“Oh, nooooo!”

Mr. Bill Returns (in One Piece) to Pitch a Debit Card
by Wendy A. Lee
The small clay figure that appeared in “Saturday Night Live” short films three decades ago — being dismembered, pulverized and humiliated to his falsetto cries of “Oh, nooooo!” — will be the latest star of MasterCard’s “Priceless” campaign.

You can watch the spot on the online article page. Scroll a screen.

Even with their self-imposed cultural censoring, Mastercard/McCann-Erickson had the perfect opportunity to do something special and (I'm humiliating myself by using such a cliché) cut through the clutter.

The Mr. Bill Show was shot in deliciously grainy Super-8, had homemade lighting, sets, props – and hysterical special effects (handled mostly by "Mr. Hands" - a big reason for its appeal). A send-up of 1950s children’s programming, The Mr. Bill Show really wasn't much different from the originals. Certainly most local children's shows budgets weren't much bigger.

Here’s a typical one:



Watch an original episode of The Mr. Bill Show: Mr. Bill's Circus (Not available for embedding.)

The creator of Mr. Bill directed the Mastercard spot. Too bad they didn't take a big chance and have him shoot it in 8mm, using only handmade props and special effects - and edit it in the herky-jerky style of the originals. (I wonder if he still has the original equipment.)

Not only would this spot have stood out – but something else might have resonated with younger (and older) consumers - nudging it along virally. Walter Williams is the Godfather of homemade YouTube offerings.

As is, this Mastercard spot is merely your typical, computer-enhanced, bland commercial.

“Oh, nooooo!”

A Revelation!

Not an hour passes since my last posting – and up pops some truly earth-shattering news on the internet:

Study: Baby Boomers Not Interested in Social Networking Web Sites
Separating itself from the Internet’s younger generation, the population bulge known collectively as the baby-boomers say they’re not interested in social networking Web sites, according to a new survey.

What brilliant and fresh insight, I tell myself! A revelation!

But on the mantle, my crystal ball again begins rattling. I get up, place the mystical orb onto my divination table, and slowly wave my fingers over it. Through the murky vapor appears these spooky messages from the past:

Sleepy Baby Boomer Internet Villages

Hopping Around Those Social Networking Sites

Invasion of the Baby Boomer Pod People

Invasion of the Baby Boomer Pod People Returns

Then pages and pages from my book, first published in early 2005, reveal themselves through the hazy sphere ...

I’m not sure I like being a soothsayer. It’s kind of scary. I’m gonna take my crystal ball and smash it against the wall – and from now on I’ll simply wait three or four or five years for all these myth-busting, cutting-edge surveys to come out.

NostraChuckus Predicts The Future

Who is NostraChuckus?

From a post in December 2007:

No pictures or video? How will you instantly see your granddaughter smiling at you? Or watch your grandson actually splashing around in the bathtub almost live, sort of like 'instant replay'? ....
What'll happen unless the Jitterbug folks get wise: The Jitterbug concept will influence other cell phone manufacturers and service providers. Easy-to-read, easy-to-manipulate phones will be developed - but with more features. And the Jitterbug will go the way of … well … the Jitterbug.

And now there's this:

Finally, a stylish phone for baby boomers

Pantech … is now targeting the baby boomer market with its stylish Pantech Breeze phone which includes simplified menus, an oversized display, a large keypad, and quick-call keys under the screen to keep emergency contacts on speed dial … What's nice about this particular phone is it still includes a camera, Bluetooth, and video capabilities, which means you can still send grandma and grandpa multimedia messages.

I should open up a fortune telling booth.

Deep Digging Your Target Market

Although crossing over on occasion, I don't consider myself a journalist—or certainly not a professional one. Usually I'm interviewed by journalists.

But if it gets me a press pass to some fun event, I tell them I'm one.

Even so, if you're in advertising and marketing you'd better be aware of what's happening out there in NewspaperMagazineInternetMediaLand.

And if you're targeting the 50+ Market, a good way of keeping up is by reading Aging Today - a bi-monthly report put out by the American Society on Aging. Here's an issue (and if you dig deep enough, you might find an article written by Yours Truly).

But what you should really do is dig even deeper. Paul Kleyman, the editor of Aging Today, also publishes Age Beat Online - a newsletter specifically for journalists. This is the grit, the insider news. Read the May 27th, 2008 issue.

May: Unused Ether

There were a lot of posts this month. I don't know why. It just happened. So you'll have to make due with only a few juicy leftovers:

Appliance makers have designs on boomers

Schweppes puts the "soft" in soft drinks advertising

Swelled Head

Boomers May Keep Economy Going

Sonic Boomers

Slightly Swelled Head

Boomer social networking sites languishing in traffic

Boomers contribute to nation's wealth

Mine Is Longer than Yours
___

Unused Ether: February

Unused Ether: March

Unused Ether: April