August 1, 2025 • 18 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Well, in this episode of the NerdBrand Podcast, we're
going to talk about how not toallow social media to turn your
brain into a raisin when you'rewatching ads on TV.
Okay, let's go.
Hey everybody, welcome to thisepisode of the NerdGram Podcast.
(00:37):
It's been a while.
I took a little break.
I may take another break, Idon't know.
I like breaks.
I'm busy, I can't help it.
So, anyhow, there's been a lotgoing on in the world of
advertising.
Oh my God, has there been a lotgoing on in the world of
advertising, and I think many ofyou know I'm talking about the
Sidney Sweeney ads.
I'll just get right to it.
What the actual hell.
(00:58):
I love Wordplay.
Wordplay is a really good wayto make an ad, but some people
just take it too far, somepeople just misread things and
anyways, I'm sure there's lotsof hateful opinions and lots of
preach adjacent opinions, but atthe end of the day, it's my
podcast.
I'll say what I want, but it'san ad.
I mean, unless it's over, it'san ad.
(01:21):
Guys, it'll be over, it'll befine.
Does anybody ever rememberanother clothing company that
used to do some ads thateverybody was like wait a minute
, are those people underage?
I'm just going to leave thatthere and let you think on that
one.
There are ways to do ads where,yeah, you can subliminally put
messaging in there, but thenit's kind of a stretch on this
one.
I'm sorry, I don't care.
(01:42):
I, you know, I don't normallytalk about politics or religion
on this show because, but youknow, when you start eking it
into my world, it's awful hardfor me to not to make a nod at
it or go like, really.
So that's kind of where I'm at.
I think it's a good wordplay.
Um, I would hope that theywould come out with some more
ads like that, honestly, becauseI think having a more diverse
(02:02):
audience women and audience andeven men on there as
spokespeople that are doing thesame thing I think that that
would definitely kind of shut itup and get the idea across that
no, this is not a eugenicscommercial, because wordplay has
been around for a long time.
I mean, you don't have to seeyourself in an ad.
That is not the right way tolook at things, I'm sorry.
(02:25):
I mean I remember wheneverybody wanted to be like Mike
, but nobody wanted to be Mike.
Nobody had to see themselves inMichael Jordan, they just wanted
to be like Mike and playbasketball.
So I had a friend he just wentand just played his heart out,
trained on his own.
He even got these weird lookingshoes to run around and and I
thought to myself like that isdefinitely determination, and he
(02:47):
was going to go be an NBAplayer.
That was the goal, that was themission, and I was like white
boy from Valley station, okay.
So yeah, did he make it?
No, he went work for the LNPD,but but I'll tell you what his
parents were behind him 100% and, um, yeah, he worked on how
high he could jump and how hecould jump and how he could
(03:09):
dribble.
I mean he was sold all in fromthe age of 16 to 18.
And then reality kind of set in, I think, and it was like all
right, I got to get a job thatpays and now, and so that was
something that changed his life.
But still, I remember thosedays.
I grew up in the 90s.
I mean that's the way it was.
That's why I have the worldviewI have.
I grew up in the 90s.
I saw all this stuff.
(03:30):
I'm not a boomer.
Boomers are baby boomers.
Those are people that you knowwere born from those that went
and fought in World War II, myparents.
I'm not a boomer.
You got the wrong generationy'all.
Just because they're older thanyou, that's not a boomer.
Anyways, enough ranting on that.
So here's the thing in the slewof ads that are out there, I
mean there's a lot of greatadvertising that's going on with
(03:53):
, uh, kind of getting back tolike showing the things more and
not necessarily trying to drivesome kind of subliminal message
in the first place.
That either is on the left orthe right side of the political
aisle, I don't care.
It's just what is it thatyou're trying to offer?
What problem are you trying tosolve?
And that's what ads are.
Ads are they're forgottenthings that they can run and go
viral like this.
(04:14):
But then there's some that justyou know, stay with us for
years.
I mean here, remember this oneNow, how many of you just saying
I'm loving it in your head?
