div|whisperer

For those of you who have your own blog and include YouTube videos on it you will notice that YouTube decided to add a big, ugly YouTube search bar to the top of your embedded videos this morning. You’ll probably also notice that the embedded YouTube videos on my blog are sans ugly bar.

Here’s how you get rid of it:

&showsearch=0

Add that parameter to the end of the video URL when you are embedding it. Remember it shows up twice per embed.

If you are a standardista like myself, use &showsearch=0 instead.

Here’s some example code using YouTube’s default embed code:

<object width="425" height="344">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i2wnwMfmolw&hl=en&showsearch=0"></param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/i2wnwMfmolw&hl=en&showsearch=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Below is the standards compliant version, since we all know I haven’t just sailed on that ship, I’m the captain.

<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" style="width:425px; height:344px;" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/i2wnwMfmolw&amp;showsearch=0">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i2wnwMfmolw&amp;showsearch=0" />
</object>

UPDATE: Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks the new search bar is hella ugly.

The animation in this advertisement is fantastic. Kind reminds me, in terms of sheer epicness, of the Guinness award winning commercial Evolution, which is one of my favorite ads of all time (the Cannes judges agreed with me).

It’s in German, but you can’t tell until the very end - at which point you’re not sure if she’s trying to sell you something or asking if you want a spanking. The ad is called The Evolution of Technology and is actually for an electronics retailer called Saturn, if that helps you understand the concept. Probably not.

Client: Saturn Electronics
Agency: Scholz&Friends

My girlfriend and I almost never agree on commercials that we both enjoy. I enjoy good advertising, and she apparently does not.

Every couple of years however there comes along an advertisement whose quality is so beyond reproach that we manage to somehow agree. Jill found this one on YouTube and gestured me over with so much enthusiasm that I assumed something must be 50% off somewhere.

It’s about time someone realized they could sell stuff to Canadians by reminding them how much they loath winter. All this commercial needs now is that guy with the beard from the old Canadian Tire commercials and Midas had a classic on their hands.

Client: Midas
Agency: DDB Canada Vancouver

Wieden & Kennedy dropped Starbucks as a client in September and I’m not sure if this is a leftover from their work or from one of Starbucks’ other agencies. I love typography ads. Starbucks is promising to give everyone who votes in the U.S. election on November 4th a free cup of coffee (while supplies last of course).

This is a great idea. From a strictly profit standpoint it is sure to drive people through there doors where they will likely realize that free coffee is good, but a not-so-free triple mocha skin milk latte is even better. I expect the financial damage will be minimal.

PR wise this is a victory because while free stuff does not make for a good sales strategy is does help a company who is better known for being everywhere than helping anywhere.

Of course this could all be a clever Republican tactic. Those democrat-leaning Starbucks drinkers end up in eight-hour lines at the polls and a bladder full of Nicaragua’s best.

My American friends, please STFIL!

Fallon lets loose with four new additions to the Holiday Inn Express campaign that suggests that sleeping in their hotels can help ordinary people overcome being an idiot.

The latest batch includes some celebrity appearances from Cal Ripkin Jr. and Jeff Burton - neither of which is particularly funny.

The rapping spot above featuring a previously unknown (and presumably cheaper) actor is somewhat funny if only because in reality the statistics would suggest he would have been beaten, robbed and possibly killed.

The last spot, a delivery room scene, is also entertaining. The ad suggests humorously that a baby’s intellect is determined by where it was conceived - a fact we all already knew was true as proven by Arkansas.

Client: Holiday Inn Express
Agency: Fallon Minneapolis

New York based Jonathan Keller has been working on a project since 1998 whereby he takes his picture every day and then puts them in fast-motion sequence to bad public domain techno music. The result is the kind of everyman, facial-hair growing, YouTube video that we are far too lazy to actually make ourselves.

