Melanie Oudin is back at the U.S. Open and hoping to live up to weighty expectations—those of fans and sponsors alike. The 18-year-old American was the Cinderella of last year’s tournament, toppling three highly ranked Russians on her run to the quarterfinals. That performance led to sponsorship deals worth some $3 million from the likes of American Express, AirTran Airways, Virgin Mobile and BackOffice Associates. (Check out one of her AmEx Next Contenders spots below, and her U.S. Open Series promo after the jump.) Oudin is still with Adidas, too, though she’s changed the message on her Mi Adidas customized sneakers from “Believe” to “Courage.” (She’s going to need plenty of the latter this week, with her record this season standing at 18 wins and 19 losses.) Virgin Mobile’s current Oudin campaign is a bit of a backhanded compliment. They’re pledging to donate $1 million to fight homelessness should Oudin win the U.S. Open—something they’re surely not expecting to happen. (“We believe in Mo,” reads the disingenuous headline on the ads.) But who knows—it’s not out of the question. Oudin got off on the right foot yesterday, winning her first match in commanding fashion.
Entries from August 2010 ↓
Melanie Oudin aims to prove sponsors right
August 31st, 2010 — Marketing, Uncategorized
Justin Long puzzled about point of Mac ads
August 30th, 2010 — Marketing, Uncategorized
Time magazine’s Techland blog has posted a new interview with Justin Long in which the actor talks about working with John Hogdman on Apple and TBWA’s famed “Get a Mac” campaign. The two big takeaways:
1) Long preferred the PC character to the Mac, and therefore, he didn’t really get the point of the campaign. “I revere John Hodgman. He’s far smarter and funnier than I could ever hope to be. That’s why the point of those commercials was a little lost on me. I’m actually jealous of things he got to do. I preferred the role of the PC guy because he got to do all the fun underdog stuff. The big choice I had to make was when do I take my hands out of my pockets and how do I gesture or roll my eyes.”
2) There are a crapload of unseen spots floating around out there. “They have them. I keep trying to get my hands on them. We would shoot four to six a day. So, we would do a lot at a time. So, most of them we didn’t air. They probably aired about 15 percent of them. There were tons we shot. I remember we shot one with Zach Galifianakis where he played a drunk Santa Claus. And we did one with Paul F. Tompkins that was similar. … I hope they use outtakes. Because when you’re standing in front of a white abyss like that for 12 hours at a time you start getting a little punchy.”
Long also says he wasn’t told officially that the campaign was over. “I personally haven’t heard anything. I could get a call next week,” he says.
As we’ve mentioned previously, you can see all 66 TV spots from the campaign here. Going by Long’s estimation, they filmed several hundred spots that never aired.
‘Halo: Reach’ wakes up a little in latest spot
August 28th, 2010 — Marketing, Uncategorized
After releasing some ominous (and really quite boring) videos the other day, the Halo: Reach marketing team has finally given us a trailer packed with aliens, explosions, jetpacks and firefights. Check it out below, along with previous ads for the game after the jump. Shot in Prague, this new clip was created by director Noam Murro and agencytwofifteen, which describes the spot as “a glimpse into the type of courage and heroism that will be required of all soldiers during the battle of Reach.” Pretty impressive, but the agency’s earlier work for the Halo franchise set the bar so high, this preview comes off as a bit underwhelming. I still prefer the adrenaline overload of the Halo: ODST trailer or the similar live-action, street-level carnage from Ghost Recon 2. The problem with the Reach ads is that they separated the exposition from the action, creating clips that have trouble telling the story, whether viewed together or apart. That said, Halo continues to serve as the gold standard for game marketing, and everyone involved deserves kudos for bringing so much intellect to a game whose plot seems to revel in making no sense whatsoever.