You know, mcdonald's has beendoing that for a long time and
now they've got a whole seriesof ads out right now that is all
about McDonald's and theirstuff.
(04:34):
It's great, it's great to watch.
They have owned that.
And now they don't even say I'mloving it.
I mean just they show you thegolden arches and they just kind
of sing a little tune andthat's the way it goes.
And there you go.
You got you like an establishedbrand with an identity, and for
years and years and years,coca-cola same thing.
(04:55):
Like, they bring out the polarbears every Christmas because
everybody hated Santa Claus.
So they said, all right, we'lldo polar bears.
Santa Claus is too divisive, Iguess.
So that's what they did.
Um, budweiser, you know theygot the horses and everybody
knows the horses.
They all come out same time ofyear holidays, advertising
around the holidays.
I mean, there are some newthings that come out.
It'll be interesting to seethis year what gets produced.
(05:17):
Um, but I don't know if, uh, wewould ever get tired of the old
nostalgia things.
I mean even the little Hersheykisses that do their you know
thing for jingle bells, andthat's going to come back, and
they've tweaked that over theyears, even though, if you've
not noticed it or not, the audiois the same.
But the video has been updatedand I think that that's
something that we all can lookat and go.
(05:38):
Hmm, yeah, it makes you feelgood.
So, anyways, don't read toomuch into ads.
Stop it.
There's other problems in theworld if you really want to
focus on problems, or if youjust want to watch ads and have
a lot of fun, do that.
Super Bowl, you know, had someokay ads Not too great funny ads
(05:59):
but you know it's stillsomething right, right, I'm
trying to be positive.
You know it's still somethingright, right, I'm trying to be
positive.
So, anyhow, a lot of uh.
You know there has been umoutrage over some ads.
I mean, adidas had a problem.
They made an ad.
Uh, doves the code, um, ai,beauty standards, um kind of was
(06:25):
a bad thing for them.
You know Google, salesforce andRay-Ban, meta all had ads that
you know.
I think people liked ordisliked.
You're entitled to your opinion, but you know it's something
that I think we kind of missedthe point of what ads are for,
though I just kind of have tokeep going back to that because
(06:45):
I'm flabbergasted.
I was so gobsmacked when Iheard the things that I have
heard so far.
Some of the ad campaigns thatare out currently.
At the moment you may or maynot see them based on, even if
you're the target audience.
You have to think about that.
You know, um, I will tell you Iwatch a lot of Disney plus
(07:06):
lately.
Uh, I cannot specify how many,I lost track.
How many pharmaceutical adscome across, that thing, uh, so
we are still in the age ofpharmaceuticals like throwing
money out.
I mean, I don't even know.
I see so many pharmaceuticalads I'm starting to think that I
got some of them diseases.
So I just, you know, that'skind of the space we're in.
(07:29):
But you know, there's been somesurprising ad campaigns.
Skincare campaigns have beenpretty interesting, you know.
I know we all want to see adsof empowerment and things like
that, and that's great.
Thought-provoking ads are great.
There's a time and place forevery kind of ad.
Uh, t-mobile ran some reallyfunny ads and I think they tip,
(07:49):
they kind of put the icing onthe cake when they got, um, old
Jason Mabola himself, you know,um, um, involved in it and to be
in the ads.
I think that that was kind ofthe funniest ad campaign at
least in 2024, that I canremember was T-Mobile.
Now T-Mobile is running adsagain about, you know, and
they're using Billy Bob Thorntonand him walking around the
(08:11):
middle of a field in what lookslike you know Iowa or Wyoming or
God knows where, and the wholepoint is that he don't know
where he's at, but with hisphone he can find out, and so
that's something that's going onright now and that's an
interesting ad campaign and it'smore about not so much about
how you feel about T-Mobile orhow you feel about 5G or how you
(08:32):
feel about farming or what youthink about what Billy Bob's
wearing or Billy Bob Thorntonhimself.
It's just more or lessemphasizing the point like, hey,
t-mobile's got some satellitesnow so they can always get you
connected, no matter where youare.
