Blind Taste Tests Don't Lie

Landscaper Ronnie Reed, hard-partying father of six and Coca-Cola connoisseur, went to Wendy's and tried a Coke Zero. He was not impressed.

What The Writer and Artist Wanted to Say

The first time something I wrote actually got printed was when I sent a letter to Mad Magazine in 6th grade. I have not lost the stupid, childish humor yet. Nor do I ever intend to. (The kids, they grow up too fast.)

Here's an old Coke ad from some time ago. The original line is left intact. The rest is what I suspect the illustrator and the copywriter privately joked was how the ad should read. (Original ad is here. Click to read.)  

Lincoln Couldn't Cut It

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This comic was inspired by an actual event that took place yesterday: I foolishly believed the advertising Coke has been using to sell Coke Zero. I tried a Coke Zero, expecting it to taste like real Coke. It did not. At all.

Now This is Adverrtising

Advertising used to be a black art. It required subtlety and innuendo, vague nudging and then gentle calls to action. Whispers and suggestions. Before you knew it, you're at a bar saying, "Come to think of it, I'll have a Heineken." But we're too jaded and cynical for most of those methods now. Sure, lingerie and exotic cars can still be sold that way, but now we want you to make us laugh while you're selling your stuff. Baby e-trade is a good example.

Below, the self-mocking, self-aware ad reaches its high point. Nothing hidden here. No attempt to be subtle. Just product, in your face, done by a couple of established sketch comedians using one of their well-known sketches as the vehicle. From SNL last night, Will Forte and Kristen Wigg in "MacGruber" selling Pepsi with the real MacGyver, Richard Dean Anderson.

The first one establishes the joke as a product placement.



The product placement gets more blatant.



Then, the over-the-top payoff.



Congratulations to Pepsi and their new agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day for pulling off this stunt. You think it's just another episode of MacGruber as they go into the commercial break, then you are sucked in by the ruse and you don't even care. It's comedy to sell Pepsi. And they even talked MacGyver out of retirement for the series. I can forgive that stupid logo change now.

But I'm a Coke man. As much as I admire this work, I'm not switching unless the restaurant I'm in only offers Pepsi. Honestly, my taste buds aren't so refined that I could actually tell much difference, but if I'm standing in front of two vending machines selling competing soft drinks, I'm probably going for the Coke. It's just a loyalty thing they conditioned me into believing years ago. If Pepsi wants to buy away my loyalty, we can talk.

Whatcha Gonna Dew?

When you're flirting with making advertising a career, you dream of creating commercials for big names like Coke and Apple. You imagine award-winning two-page spreads for Nike or Levi's. Later, you find yourself writing heavily optimized web copy for health insurance companies and producing commercials for personal injury attorneys in which the attorneys insist on starring. And one of them really wants to deliver the line, "Hablamos Español," in the whitest accent ever heard.

I'm glad someone is having some fun with the new Diet Mountain Dew commercials, in which little known facts are presented in funny ways.



Another good one, "Lightning" is here.

What can you say about carbonated beverages that hasn't been said? The only angle left is humor in a WTF way. At best, you create thirst in the viewer (which is what Coke always does for me) and at least you make the humor memorable enough that the viewer recalls your brand when he's staring at the cooler in the convenience store. I'm probably never going to drink a diet Mountain Dew, but I remembered the brand behind the commercial that made me laugh, which is more than you can say for most commercials.

The Fastest Rising Brand Ever

Those who visit Where's My Jetpack? with any frequency know that I love politics. It is drama in real time, changing from day to day, and on any given day, crazy things can happen. It's an unpredictable soap-opera. I also love politics because it's about branding, public relations and advertising on an accelerated and ever-changing schedule. It's impromptu theater in-the-round, and in this election year, some amazing and astonishing things are happening.

Before I go on, I will divulge that I have never voted for a winner in a presidential election, which made me a loser when it came to Clinton I as well as Bush II. I always end up on the disappointed side of the electorate. I am a registered voter, but I am registered Independent, which means I don't get to vote in my state's primary. I am a bystander when it matters - when we are selecting those who will contend in our national election.

That said, there is a brand emerging in American politics the likes of which has never been seen. Chalk it up to a Connected Age, where a person can create a video and have it seen by millions in a matter of days (if it's good enough), or where a speech can be broadcast worldwide with the click of a mouse. Or maybe we can write it off to good speech-writing , where the finely tuned pen of a young wordsmith can put words into the mouth of a politician and cause a nation to dream.

Imagine a young, upstart new cola, challenging Pepsi and Coke for a majority of market share, and you have the candidacy of Barack Obama. Imagine Obama Cola suddenly replacing Coke and Pepsi on the convenience store shelves. Imagine consumers creating Obama Cola videos that suddenly went viral and made the Diet Coke + Mentos video look like a bad and forgettable episode of The Sarah Conner Chronicles. Imagine sales of Coke and Pepsi falling. People would be plenty pissed. Especially the makers of Pepsi and Coke.

Those who visit Where's My Jetpack? with any frequency know that I love America. I make fun of her, of course. She's an easy target. But stink though she does, she's the best thing afloat. I do not, however, confuse my flag with my God, (apologies to my many atheist readers) and my star-spangled banner never died for me. I don't think we rule the world, and I don't think this land is somehow magically destined to keep the universe safe for democracy. Politics and religion don't belong together, and anyone who brings their God into politics had best be watched closely.

But not since I was a regular attendee at a Black Pentecostal church in Springfield, Missouri have I been so inspired by the orations of a preacher. Or rather, a politician. Obama does not out-and-out invoke God in his speeches, in fact, he keeps God pretty separate. But he has injected something spiritual into American politics, and I hope it can't be stopped. It certainly can't be duplicated, and anyone who tries (and they all have) only ends up looking like a late-to-the-game pretender. I suppose it really isn't all about speech writing. because if you put any of Obama's speeches in front of any other candidate, they would ring false - and fall flat.

I don't know if I'd vote for the man if he in fact does win the nomination of his party, but his brand is something to behold. I likely disagree with him politically more than I agree with him, but I can't help being stopped in my tracks when he's got the mic.

The video below, with uncountable viewings in only four days, sums up what I'm trying to say quite nicely. You can't watch this video and not be moved, regardless of your political persuasion. It was created from a speech delivered only one month ago.



While I would of course welcome the comments of my fellow Americans on this subject, I'd be most interested in the views of my Aussie, Canadian, English, European, African, Indian and Asian readers on what is happening in this country. What do you folks make of what's going on over here? Or does it even matter?

Thanks to Catch Up Lady for alerting me to this video.