The truth though is that the challenge is too great. Who among us can say that over the past ten years there hasn’t been at least one Sunday where opening our eyes was not even an option because of a mixture of Gosling’s Black Seal rum or other fantastic deliciousness? Certainly not I.

That’s all it would take to screw this whole thing up. Jonathan’s video has over 1 million views and even he is a newbie compared to the Noah K video which boasts more than 10 million views AND its own Simpsons parody.

While risking killing any watchers with a corn or cheese allergy, Microsoft has released the first ad in their second wave of advertising for the Vista. The first two ads from Microsoft featuring Seinfeld, which you can watch here and here, were in my opinion, targeted solely at a “nerdish” audience. They seemed specifically designed to attack Microsoft’s reputation as being formal and boring.

The new campaign is smart. The weakness in the incredibly popular Apple “I’m a Mac” campaign from TBWA/Chiat/Day is that the PC character played by John Hodgman is the funny one. Justin Long the Mac character comes across as not funny - I would go so far as to say dickish.

The new Microsoft campaign grabs a hold of this message firmly to remind ordinary people that they’d rather be the PC then some pretentious hoody-wearing snot. Then it reminds them that they’re not alone.

Client: Microsoft
Agency: Crispin Porter + Bogusky

I had a fantastic time at the New Brunswick Third Tuesday event on Tuesday and surprisingly I was sober until after the show when Liz invited me for a drink. That’s a significant oversight for me - especially considering I subtitled the event “Don’t drink alone.”

It was fantastic to see Jeff, Chris and Amber again. They did a terrific job. The reviews have been universally positive. I’m looking forward to seeing the new episode of commandN.tv that they shot in Moncton before and during the show. I’m holding out hope that the guys at Razor Creative get their Shatner shout out in the web picks.

UPDATE:

Chris and team at commandN.tv have posted the latest episode which includes a shot of me introducing the awesomeness of Stephen and Rich’s Shatner endorsement.

I look horrible. They say the camera adds ten pounds but nobody warns you that it also makes you look like you’re overdosing on prescription medication that comes with a warning about operating heavy machinery.

The godfather of voice overs, Don LaFontaine, passed away at sixty-eight a week and a half ago. I don’t think his impact on the movie industry will be truly felt by the rest of the world for a few months until all of the trailers he’s done recently are out of theater.

I came across a hilarious video on YouTube of Don LaFontaine, John Leader, Al Chalk, Mark Elliot, and Nick Tate - arguably Hollywood’s top five voice over actors. Definitely worth watching. There’s also a tribute video that shows what a humble man he was for a guy who transformed an industry.

In a world without Don LaFontaine - he is missed.

Landlord Lou is real - and so is his mustache. A former co-worker of mine had Lou as his landlord while living in Halifax. The LandlordLou.ca campaign (which is almost a year old now) is, in my opinion, some of the best copy writing aimed at my demographic to come out of Canada. The original three videos (one, two, three) are absolutely hilarious.

Since those videos were released they’ve removed those videos and replaced them with new videos which aren’t as good. I had to hunt the original three down on YouTube from some random person’s uploads. The new videos are still funny but they aren’t as effective or clever as the originals.

They’ve started going for quirky dialogue that becomes more about character humour then about actually getting across the client (Killam Properties) message. Another sore spot has been the missed opportunity for distributing the campaign.

The web site allows you to join a facebook “group”, which is actually a “page” and add Lou as a friend. There is no ability to embed the videos in a blog or one click way to share them via Facebook, del.icio.us, etc. Stuff that’s considered the bare minimum of a digital campaign. And it shows. Four of the five videos on YouTube have under 1,000 views each.

If I hadn’t of been working for a web site that Colour paid to advertise this site on, I never would have heard of it. None of my apartment dwelling friends have heard of it.

For me this is an example of a fantastic idea, exceptional copy writing and fairly good production without much support. Here’s hoping they smarten up and realize the true potential of this campaign before it’s first birthday.

Client: Killam Properties
Agency: Colour