And it kind of reminds me ofthe Verizon ads of can you hear
me now?
It's just their way of doing itand showing off the prowess of
(08:54):
the network and how strong it is, and that's a good ad for that
reason.
There really wasn't much elsethought behind it.
It's like hey, we need to showoff what we can do, and that's
what you want to do with an ad,right, and hope that you touch
an audience that receives thatad and says, man, I need that.
And then they do that, andthat's the point.
Um, I'm seeing a lot of ads forpets.
(09:14):
Um, you know a lot of thingsgoing on in that realm.
Chewy's got some prettyaggressive OTT ads running right
now and streaming about dogfood and how to take care of
your dog.
I mean, there's one dog runningaround and it looks like it's
just going nuts as far as how itbehaves and it's like, ok, we
need a type of feeder for a dog,which I didn't know existed,
(09:36):
but they have a cage, all theseother things to keep from
chewing up stuff because it'sgoing to be a puppy for the next
two years or going to gothrough that period.
They kind of intentionally putthat into the ad so that if
you're like, wait, I got a dogthat's within that two year
period and is doing all thesethings, this ad is showing
(09:56):
Chewy's is my place to go sothat I can get some products and
dog food and other things andhopefully keep the dog from
chewing up my sandals.
That's a commercial that's outthere that I think is pretty
darn good.
You know recent ads, that kindof play on YouTube.
(10:17):
You know they're testing alonger ad cycle On YouTube.
They're testing a longer adcycle.
I mean 30-second ads are beingadded to the existing mix of
6-second bumper ads and15-second unskippable ads.
I know that's annoying.
I know that's annoying, but youknow what?
That's also why they annoy thecrap out of you wanting to buy
or pay for YouTube.
(10:37):
This is a platform that's just,over the years, has lost more
money than I don't.
I don't know, I don't know ifthey, according to their
reporting, I mean they're doingokay, but other than that, I
don't think they're making money.
Um, so, you know, you go frommonetization to okay.
Well, the ultimate monetizationis doing a Netflix model where
(10:58):
we charge people for YouTube andthen you can bypass ads.
I don't think that'll happen,because I kind of see all the
money that generates fromadvertising.
Somebody's going to sneak in anad somewhere.
If you have a streaming service, just try it.
Try watching something and thenpause and see if an ad comes up
(11:19):
.
Or does the video just pause,because on some networks, like,
for example, peacock, they haveintermittent.
I guess interstitial ads iswhat they call them.
Anyways, there are ads that arethere if you're pausing the
programming and we can place adsinto those areas for our
customers.
So it's a decent thing, right?
It's like ah, I got to go on apee break, pause, and then
there's kind of an ad, that kindof loops, you know, or maybe
(11:41):
it's just a graphic with a QRcode so that you can just pick
your phone up and there you go,I'm going to get that thing or
learn more about that product.
It's great because we've allgot to figure out.
The entire thing is like there'sa war between advertisers and
ad blockers and people can getannoyed with ads and we get it.
I get annoyed with them, butyou know, I'm in a business of
(12:04):
ad, of advertising and and, um,that's sometimes I like watching
ads and watching how peoplereact to ads.
I think it's very interesting.
I just I can't help it.
I'm a psycho that way.
I suppose.
Um, you know, right now onYouTube there's a playlist of
commercials, um, you know, andthere's in there in different
(12:27):
volumes.
You can go have to Google 2025commercials, but you can kind of
see.
Um, you know, you've got 2025commercials.
Uh, one of the volumes is, uh,you know, comedy central, fxm,
discovery, free form, adult swimin MTV promotional spots, um,
(12:47):
you know, for for toys, I meanthe fantastic four film and all
the different things and all theadvertisement for that.
I mean, you talk about a thingthat was advertised that
everybody misread and thoughtwas going to be something that
wasn't.
As far as a film goes, that'sthat one.
Um, maybe it happened in postediting, I don't know, but I'm
(13:07):
hearing really good things aboutit, that that Marvel's trying
to actually, you know, get backto, you know storytelling, and
so that's awesome.
