The saga of Chuck continues

More on Chuck. If Ronald Reagan was the Teflon President, Charles Barkley is the Titanium Celebrity Endorser.

Hey T-mobile, lighten up!

I like funny ads that have a point. And I like when superstar athletes are used well in marketing. And I love the combination of the two.

Usually, it’s a result of digging deep into an athlete’s psyche and uncovering the insight that makes him or her special, then turning that insight into something surprising and fun.

Sometimes, it’s purely using what you’ve got on the surface. A dude who’s an athlete that you like purely because you like him as an athlete. And when he gets together with his athlete friends, you just let the funny happen.

So I've really enjoyed the T-mobile campaign that has featured Charles Barkley and D-Wade. It’s well written, well shot, and well edited. The performances seem genuine and I laugh at just about every one.

I was annnoyed when T-Mobile pulled the ads after Sir Charles’ latest DUI. I thought they should have just kept plugging away. DUI’s are part of his charm!

But let’s hear it for the passage of time. It makes all ickiness in the world of sports go away. Just ask Marv Albert. T-Mobile has brought Chuck back, this time with Dwight Howard too.



It’s funny! Not crystal-ball-in-the-nuts funny, but smart, real, fresh dialogue funny. Good for those guys. I love everything T-Mobile’s doing with these guys, except for the part where they pulled the ads for a while.

C’mon, T-mobile. We knew you were going to put Chuck back on at some point. Next time, put away the pretense and just let the boys play.

No laughing matter, MJ

Brand Jordan is a funny brand.

Funny, like, it makes me laugh? No, more like, it ‘s funny how it has so much potential but is still struggling to find it’s way.

There's a group of athletes that represent Brand Jordan. The athletes they’ve chosen for Team Jordan are an interesting lot. In the NBA, they have big stars like Ray Allen and Carmelo Anthony, but also aging players like Michael Finley. Most of the athletes are basketball players, with a couple of football (Ahman Green and Marvin Harrison) and baseball (Andruw Jones) players thrown in.

They have one female athlete: April Holmes, a paralympian sprinter.

The website makes clear that each of the athletes is valued for not just sports achievements, but for being active in community and charitable causes as well.

But it still seems like a fairly random collection to me. Even Nike always seemed to have a method to the way they picked athletes. Usually, it was the best and only best athletes at their jobs.

For what it's worth, Andruw Jones is still trying to find a job.

Then there’s the advertising. Some very good work, but not consistently great. Again, hard to figure out what ties it all together. Where’s the vision? What would the manifesto say?

I think above all else, it’s about inspiration. At least, I think that’s what it should be. It makes sense to me. If MJ isn’t on the court anymore, he can’t lead by example, so he’s trying to lead by metaphysical example. His spirit was always one of leadership and determination, and that’s what comes through in a lot of the BJ ads. Like this one.



The players are right. The message is right. What does it say about the brand overall? How does it connect to the rest of the brand communication? I’m just not sure. MJ, please help.

Roger Goodell shouldn't need Viagra

If you have kids, and you’ve watched pro football with them, then you probably have something in common with President Obama.

In his book The Audacity of Hope, he wrote, “…I wasn’t too happy with ads for erectile-dysfunction drugs popping up every 15 minutes whenever I watched a football game with my daughters in the room.”

That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

I have parental controls on my cable TV that filter out adult-rated movies and shows. When I watch the NFL with my kids, I wish I had the same controls for the ads. Ironically enough, Fox is the biggest offender, with previews for shows like House, 24, Dollhouse and Prison Break, mixing soft core porn and hard core violence in short yet offensive bursts.

If you think I’m overly sensitive, ask Common Sense Media. In their recently released study on the content of ads shown during NFL broadcasts, they concluded that "it was impossible to watch a single game without coming up against sex, violence, or Viagra." One in six of the ads shown during the broadcasts features content that's wildly inappropriate for kids. That's every other commercial break.

Common Sense Media's report found that 40% of the games included ads for erectile-dysfunction drugs and 44.7% of the violent or sexual advertisements were promotions by the networks for their own programs. And over 10% of the ads overall involved significant levels of sexuality, including scenes about prostitution and strippers.

The amazing thing is that professional leagues go to great lengths to project a squeaky clean, family friendly appearance. The NFL is especially good at protecting their image; the league office does everything they can to be America’s League (especially since they can’t stop their players from literally shooting themselves in the foot), policing their sidelines, their sponsors, and their affiliations.

They should do a better job of policing their airwaves.

Two bongs don't make a right

In this America, in this millenium, with the amount of celebrity stupidity that fills the news, is it really such huge news that a 23 year old had his picture taken with a cell phone camera while taking a bong hit?

The really important news was around which marketers decided to stick with him and which would throw him out quicker than stale bong water. Kellogg’s dumped him, Subway kept him. More to come. Personally, I think he’s the stiffest, most ineffective eight-time gold medal winner in history, and I never would’ve signed him to any contract in the first place with the amount of cash brands were paying him. I would rather have put my money on this guy.



Now that’s an endorser worth every penny.

Hot dogs, apple pie, Chevrolet, and bankruptcy

Citi Field is in danger of being called something different. Not surprisingly, the financial giant is being questioned for doling out $400 million for naming rights to the Mets’ new field, even though the deal was struck in 2006, years before the financial crisis hit.

The government granted Citi $45 billion (yes, with a “b”) as part of the bailout, and many good, hard working people of America are pissed that their tax dollars are paying for a formerly bloated and irresponsible financial institution to sponsor a bunch of boys playing ball. And rightly so.

I say, let the deal go through.

What better way for the government to spend our money? Baseball is the American game. The national pastime. What’s more red, white, and blue than green grass and clear skies on a hot summer day? Uncle Sam’s bailed out so many of our prized institutions already; cars, planes, New York City. It’s the American way.

Besides, who’s going to pick up the slack? The entities that normally go for this sort of thing don’t make much sense. Financial Organizations? Ha. Airlines? Travel ain’t happening. Automotive? Worst year for new car sales for 50 years.

Fast food isn’t hurting too much, and being a big fan of the #4 with light mayo (Turkey Tom), I cast one vote for calling it Jimmy John’s Field. With their penchant for Freaky Fastness, maybe they can help make the games a little quicker. If nothing else, you wouldn’t have to wait as long for the vendors to come around.

Let's hear it for the Nobodies

I have one thing and one thing only to say about the Super Bowl advertising because I’ve heard and talked and read enough about it.

Bravo to the nobodies from nowhere, the unemployed Herbert brothers from Batesville, Ohio, who bested the behemoths of advertising to capture the coveted top prize in the USA Today Ad Meter. Bob Lachky may jokingly say that he wants a recount, but with Bud’s streak being broken at 10, you know he’s not a happy guy. Same with the bosses at Pepsi who expected to come out on top and be showered with all of the bonus PR.

And their agencies aren't feeling too hot either.

For good measure, let’s watch again, and enjoy the never-gets-old comedic power of a crystal ball in the nuts. Watch and learn, ad guys. Watch and learn.