Advertising

Need for Speed: Most Wanted live action TV commercial is totally dope

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 19, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca-lV3LRxEY

You must watch this live action television commercial for Electronic Arts' Need for Speed: Most Wanted, an open-world racing game - it will totally make your day. The racing sessions have you fighting the cops and the trailer depicts that.

I instantly fell in love with the spaghetti western type soundtrack. And don't you just love how they pixelated the finger the driver gave to the cops? Thank actor/writer/director Jon Favreau for that, he's behind the ad.

Developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts, Need for Speed: Most Wanted files as the nineteenth title in the long-running series, picking up on the Most Wanted IP rather than the Hot Pursuit reboot that Criterion developed previously...

Apple doubles down on the iPod touch, finally posts ‘new’ ad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 8, 2016

Apple just uploaded to its YouTube channel an old ad for the new iPod touch that started shipping along the seventh-gen iPod nano yesterday, landing on store shelves today to some raving review. Here's that ad, again. The clip is titled "Bounce" and depicts a bunch of colorful iPods jumping to a catchy tune. The homepage was also updated with a prominent link leading to this ad, streaming direct from Apple...

First Windows 8 ads leak ahead of October 26 release

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

As Microsoft gears up to launch Windows 8 later this month, arguably the most important software release in Redmond's history, first television commercials have surfaced, revealing how the company will communicate the benefits of its first touch-focused operating system to the general public.

Windows 8 has a new tile-based interface consistent with the Metro design language, can run both legacy apps and those optimized for the touch interface, includes a digital store akin to the Mac App Store, features a unified kernel and scales up from the tiniest to the biggest screens and much more.

True to its form, Microsoft plans to offer Windows 8 in a bunch of flavors, including ARM and x86-based tablet versions, Windows Phone 8 for smartphones and standard desktop and server versions. Three more ads are right below the fold...

How to stop Verizon and AT&T from sharing your user data with advertisers

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 29, 2017

New iPhone owners on the nation's largest LTE network might be interested to know that the carrier gives its customers 30 days to opt-out of participating in a user data sharing program with advertisers.

The program tracks smartphone users, recording things like location data (though it's anonymized), age, dining habits and other demographics, and shares them with advertisers for targeted marketing...

Nokia ad slams the iPhone over lack of color

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 3, 2012

Nokia took issue with Apple's black and white iPhone color options in an interesting new commercial for its Lumia range of smartphones. The ad, included right after the break, sets the tone by depicting a gloomy world where mindless drones come to Apple Stores to buy iPhones. When a customer suggest color other than standard black and white iPhone options, hell breaks loose. The clip then switches to Nokia's recently refreshed Lumia lineup, available in a bunch of colors...

Apple is the best brand and design studio of the last 50 years

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 19, 2012

Apple's design team lead by SVP of Industrial Design Jonathan Ive was summoned at the 50th anniversary celebration of Design and Art Direction (D&AD), one of the world's most prestigious prizes for advertising and design. Apple was named both the best brand and best design studio of the last 50 years. In order to mark the occasion, Apple did something it's never done before.

The Cupertino company flew its entire 16-member industrial design team to London and made them available for a unique photo-op. These are the people that made your iPhones, iPods, iPads, Macs and numerous other products that ooze with style and sexyness...

It doesn’t take a genius indeed

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

You've seen Samsung's anti-iPhone newspaper ad (and a Nokia fan's take) that takes a jab at the incoming iPhone 5.

The advertisement has caused quite a stir with its "it doesn't take a genius" tagline (an obvious reference to Apple Store Geniuses) and a laundry list of features focusing on the bigger display on the Galaxy SIII, twice the RAM and stuff like standard micro-USB plug, expandable SD card storage and swappable battery.

Taking a page from Samsung marketing department's book, an Apple fan created a spoof that goes a long way proving that a spec matrix can often be a double-edged sword...

Samsung’s new Galaxy S III ad takes on the iPhone 5

Cody Lee ∙ September 15, 2012

"It doesn't take a genius," according to Samsung's new ad, to see that the Samsung Galaxy S III is a better handset than Apple's new iPhone 5. "The next big thing is already here," it says.

The ad, which Samsung will start running in national and regional newspapers tomorrow, does a side-by-side comparison of the two phones, with the Galaxy S III appearing superior...

Apple explains new UDID replacement in iOS 6

Cody Lee ∙ September 13, 2012

Apple took a lot of heat over their UDID system earlier this year when it was discovered that some developers were misusing the information. And the criticism amplified a few weeks ago when hackers published a list of over a million device IDs.

In response to the hack, Apple released a statement saying that it was going to be replacing the UDID in iOS 6, and was banning the future use of the data. That replacement is called Advertising Identifier, and Apple introduces it in iOS 6 GM...

Ad attack: Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Paperwhite

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 11, 2018

Amazon just wrapped up its news-packed event that saw the company update its Kindle lineup and add two new notable products to the mix: the Kindle Paperwhite with a stunning new display combining the best of LCD and e-ink technology and the Kindle Fire HD, a tablet meant to take Apple's iPad on the high-end.

You should care because Amazon has the ecosystem, the game plan and the devices to take on Apple from every angle. If you don't have time to read through our extensive coverage of Amazon's presser, have a look at two new ads that highlight headline features of the two new tablets...

Deceptive advertising: Nokia admits to faking the PureView ad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 7, 2016

Nokia has always been the smartphone imaging king so no wonder the ailing cell phone giant emphasized advanced camera capabilities as the headline feature of its new flagship Lumia 920 smartphone, launched earlier today.

PureView technology debuted last year on Nokia's Symbian-driven PureView 808 handset. It's based on a pixel oversampling technique which reduces an image taken at full resolution into a lower resolution variant in order to enable lossless zoom and improve light sensitivity and crispness.

Though the new Lumia 920 only has a 8,x-megapixel sensor versus a whopping 41-megapixel on the PureView 808, it still takes in five times more light than other camera phones and taps image signal processor for some cool image stabilization technology (the iPhone 4S also does that).

Unfortunately, Nokia has gone too far in promoting PureView's ability to stabilize shaky video, as proven by its latest commercial...

Apple pulls ‘Genius’ commercials from its website and YouTube

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

When you have the marketing history that Apple does, you don't anticipate many mistakes. The company has a long list of successful TV spots, such as the popular "I'm a Mac" campaign.

But obviously, Apple feels it messed up on its latest string of Mac 'Genius' commercials. Because it just pulled the three month-old ads from both its website, and its YouTube channel...