Not the best an ad can get

As a marketer, there’s a lot to like about this commercial for Gillette.



An enduring tagline that’s been used for years and works on many levels. “The Best A Man Can get” can refer to the product and the way a person feels when he uses the product, and it also works across several different products at once. And they’ve been using it forever, from back in the days when the gusty jingle singer belted it out in song. (some intrigue there; more on that later).

Their cast is diverse in many ways, from skin color to home country.

The music is ambitious.

And they seem to have a solid strategy: no matter who you are, from superstar to everyman, you have doubts inside you, and you have confidence inside you; these products will make you look and feel good so the confident side can win.

A lot going for this ad. I just wish I could like it.

Gillette has spent years using sports stars in their ads, and to their credit, they’ve used the best of the best, across the globe: Federer, Woods, Jeter, Henry…all champions in their respective sports.

People want to watch them and be like them.

I just wish Gillette would do something more interesting with them.

Ricky Rubio is an interesting new addition to the lineup, but these spots continue to follow a fairly uninspired formula.

They play a little sports, they mug with each other, they hit the sink and shave a little, and they come out looking really well groomed. They get the girls, too. They’re superstars and on the field and in the bathroom. And since they can win, you can win.

It must be working, because it doesn’t seem to be changing. At least the music is a little different; feels like they’re trying to update a bit and get away from the jingle-driven spots of their past.



That’s good stuff.

I couldn’t get this song out of my head for about seven years, it was so prevalent back in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s. What I didn’t know was that there was another “non-advertising” version, and there’s some controversy surrounding the question of which version is the original. What do you think?



Either way I think it’s stuck in my head for another seven years…

Is that a shark Gatorade just jumped over?

I’m trying to find the right words here.

This new Nike spot—I mean, Gatorade spot—is one of those that makes you scratch your head so hard you find dried blood under your fingernails.



You can see the other spots in the campaign here.

The folks at Nike— sorry, I mean Gatorade, I got confused by all of the Nike logos and Nike imagery—have created a fun spot. I'm just not sure who it’s for. Or what it's selling. It’s about “dehydration for concentration.” So when and where am I supposed to use it? And what’s it called again?

To be sure, it’s a buzzworthy spot, and it’s received buzz. With cool celebrity voiceovers including Samuel L. Jackson, and an original track created by Funkmaster Bootsy Collins. And Tiger Woods, for heaven’s sake, animated or not. Plus, it arrives just in time for his hopeful recoronation at the Masters.

People will like it. They already do, especially 13-24 year olds. It has its detractors, too. So it's being talked about.

The question is, will a commercial that borrows from Pulp Fiction, the Jungle Book, classic Nike advertising, and the Keebler Elves help Gatorade sell an already confusing product and promote the overall brand?

Chiat Day has done a terrific job of making people sit up and take notice of a powerful brand that always could have been bigger and shinier in the public eye. Thing is, the business was always big and shiny.

Hopefully little Eldrick Woods will put on another green jacket this year and help the business be as shiny as the advertising.

Tiger returns. Golf happy. Golfers sad.

You could argue that when Michael Jordan retired (each time he retired), he opened up a world of possibilities for other NBA players. But MJ did have Scottie, and there were even times when he needed the spot up jump shooters like Bobby Hansen and John Paxson to win a game.

But Tiger Woods IS golf. Golf fanatics will watch the sport regardless of who’s playing. For the rest of the world, he’s what makes golf interesting. He’s what makes it popular.

And now he’s back, after almost a year away from the game rehabbing his injured knee.

I would argue that Tiger Woods is the single most dominant athlete in the history of a sport almost completely waged by individual competitors. There’s probably never been a sport whose fans and managers missed one of its own so much, and there’s probably never been a sport where the competitors were so glad to see one of its own go missing.

This ad from Nike captures that feeling perfectly.



Sometimes, the assignments you think are going to be easiest can be excruciatingly difficult. I don’t know if that was the case for this ad, but the pressure of having the greatest athlete in the world raises the bar quite a bit. It’s a nice, fairly understated TV spot, with quality performances from the other golfers, and most important…

…they remembered one of the most important tenets of a successful ad: end strong. The first 50 seconds are nice to watch, but the ending is laugh out loud funny.

Toger is such a huge asset for sports marketing. It’s nice to see such a great property used so well.

Welcome back, Tiger. The other golfers may not be so glad, but Nike sure is.

Hey Tiger Woods: Padraig Harrington has your mojo

Padraig Harrington isn’t just the best golfer in the world right now; he’s also the coolest golfer in the world in the world right now.

No, he’s not holing Rubiks Cubes from 15 feet away. That would be Tiger Woods, who, although injured, is smart enough to heed the old adage of “Out of sight, out of mind.” He also knows that he’ll never make as much money playing golf as he will make from his endorsements, so keeps up on the ad front. Hence the latest from EA Sports.



Pretty fun, I’ll grant you that, and in a world where where “Is it real?” viral videos are cropping up more often than interceptions in Jets games, it ranks right up there. Not for technical wizardry, but as proof that Tiger can do still some pretty wonderful things, injured or not. The story has it that it took him only two takes. Probably explains why he was so psyched when it went in, since I’m guessing they told him he’d be done once he sank one.

So Tiger is still around, and the world hasn’t collapsed. It’s just become a much better place for the quiet, confident, Mr. Harrington, a native of Ireland and a man who prefers ridiculously hard work over the luck of the Irish.

I was once at a tournament to interview him for a video. We had to wait until after his round to shoot him, but he had putted poorly that day so he stopped at the putting green after he finished and practiced his putting…and practiced...and practiced…while it got darker and colder. He was still on the green while his competitors were on their third beer.

He still gave us all the time we needed, and while his performance was just North of lackluster, he was very honest and real.

Those qualities help explain the latest news on Padraig: He just re-signed with Wilson to endorse their golf clubs. It pays him a lot of money, but it was millions short of what we could have made had he switched to any of the new companies that were courting him. But he’s been with Wilson for many years, they’ve worked side by side with him in developing his equipment, and he felt loyalty to the company that’s had a hand in his success.

They both work ridiculously hard, they both have had tremendous success recently, and while Tiger can marry Swedish knockouts and play golf on the moon, Padraig carries his own kind of authentic cool. Sometimes that’s the best kind.