Greetings and welcome to another edition of our “News, Views & Clues.” From the looks of things on the website, you may have thought our Gang here has been singularly focused on Netflix’s August 5 release of The Little Prince movie to the exclusion of everything else.
The thing is, the “hits,” so to speak, keep on coming as the ideas and creativity flow in a continuous, dynamic fashion. That, in turn, triggers our #SCMF spirit — so off we go making connections. Read on to get a sense of what tickled our brains over the last couple of weeks.
T-Mobile’s Olympian Effort
We really liked the spot T-Mobile put together to coincide with the high-profile (lots of eyeballs) broadcast of the Olympics opening ceremony.
We felt it worked well both with AND without sound — key for effectiveness during a sporting (or sports-related) event that may be viewed in a loud environment.
The MediaPost write-up included several quotes from James McKenna, creative director at T-Mobile agency Publicis Seattle:
While this spot isn’t announcing another major shift in how wireless is done, it reinforces the pride people have for the brand and what we’ve been able to accomplish with the help of those loyal supporters.
TEB Hits the Road in China — Straddling Traffic (?!)
During our normal fast scan of The Wall Street Journal, we did the equivalent of a double-take (flip several pages forward, only to back up and give something we just saw another look).
What the heck was that??
Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) that straddles cars on the roadway and can carry up to 300 people. Why be stuck in traffic when you can pass over it?
It’s an interesting concept. Per a BBC story we found:
- The TEB has the same functions as the subway, while its cost of construction is less than one fifth of the subway.
- One TEB could replace 40 conventional buses.
If you are curious to learn more, check out this piece from Wired.com that points out a few things that stand between TEB-1 and world transit domination.
Touring a Structure Emerging in the Desert of Nevada
Sounds a lot like a reference to “Burning Man”, except that’s not taking place until later this month (28 August to 5 September). Rather, we are referring to Elon Musk’s $5 billion (yes that’s “B” illion) “Tesla Gigafactory” located near Reno in Sparks, Nevada.
At the end of July, Musk provided the press a tour of the partially built factory that will “pump out batteries faster and cheaper than its competitors and reduce costs by at least 30 percent.”
Tesla says its mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. So they are more than a producer of pricey electronic vehicles. If you’ve got some extra time, you might want to check out the video of Musk’s presentation.
And if you want to learn about the history of Burning Man, click on this link.
No Mor Cows (?!)
We thought the jettisoning of the Most Interesting Man (MIM) earlier this year was shocking. Then we got the news that Chick-Fil-A was jettisoning their agency, which means the end of the “EAT MOR CHIKIN” cows.
For 22-years, These fearless cows, acting in enlightened self-interest, realized that when people eat chicken, they don’t eat them. Very clever!!
- Along with the billboards, the cows have appeared in everything from TV commercials to the annual calendars sold by Chick-fil-A and as toys in its kids’ meals.
- The cows even have more than 34,000 followers on Twitter and their own section on the company’s website.
Whoa, right?
So what could be better than cows?
Uh… Tommie?
What we found out had us ROFLing. Seems that our Tommie has been pressed into service for Chick-fil-A’s new campaign:
“Chicken for Breakfast. It’s not as crazy as you think.”
The ad is not as bad as we thought. We have been giving him a hard time though. He smartly hitched a ride with St. X to Reno / Sparks to hang out at the Gigafactory.
Moo-ving right along…
Carpool Karaoke Series an Apple-Worthy Hit —
We learned from Recode.net that James (“The Late Late Show”) Corden’s ‘Carpool Karaoke’ series is coming exclusively to Apple Music apparently as a means for fending off Spotify.
Honestly, we were unfamiliar with the series. We HAVE found ourselves singing along to whatever our Enchanted Jukebox streams to the car radio and are amused that there is a fancy name associated with the activity. Anyway, check this out. It totally went viral.
James Corden’s White House tour takes an unthinkable turn when First Lady Michelle Obama joins him for a drive around the grounds — where they end up “carpool karaoking” (we think that we just invented a verb for the activity).
Fun! And the hits keep on coming…
Truck Karaoke (?!)
Our resourceful Gang has uncovered an interesting “tie-in” to our previous stories. Back in 2002, Gateway computers began airing a series of lighthearted TV commercials featuring company
co-founder Ted Waitt and his talking Holstein cow. Per their press announcement:
Chairman and CEO Ted Waitt and his talking Holstein cow make two important points in a new TV spot debuting Saturday night: Gateway has the best value in a PC optimized for digital music, and the duo knows the words to Devo’s 1981 hit “Whip It.”
Check it out here:
I Want My MTV – Music Channel Launched 35 Years Ago
CNET let us know that on August 1, 1981 — 35 years ago — a channel launched that was to change music history. Music Television, or MTV, kicked off for the first time at 12:01 a.m., Eastern Time, with the now legendary words: “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll.”
Then the opening chords accompanied Trevor Horn of The Buggles singing the first line of “Video Killed the Radio Star.”
It turned out to be prophetic choice for the channel’s first music video. By October 1981, record sales of the artists played on MTV but not radio stations were starting to boom. Radio stores were reporting overall sales rising up to 20 percent, while bands such as Adam and the Ants, Men at Work, Judas Priest and Bow Wow Wow started to enjoy popularity in America.
The videos were enjoyable. The evolution of MTV programming… not so much. There were a few gems though. In fact, it looks like a MTV “Classic” (revival) channel is launching, per Wired.
We’ll check out the “Daria” shows. Those were fun. Here’s a link to MTV’s episode guide.
That’s a Wrap!
Hope you found this edition entertaining. We’re closing with a featured song / video that always makes us smile.
Thanks for reading and, as always, #SCMF!
—The Gang
Dire Straits: Dire Straits – Money For Nothing
And some lyrics:
Now look at them yo-yo’s that’s the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it
Money for nothin’ and chicks for free
Now that ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it
Lemme tell ya them guys ain’t dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Maybe get a blister on your thumb…
Bonus Content
Once again hitting the “way back” machine, we found a compilation from David (“Late Show”) Letterman’s Stupid Pet Tricks series.
We did an interesting post years ago that referenced MTV.
It featured this, which is kind of fun.
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