Um, because, uh, yeah, we uhbeen rough and rough for Marvel
and, you know, dc seems likethey got a good one on their
hands with Superman.
So I'm glad to see that all thatadvertising paid off, because
when you drop a quarter of abillion dollars on advertising,
(13:30):
you kind of want to make surethat the damn thing makes money,
right, I mean, I know I'd liketo see success happen when
people run an ad.
I don't want to see somebodyfail or anything, because it's
really hard to make an ad.
I don't want to see somebodyfail or anything, because it's
really hard to make an ad, youknow, and the whole Sidney
Sweeney thing, it's like itdidn't happen in a vacuum and
one person said like, oh, theyknew this would go viral and it
would cause this or that.
You know, unless somebody comesout and makes a statement yeah,
(13:52):
yeah, that was the plan, thenI'm going to reserve on the side
of like, no, like most agencies, like ours, we're not thinking
about how to go viral, we're notthinking about how to cause,
you know, social disruption.
We're thinking about how to getthe ad done, what to do, and
then when we do it, boy are wepraying to God.
(14:15):
It works Because, yeah, we'vedone our homework and all.
So it's not like we don't knowwhat we're doing or it's being
shot off into a vacuum, but it'slike, at the end of the day,
you don't know how people aregoing to respond to you what you
say.
I don't know how people aregoing to respond to this podcast
episode, with me coming outbeing like I'm sorry, but I just
(14:35):
don't think Sidney Sweeney's aNazi.
That's stupid.
Sweeney's a Nazi, that's stupid.
So you know, I've seen so manyJean ads.
I mean, I grew up in the era ofCalvin Klein.
I mean, honestly, that wasweird, that was weird, but the
ladies liked it because MarkWahlberg was wearing underwear
on a billboard.
It's fine.
So, at the end of the day,don't read too much into ads,
(14:59):
don't let social media turn yourbrain into a raisin, because
you know, somebody saidsomething about an ad and made
an assumption about it orwhatever, and overthought it and
over sensationalized oroutraged over it.
Because, quite honestly, adsaren't married.
They're not made to make yououtraged.
They're made to sell products,they're made to elevate brands
and to hopefully provide aperspective on things.
(15:22):
Um, you know, I don't thinkI've seen a jean or clothing
commercial in a while that hascreated such outrage, and I know
there has been others.
Um, so I don't know why we haveto be so focused on those things
.
I love making ads, I loveworking in advertising.
Mitch does too.
It's why we've done it for solong.
Uh, but I can guarantee youthat, like you know, I can't
(15:46):
speak for the agency that madethe ad, but we don't sit around
thinking about those things thateverybody else is talking about
after they've seen the ad.
It's always after.
That's literally.
We don't start with the processof what happens in the end.
I don't read books backwardsand I don't watch movies
backwards, and I'm assuming myaudience doesn't either.
(16:06):
So when we make an ad, we don'tstart with oh well, what are
people going to think?
We'll get to that part beforewe deploy it.
And if we think that it's stillworth it to deploy it, we're
going to freaking do it, becauseit takes a lot of effort to do
what we do.
In any advertiser, in anyindustry, it takes a lot of
(16:27):
effort.
I mean, you know there's beentimes during COVID where we were
very like.
You know we're not going to putthat message out right now.
It just seems very tone deaf.
And then we didn't.
But you know you got a globaldisaster happening, so it's kind
of warranted.
But you know you got a smallaudience, small amount of people
that are upset, and next weekthey're going to be upset about
something else.
If not, by the end of the day,something else, then that's fine
(16:49):
.
You know fast food ads.
Let's briefly talk about that.
What's going on with fast food?
I know y'all noticed it.
Look, I will say I like BurgerKing, but I don't want brisket
on my Whopper.
I'm sorry, that just doesn'tlook appealing.
I kind of I like my barbecuewith my barbecue and my burger
(17:11):
with my burgers, and I just whyis Taco Bell making fish, not
fish tacos, but they're goinginstead chicken?
