A Commercial View on Alien Invasion

So, today I got a notification that an article that includes a quote from me, Today’s Burning Question: Marketing Implications Of Google Glass, originally posted on Adotas on February 25th, made it into their top 20 articles of the year, coming in at number 17. As is the custom here on Blog Time Passing, that became the impetus for a post, this one entitled Google Glass iMenagerie, which was published here on April 12th.

So, while checking this out on Adotas, I noticed a post from December 20th entitled, 5 New Video Ads You Should Watch Right Now!, so I did. Watch them right now, that is. Or not right now, but right now back then, when I was watching them right now. Well, you know what I mean.

So yeah, they're all good, and illustrate the point made by McLuhan long ago, that advertising is an art form, and in the future when the commercial connections are long forgotten, they will be regarded as some of our period's finest creative efforts.

Anyway, of the five, two particularly caught my eye, being a science fiction buff, so I wanted to share them with you here. The first one is entitled, simply enough, Beans, and it is described over on YouTube as follows:

Written and directed by Animator Alvise Avati and produced by Animation Director Eamonn Butler. Beans, a short film with an unexpected ending, showcases Cinesite's creature animation skills.

And here it is:



And they also have this to say:

We hope you have fun watching and sharing it! Find out more on our website: http://www.cinesite.com/shorts

And the second commercial represents the start of a series promoting Samsung Mobile devices, entitled simply enough, #GALAXY11: The Beginning (Galaxy being the brand name of Samsung's cell phone, no relation to Gutenberg, although McLuhan did make a reference to a new Marconi Galaxy that would fit in quite well in this connection). Anyway, the write-up over on YouTube just states:

Our best, our bravest, our team. The world's greatest football players have joined together to fight for Earth.

So here it is, the first chapter of what promises to be an intriguing series:



Now, unless you're not from North America, you were probably surprised by the fact that by football, they meant soccer (can't these people get the names of the sports right?), but given the global theme, using the sport that most of the rest of the world obsesses over make sense, even though North American football is much more of a gladiatorial type contest. So this seems to be a novel turn on the classic science fiction film theme, one invoked more than once quite seriously by President Ronald Reagan, that the nations of the world would stop fighting with one another and unite if faced by a common threat of invasion by aliens from another planet. I should add that there is one other note regarding this ad over on YouTube:

Get the full story: http://www.thegalaxy11.com

So, there's a little more of a back story over there, if you feel like you need one. Now, I admit to not being much of a sports fan, and to the extent that I follow sports, soccer falls into the category of almost entirely not at all. So, rather than comment on what is being presented here as a dream team, I'll quote from the write-up over on the Adotas pageL

A crack football squad had been assembled to fight our cause. Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo had been signed up. Phew!

OK, Iker Casillas in goal. Bit past his best, but still very capable. Mario Gotze, Radamel Falcao and Oscar - again, they would not be my first choices, but not bad.

Then I realise there are no defenders among the 11 players selected and I start to worry. Then the name Victor Moses is mentioned and my pulse starts to go into overdrive. Is the fate of Earth really going to be settled by a guy who can barely make the Liverpool team?

Who could let this happen? Who else is in this team? Lee Chun-Soo – the Bolton player? We’re doomed!

So, are we doomed? You tell me.

Now, before signing off, I can't help but note that what Sam seems to have sung here is a tune I've heard before, albeit the earlier version was a bit more looney:






So, I don't know if the Samsung aliens will look anything like Marvin the Martian or any of the Looney Tunes outer space invaders, but I suspect that the footballers are taking themselves a bit more seriously. And that they won't have anyone on their team at all like Lola Bunny. So maybe we are doomed...