Bad Commercials! I see what you mean.... by JustShiny

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Bad Commercials! I see what you mean....

POSTED BY: JUSTSHINY
UPDATED: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 01:20
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VIEWED: 8846
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Sunday, January 22, 2006 5:28 PM

I was cleaning out one of my dresser drawers today, and came across 3 t.v. guides. Well, I was interested why I kept them so I started thumbing through them. Then I look at the date and see October 26- November 1, 2002. So I flip to see if Firefly was in there, and see this:

Now I understand what you guys mean when you say it wasn't advertised right.

With crew explanations like that, who is going to take the time to find out what an awesome show is behind the horrible advertisment!?

Who ever made this

one should be fed to the space monkeys.

I wanna meet some AZ Firefly fans!
www.myspace.com/noodlicious

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Sunday, January 22, 2006 6:00 PM

SERGEANTX

Marketing people don't know what to do with anything original. It's a pretty screwed up dysfunction really, because it's not that hard to figure out. Hell the fans made better ads in their spare time. What gives?

Even now, you look at the cover for the Serenity DVD and wonder if the idiots who made it even bothered to watch the movie. Llamas?? Slut-Goth River???

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Sunday, January 22, 2006 6:27 PM

URSULA

I heard the movie did really well with the llama demographic.

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Sunday, January 22, 2006 7:16 PM

KANESKI

Well... I reckon they got 1/4 right... "The tough guy is named Jayne" is not bad.

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Sunday, January 22, 2006 7:24 PM

BELASERA

The joke of Jayne's name is lost in print. It's funny because it's a homophone, printed out it just looks like some quirky new space name.
I do like 'The preacher packs a punch' and 'The captain is an outlaw' which actually show some irony, unlike 'The hooker is high class' it's like, yeah...and?

"I'll be in my bunk."

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Sunday, January 22, 2006 7:55 PM

TMURRIE

What about "The engineer is a total hottie"

and

"The doctor likes his manners"

or even

"The doctor's sister wears frilly dresses!"

but my favorite made up one is

"The pilot is so crazy he talks to dinosaurs!"

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Sunday, January 22, 2006 7:58 PM

PRINCESSROHANNEN

What llamas? There shoulld be llamas. I llike llamas. Actually, I just llike to type llamas.

Llong llive the llamas!!

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Sunday, January 22, 2006 8:05 PM

GOODNIGHTKISS

The commercials that aired on Fox are what kept me away... I kept looking at the commercials saying "what the heck is that?" And, now I am in love with it. Rented Serenity, borrowed Firefly, and I just ordered both. I wish I had gotten into this series when it was on the air, but Fox just didn't know what to do with it. They are notorious for destroying fan favourites because they don't know how to cope with something "different" or "unique."

_________________________________________________
"Define interesting"
"Oh God, Oh God, we're all going to die?"

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Sunday, January 22, 2006 9:50 PM

UNSARDONIC

Quote:
Originally posted by PrincessRohannen:
What llamas? There shoulld be llamas. I llike llamas. Actually, I just llike to type llamas.

Llong llive the llamas!!

HAHHAHHAHHAHHAHHAHHAH!!!!!!!!!!!

If you don't like llamas, "your friends will think you're a stupid, inbred stack of meat."

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Sunday, January 22, 2006 11:12 PM

CBY

Quote:
Originally posted by JustShiny:

Why in the world would they use THIS to advertise their own show? They could have advertised "Married... with Children" that way (or wipe their behinds with it, whatever).

°°°°°°°°°°°°
http://www.byond-trax.com - my selfmade ambient/lounge/chillout music

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Monday, January 23, 2006 1:11 PM

GUTSC1

Ok Guys,

Now I don't me flame into next week. Yeah, we all know that F*x didn't do our beloved Firefly any justice, but in their defense how do you promote this show anyway??? Seriously, I'm never able to convey to anyone exactly what the show is!!

I usually just hand a friend that I know will "get it" disc one of the boxed set and the rest as they say is history. They are new recruits to the verse.

Hell, I love Universal for giving us the BDM, but honestly, they didn't really know how to promot Serenity either.

The way I see it even if they do somehow resurect Firefly as a series, it will be up to us to promote it, and expand the fan base.

Besides I like over 100,000 other potential fans were over in Iraq at the time, and weren't privy to the crappy marketing campain. I'm only a newbee to the verse.

Yeah, better late than never!!!!