I don't know, but everybody isselling everything under the sun
.
Did you know Arby's has aburger, like you?
I don't kind of.
If arby's wants to ever send meanything, or any of these
(17:33):
people that I'm mentioning willsend me anything, I'll eat it
and I will give you a fairrating, but I'm just not
convinced about buying it.
And then you look at placeslike chick-fil-a that are just
rolling out commercial aftercommercial right now and they've
got their people talking aboutdipping chicken tenders and I
think it even inspired Popeyesto make a chicken tender dippy
commercial, where people aredipping and singing and stuff
(17:55):
and it's like it's more activeand energizing than the
Chick-fil-A ones.
At the end of the day, you dowhat you do really well.
Do that when you start lookingacross the aisle what the other
ones are doing, and you getdistracted and you're like, oh
my gosh, I'm a taco place and Imake tacos.
Really well, I'm going to haveto make some chicken things.
No, make better tacos.
(18:17):
That's just my opinion, thoughI don't know what yours is.
I hope you enjoyed this episodeand if you like it, you know
where to find it.
Subscribe, blah, blah, blah allthe things and remember, keep
your nerd brand strong.
Well, in this episode of the NerdBrand Podcast, we're
going to talk about how not toallow social media to turn your
brain into a raisin when you'rewatching ads on TV.
Okay, let's go.
Hey everybody, welcome to thisepisode of the NerdGram Podcast.
(00:37):
It's been a while.
I took a little break.
I may take another break, Idon't know.
I like breaks.
I'm busy, I can't help it.
So, anyhow, there's been a lotgoing on in the world of
advertising.
Oh my God, has there been a lotgoing on in the world of
advertising, and I think many ofyou know I'm talking about the
Sidney Sweeney ads.
I'll just get right to it.
What the actual hell.
(00:58):
I love Wordplay.
Wordplay is a really good wayto make an ad, but some people
just take it too far, somepeople just misread things and
anyways, I'm sure there's lotsof hateful opinions and lots of
preach adjacent opinions, but atthe end of the day, it's my
podcast.
I'll say what I want, but it'san ad.
I mean, unless it's over, it'san ad.
(01:21):
Guys, it'll be over, it'll befine.
Does anybody ever rememberanother clothing company that
used to do some ads thateverybody was like wait a minute
, are those people underage?
I'm just going to leave thatthere and let you think on that
one.
There are ways to do ads where,yeah, you can subliminally put
messaging in there, but thenit's kind of a stretch on this
one.
I'm sorry, I don't care.
(01:42):
I, you know, I don't normallytalk about politics or religion
on this show because, but youknow, when you start eking it
into my world, it's awful hardfor me to not to make a nod at
it or go like, really.
So that's kind of where I'm at.
I think it's a good wordplay.
Um, I would hope that theywould come out with some more
ads like that, honestly, becauseI think having a more diverse
(02:02):
audience women and audience andeven men on there as
spokespeople that are doing thesame thing I think that that
would definitely kind of shut itup and get the idea across that
no, this is not a eugenicscommercial, because wordplay has
been around for a long time.
I mean, you don't have to seeyourself in an ad.
That is not the right way tolook at things, I'm sorry.
(02:25):
I mean I remember wheneverybody wanted to be like Mike
, but nobody wanted to be Mike.
Nobody had to see themselves inMichael Jordan, they just wanted
to be like Mike and playbasketball.
So I had a friend he just wentand just played his heart out,
trained on his own.
He even got these weird lookingshoes to run around and and I
thought to myself like that isdefinitely determination, and he
(02:47):
was going to go be an NBAplayer.
That was the goal, that was themission, and I was like white
boy from Valley station, okay.
So yeah, did he make it?
No, he went work for the LNPD,but but I'll tell you what his
parents were behind him 100% and, um, yeah, he worked on how
high he could jump and how hecould jump and how he could
(03:09):
dribble.
I mean he was sold all in fromthe age of 16 to 18.
And then reality kind of set in, I think, and it was like all
right, I got to get a job thatpays and now, and so that was
something that changed his life.
