Not the end of the world, but frustrating. You’d think that the TTC would know by now what the demand is for Metropasses and would have a surplus on hand. Everyone knows that the TTC isn’t known for its well thought out planning, I suppose.

The Exploding Whale
I lifted this video reference from Bill Simmons on ESPN.com who writes a very funny blog. This is what happens when a bunch of people have a problem that should involve engineers, but instead, just involves a bunch of Hillbilly’s with some dynamite. VERY funny...and a bit gross.



The Bees
A friend asked me last week about bands that I have been listening to a lot lately. I left The Bees of the list by mistake. Here is a live clip of “These are the Ghosts”, my (current) favourite Bees song. How come these guys never tour in North America?



Bob Marley
I stumbled across this clip last night and watched it 4 times in a row. Genius. Such a clean, comforting sound. This song chills me out and makes me happy every time I hear it.



Kobe Bryant
The man KILLED the Raptors by himself last night. There is not a better INDIVIDUAL player in the NBA right now than Kobe. LeBron? No, he is too much of a team guy. Kobe is an assassin.

Superbowl
So who am I cheering for on Sunday? Got to be the Giants (even though they are going to lose) for two reasons:

1 – The Patriots cheated. It has been argued that every team cheats. While this may be true, not every team gets caught. They are a great team, with lots of great players but I hope that karma prevails. Plus I can’t stand that cocky, arrogant Rodney Harrison. And I’m a Bills fan and the Patriots are division rivals.

2 – I feel for Eli. Every accomplishment that he has had has been overshadowed by his brother. Even on the field before one of the Giants playoff games, he was asked about Peyton’s team (the Colts) being eliminated from the playoffs. Playing in New York can’t be easy and Eli has gotten ripped a lot. Also, I love that the Giants have made it to the Superbowl without Shockey, who is not one of my favourites to say the least!

Enjoy the game on Sunday. Go G-MEN!!

Who is Making This Stuff?

I don't get this "spoof movie" craze. More accurately, I don't understand how these movies are so successful. My friends can attest that I enjoy lowbrow humour, but these movies (Epic Movie, Scary Movie and a bunch of others) take comedy to the lowest level possible.

Most recently, ads for "Meet The Spartans" have been popping up like genital warts (or so I hear). Every time I see these ads, I just shake my head and ask myself (or my wife) how can people find this funny?

One TV ads for Meet The Spartans really makes me laugh…of course, not at the movie, but at the absurdity of the "humour" in the scene:

Spoof "Rambo" says "Say Hello to my little friend:", which is a parody of Scarface, then, when Rambo moves out of the way, there is a "mini-Rambo" behind him, which is a spoof of Austin Powers/Mini Me. 3 spoofs in one 6 second clip, not to mention the fact that the whole mini-me Austin Powers thing has been done to death.

Sanjaya or whatever his name yelling "I'm not gay" and falling into the pit from "300," "Donald Trump", "firing" Spiderman and then losing his hair…talk about hilarity!

The formula is simple. Take cartoonish pop culture figures and juxtapose them into other scenes from movies/tv/pop culture and hilarity ensues. Meet The Spartans is going to make HUGE money at the box office.

Maybe I will take a stab at writing one of these films. It will be called "Oh no you didn't??!?!" and spoof slasher horror movies and Barbershop/Beautyshop (sequal to Barbershop, in case you couldn't figure that one out).

"What's that Michael Myers? You killed my best friend at the BARBERSHOP! OH NO YOU DIDN'T!!"…I think I could be on to something here.

Speaking of horror movies…

Cloverfield

So, I went to see it on Sunday and I am happy to report that there were no cell phone or laser pointer toting punks in the crowd. Maybe 12:45 on a Sunday is the best time to see a new release movie! While I didn't love the film, I did enjoy myself tremendously. It was a fun-filled, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride for 90 minutes. Apparently Cloverfield only cost $30 million to make and it already has pulled in $41 million in its first week of domestic release, so I wouldn't at all be surprised to see some type of prequel/sequel made. I wonder how many times New York City has taken a beating in movies?

What I didn't like:

- The acting was SO cheesy, especially "Rob"

- some of the decisions made by the characters to be questionable at best. Would one really try to walk across town, through the path of a gigantic monster to find someone when the entire city is being destroyed? 3 out of the 4 of us who went to see the film said no chance in hell!

- It took a bit too long to get to the Monster trashing city part, although the music in the party scene was pretty good.

- Where do you buy a video camera that has a light, night vision capabilities and can take a beating like the camera in Cloverfield?

What I liked:

- The way that it was shot. The filmmakers really did a great job of putting you in heat of the action.

- The Monster. It was kick ass, from all angles. My favourite shot was when Hud is capturing the carnage from the helicopter and it really puts the monster in perspective, along with the destruction that it is creating.

- The fact that the film doesn't let tell you everything. Not enough films do this, or leave things up to your imagination.

Here are my Random Thoughts ™ for the week:

- Oranges. Florida Oranges are great this time of year. Sweet and delicious. I've had 3 in the last 24 hours. No scurvy for me!

- Semi Pro. Saw a preview before Cloverfield. Looks great. Also proof that I enjoy lowbrow humour! Here is the "R" rated trailer. Love that Will Farrell:




- Blogging. Turns out there is lots of cool things that you can add to your blog, like the poll on the side of the screen. Help me settle a bet with some of my friends by voting in the poll!

- Slash. I am enjoying his autobiography. The guy was (and still is) an animal! Here is a classic GNR clip from 1988, about where I am in the book...I bet he was really high when he was playing Rocket Queen, one of my favourite GNR songs of all time.



- Superbowl. Man, I can't believe that Favre and the Packers blew it, leaving us with a less than desirable matchup and likely a 19-0 Patriots team.

- PS2 Upconverted to HD - I bought a $12 PS2 component cable and I can not believe how much better PS2 looks on my HDTV. If you have an HD and a PS2, you should definitely order it. I got my cord here:
- Bad Fight Scenes. YouTube is a wonderful place. Especially for wonderful for things like this amazing fight scene:



Well, that's it for Blog #2. Let me know what you think. Sorry for wasting your time!