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Monday, January 23, 2006 1:19 PM

MCALLEN

Wash isn't even on the poster!!

MAL: We're still flying.
SIMON: That's not much.
MAL: It's enough.

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Monday, January 23, 2006 1:24 PM

XENOPROBE

For the Llama lover:

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/llama.php

I love this little ditty... Shiny!

~*~*~*~*~

Ching-wah TSAO duh liou mahng. Shiny.

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Monday, January 23, 2006 1:25 PM

CBY

Quote:
Originally posted by mcallen:
Wash isn't even on the poster!!

MAL: We're still flying.
SIMON: That's not much.
MAL: It's enough.

Neither are Kaylee and River. Maybe they went out of weird lines.

°°°°°°°°°°°°
http://www.byond-trax.com - my selfmade ambient/lounge/chillout music

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Monday, January 23, 2006 1:40 PM

MCALLEN

True--I didn't even notice that. Ok, well then, that poster REALLY blows. I'm not an advertising genius or anything, but it sure seems like someone could've come up with a better way to market such a pheomenal show.

MAL: We're still flying.
SIMON: That's not much.
MAL: It's enough.

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Monday, January 23, 2006 1:51 PM

DC4BS

Quote:
Originally posted by PrincessRohannen:
What llamas? There shoulld be llamas. I llike llamas. Actually, I just llike to type llamas.

Llong llive the llamas!!

Please excuse the interruption. Those responsible have been sacked! - M. Python

------------------------------------------
dc4bs

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Monday, January 23, 2006 1:53 PM

PINBALLWIZARD

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Monday, January 23, 2006 1:54 PM

NIRVANA

Now as someone who does this for a living, let's be fair to the marketing people.

Ad campaigns are generally not created in isolation. That would be a dream, as most of us are actually highly creative and inspired people. There is nothing Advertising folks would like more than to make their ads the way they think is best and send it to print.

Sadly, this stuff invariably happens in a process called "design by committee." Ad people are given a product to sell, which inevitably goes back to the big guys in charge for approval. Most often they will come back with dumb ideas that they like cause they are just soooooo brilliant. Or they nitpick and say "why is the background eggshell blue and not cornflower blue?" or "I think it should move over to the left"

The money guys get weird cause Ad campaigns cost lots of money, and they get strange ideas that they haven't done due diligence if they don't comment on the choice of font.

Seriously.

I always want to scream "I didn't study this stuff for YEARS to be told by a business guy how to create art."

The same people who pulled the show are the same guys who ultimately approved the Ads and commercials.

Blame them.

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Monday, January 23, 2006 1:54 PM

PINBALLWIZARD

Quote:
Originally posted by PrincessRohannen:
What llamas? There shoulld be llamas. I llike llamas. Actually, I just llike to type llamas.

Llong llive the llamas!!

Llong llive my middlle name, Llewellyn!

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Monday, January 23, 2006 2:02 PM

ZEEK

What no line about a girl in a box?

I loved that one from the commercials. Left me scratching my head about why no girl jumped out of the boxes niska had them stealing from the train. Thanks Fox!!

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Monday, January 23, 2006 2:21 PM

JUSTSHINY

DC4BS: HAHAHA! Long live Monty Python!!!

Nirvana: I didn't think about it like that before. Probably because I didn't know about the way advertising groups are set up. I bet you could make a great ad if someone didn't change it.

Still, if you are the person approving ad's in order to promote a show so you can make more money...is this how you would do it?

Serenity and Firefly are kinda hard to explain, but I think many of us here could come up with better ads.

I wanna meet some AZ Firefly fans!
www.myspace.com/noodlicious

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Monday, January 23, 2006 2:55 PM

MCALLEN

NIRVANA--Didn't mean to slander the advertising people. This isn't my line of work so admittedly, I know not of which I speak. I have no doubt that the creative folks probably had better ideas that got nixed by a bunch of suits (not slandering suits in general, as I unfortunately am one of those). There is always an idiot at the top who thinks he/she knows better than the person actually qualified to do the work. That said, SOMEBODY decided that this was "the" way to advertise Serenity. They were wrong and arguably, did a real disservice to the film, creators, cast, crew and all us fans.

MAL: We're still flying.
SIMON: That's not much.
MAL: It's enough.

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Monday, January 23, 2006 2:55 PM

MCALLEN

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Monday, January 23, 2006 3:48 PM

BOWIE

We again ask your pardon. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.

