TCC Insights

The USDA Ditches its Pyramid Scheme

By Caitlin Zulewski, Account Manager

In case you hadn't heard, today the United States Department of Agriculture officially retired the food pyramid, the 20-year-old visual icon that described the USDA's (former) recommended guidelines for nutrition.

Unrealistic Expectations

By Cait Zulewski, Account Manager

Last week, I wrote a blog about my love for the new Fage yogurt spots and how they inspired me to buy the product. (Advertising works! Yay!)

I bought the 0% plain yogurt and tried it with my lunch on Monday.  It tasted like... plain yogurt.  Very thick, very creamy, but still plain yogurt.  And then I remembered that I don't like plain yogurt.  I never have.  So perhaps my expectations were a bit unrealistic.

The redeeming news is that when I stirred in a tablespoon of honey, I liked it a lot better.  And last night I used it in a recipe for crab cakes as a subsititute for mayo and was highly pleased with the result.

Bottom line: I'm still a converter.  The spots didn't magically make me like plain yogurt on its own, but at least I have found a new ingredient for my cooking.

Plain Will Never Be the Same

By Cait Zulewski, Account Manager


I love these spots.  

 

He Said, She Said: Super Bowl Recap

By Bill Zulewski, Creative Supervisor and Cait Zulewski, Account Manager




We live together, we work together, now we blog together.

As one of two in-house marriage teams at the agency, we were asked to highlight some of our favorite – and least favorite – spots of the big game.  Here’s our rundown of a few that stood out:

 

Doritos: The Best Part 

Cait: I thought the first part of this spot was great.  I know there are mixed reviews on it, and our boss was particularly grossed out.  But I liked it – it had a little bit of shock-value humor, and certainly entertained the company we were enjoying the game with.  But the spot could have ended at the 20-second mark.  The last 10 seconds weren’t needed – ripping the guy’s pants off and smelling them was overkill.  The initial gag was gross, but still made sense in a way:   Who doesn’t lick their fingers after a bag of Doritos?  But I can’t think of anyone who smells their own pants after wiping their Dorito-stained hands on them.

Bill: Everyone knows you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friend’s nose. The same goes for licking your friend’s fingers. That’s what made this one so jarring, yet so hilarious. And I agree with Cait, the spot could have ended there.

A Party Done Right

  By Cait Zulewski, Account Manager


Western New York is a generous community, and as a result there is no shortage of black tie fundraisers throughout the year.  They are always for a great cause and a tremendous amount of planning goes into each.

But the truth is that the majority of these events have the same setup.  And if you’ve been to one, you’ve been to them all.  Cocktails and a silent auction start the night, moving into a four course dinner with presentations & awards, followed by dancing.  By the time the dancing starts, everyone is full from dinner and pretty much finished with the night, and so 60% of the crowd leaves before the music starts.

And as good as the cause undoubtedly is, this type of event can be – well, kind of boring.

Give Her The Gift That Will Light Her Menorah

By Caitlin Zulewski, Account Manager

Have you seen these?  They’re part of CBS Cares, a campaign launched by the CBS Television Network consisting of PSAs featuring talent from many CBS programs. These PSAs have addressed numerous causes, ranging from mental health to breast cancer, autism to the arts, and a plethora of causes in between.  And now, apparently, women’s reproductive health.

Mad World

By Cait Waas, Account Manager

I’m really excited for the season premier of Mad Men on AMC on Sunday. 

To prepare, I took the following steps:

• I blocked off Sunday night at 10 p.m. in my Outlook calendar.
• I took the “Which Mad Man are you?” quiz (and was thrilled to find out I’m Joan).
• I made my Mad Men avatar as you can see from my photo.

I know I’m not alone.  Last week I was at a party and when I mentioned I work in advertising, someone squealed “Ooooh, like Mad Men?” 

From Banana Republic’s campaign to recent news articles to the sheer number of mentions on my friends’ Facebook and Twitter pages, I know I’m just a small part of the Mad Men mania.  I can’t even count the number of times I’ve seen the #madmen hashtag on Twitter.

I’m a PC and I’m… a violent little kid.

By Cait Waas, Account Manager

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say I really like Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” campaign.  (I know it’s taboo to actually like a Microsoft product when you work in the advertising industry).

I think the campaign has been effective, if a little delayed, in communicating that Apple doesn’t necessarily have the market cornered on cool.  The initial spots went really far at dispelling the notion that PC users are dweebs.

The latest leg of the campaign is trying to target one of Apple’s longstanding unique points of difference: being user-friendly.  During the late 90s when Apple really started its Phoenix-like rise, its tagline was clear and simple:  Everything’s easier on a Mac. 

It has taken Microsoft this long to finally start to make headway on this claim, and they’re doing so in one of the most classic ways known to advertising:  using adorable little kids in the spots. 

First we meet Kylie, who is four and a half and took several pictures of her fish, Dorothy.  Using Windows Live Picture Gallery, she fixes the photos and emails them to her family.  It’s that easy.

Then there’s Alexa, age seven, who takes several photos of her fort, then “squishes them together into one big picture.”  It’s that easy. 

Recently we met the newest member of “The Rookies”:  Adam, age eight. 

The spot starts off like the others:  Cute kid?  Check.  Younger than 10? Check.  Brief intro hinting that we’re about to learn how easy it is to use Windows Live Photo Gallery? Check.  The first 10 seconds seem to follow the same formula as Kylie and Alexa.  Until Adam makes his tiger attack his zebra with the commentary “He’s a very violent tiger.”

After adding “catchy” music (“Dies Irae” from Verdi’s Requiem) Adam’s slideshow is done.  The spot ends with Adam’s TV zooming in on the final shot of his slideshow, with both the lion and tiger eating the zebra, now covered in fake blood. 

I’ll say it:  I think Adam is a little creepy.  I’m not one to criticize commercials with slightly bizarre qualities, but this one got lost on me.  I was so focused on the menacing soundtrack and the image of the bloody zebra that I missed the main point of the spot (which was to promote how easy it is to create a slideshow on Windows Live Photo Gallery).

Maybe the next installation of the rookies should stick with the cute charmers.  But if the next installation of The Omen needs a star, Adam might have a future.