If you play Nationstates.net check out the region Firefly.

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Monday, January 23, 2006 8:15 PM

NIRVANA

Hey - no offense taken. I mean, there are some really bad Ad people out there. I have worked with them. Sometimes a bad ad is made and suits (great name for these guys) love them. In fact, I have found that sometimes, they love the crappy stuff more, simply because it is cliche and familiar. The more creative stuff requires that they take a risk on something that as a linear thinking "suit" they just don't get.

Working in advertising and marketing, you really have to be able to separate yourself from your work so you don't get too frustrated and disappointed when the good stuff sometimes gets passed over for crap, or when a great ad is changed, altered and edited beyond recognition. Kind of like painting a masterpiece and then having a two-year old muck it up with their spaghetti covered paws.

I have to agree that there was a major cock-up in the marketing of both the series and the movie. It's a shame we might never know if there were any brilliant advertising and marketing strategies and ideas that never made it past the board room. I also think that there is a chance the people who were asked to market the show never really got a chance to see or understand what it was all about, so all of their initial ideas were crippled from the very get-go.

So, I am hoping for a sequel, and hope to get to work with the agency they use to create the publicity campaign!!!! Next time, River will actually SOMEWHAT resemble River on the poster.

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Monday, January 23, 2006 8:33 PM

NYWOE

Quote:
Originally posted by JustShiny:

I wanna meet some AZ Firefly fans!
www.myspace.com/noodlicious

Howdy!

_____________________________________
If you're an Arizonan and a Browncoat, come join us:

www.azbrowncoats.com
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/AZ_Browncoats/

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Monday, January 23, 2006 8:42 PM

NYWOE

Quote:
Originally posted by nirvana:
Sometimes a bad ad is made and suits (great name for these guys) love them. In fact, I have found that sometimes, they love the crappy stuff more, simply because it is cliche and familiar.

My husband's step-dad has done logo design work in Billings, Montana. He would work on really original designs and bring them to his clients and they would always say: "We want something more 'Montana.' How about a wagon wheel!"

He would shake his head and go home and make a logo with a wagon wheel on it and wonder why they'd hired him...

_____________________________________
If you're an Arizonan and a Browncoat, come join us:

www.azbrowncoats.com
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/AZ_Browncoats/

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Monday, January 23, 2006 9:41 PM

RIVER6213

I really hate to say it but from my point of view, Firefly was sabotaged from start to finish....this is what it looks like, and I suspect we will never really know why.

Its such a good show, and I really want more...I really do. I really want more I really want moreI really want more I really want more I really want more I really want more I really want more I really want more I really want more I really want more I really want more I really want more I really want more I really want more I really want more I really want moreI really want moreI really want moreI really want more I really want more I really want more I really want more I really want more I really want more I really want more.

River

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Tuesday, January 24, 2006 1:20 AM

ZOID

nirvana wrote, in part:

Quote:
...Or they nitpick and say "why is the background eggshell blue and not cornflower blue?"...

Having a "Fight Club" moment there?

As I've said on numerous occasions, the reasons I think "Fight Club" is a brilliant movie are the same reasons why I find Firefly/Serenity so addictive. FC scared the living crap out of the 'powers that be'.

I think Firefly might have scared them more than a little too. How does one market a show about a group of people who live outside the overly restrictive laws of an apparently beneficent regime? Is there anything about the Alliance that doesn't remind you of our modern day gov'ts?

So how exactly do you pitch that idea to the money people? To the companies who buy ads on F*x?

Respectfully,

zoid

P.S.
I served in the military for going on 14 years, and yes, I believe our form of government is the best currently in existence. But I also believe it could be improved (by barring lawyers from being in it, for starters), and that it's got a litany of sins on its balance sheet, from the get-go (can anyone say, "Genocide"?). My sense of humor with the government and Big Money types is epitomized by "Fight Club": It's fun to watch 'em sweat and squirm and laugh nervously when the major credit reporting companies wind up in a smoking crater, heh-heh.
_________________________________________________

Tyler Durden: [pointing at an emergency instruction manual on a plane] You know why they put oxygen masks on planes?
Narrator: So you can breath.
Tyler Durden: Oxygen gets you high. In a catastrophic emergency, you're taking giant panicked breaths. Suddenly you become euphoric, docile. You accept your fate. It's all right here. Emergency water landing - 600 miles an hour. Blank faces, calm as Hindu cows.
Narrator: That's, um... That's an interesting theory.

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