But still, I remember thosedays.
I grew up in the 90s.
I mean that's the way it was.
That's why I have the worldviewI have.
I grew up in the 90s.
I saw all this stuff.
(03:30):
I'm not a boomer.
Boomers are baby boomers.
Those are people that you knowwere born from those that went
and fought in World War II, myparents.
I'm not a boomer.
You got the wrong generationy'all.
Just because they're older thanyou, that's not a boomer.
Anyways, enough ranting on that.
So here's the thing in the slewof ads that are out there, I
mean there's a lot of greatadvertising that's going on with
(03:53):
, uh, kind of getting back tolike showing the things more and
not necessarily trying to drivesome kind of subliminal message
in the first place.
That either is on the left orthe right side of the political
aisle, I don't care.
It's just what is it thatyou're trying to offer?
What problem are you trying tosolve?
And that's what ads are.
Ads are they're forgottenthings that they can run and go
viral like this.
(04:14):
But then there's some that justyou know, stay with us for
years.
I mean here, remember this oneNow, how many of you just saying
I'm loving it in your head?
You know, mcdonald's has beendoing that for a long time and
now they've got a whole seriesof ads out right now that is all
about McDonald's and theirstuff.
(04:34):
It's great, it's great to watch.
They have owned that.
And now they don't even say I'mloving it.
I mean just they show you thegolden arches and they just kind
of sing a little tune andthat's the way it goes.
And there you go.
You got you like an establishedbrand with an identity, and for
years and years and years,coca-cola same thing.
(04:55):
Like, they bring out the polarbears every Christmas because
everybody hated Santa Claus.
So they said, all right, we'lldo polar bears.
Santa Claus is too divisive, Iguess.
So that's what they did.
Um, budweiser, you know theygot the horses and everybody
knows the horses.
They all come out same time ofyear holidays, advertising
around the holidays.
I mean, there are some newthings that come out.
It'll be interesting to seethis year what gets produced.
(05:17):
Um, but I don't know if, uh, wewould ever get tired of the old
nostalgia things.
I mean even the little Hersheykisses that do their you know
thing for jingle bells, andthat's going to come back, and
they've tweaked that over theyears, even though, if you've
not noticed it or not, the audiois the same.
But the video has been updatedand I think that that's
something that we all can lookat and go.
(05:38):
Hmm, yeah, it makes you feelgood.
So, anyways, don't read toomuch into ads.
Stop it.
There's other problems in theworld if you really want to
focus on problems, or if youjust want to watch ads and have
a lot of fun, do that.
Super Bowl, you know, had someokay ads Not too great funny ads
(05:59):
but you know it's stillsomething right, right, I'm
trying to be positive.
You know it's still somethingright, right, I'm trying to be
positive.
So, anyhow, a lot of uh.
You know there has been umoutrage over some ads.
I mean, adidas had a problem.
They made an ad.
Uh, doves the code, um, ai,beauty standards, um kind of was
(06:25):
a bad thing for them.
You know Google, salesforce andRay-Ban, meta all had ads that
you know.
I think people liked ordisliked.
You're entitled to your opinion, but you know it's something
that I think we kind of missedthe point of what ads are for,
though I just kind of have tokeep going back to that because
(06:45):
I'm flabbergasted.
I was so gobsmacked when Iheard the things that I have
heard so far.
Some of the ad campaigns thatare out currently.
At the moment you may or maynot see them based on, even if
you're the target audience.
You have to think about that.
You know, um, I will tell you Iwatch a lot of Disney plus
(07:06):
lately.
Uh, I cannot specify how many,I lost track.
How many pharmaceutical adscome across, that thing, uh, so
we are still in the age ofpharmaceuticals like throwing
money out.
I mean, I don't even know.
I see so many pharmaceuticalads I'm starting to think that I
got some of them diseases.
So I just, you know, that'skind of the space we're in.
(07:29):
But you know, there's been somesurprising ad campaigns.
Skincare campaigns have beenpretty interesting, you know.
I know we all want to see adsof empowerment and things like
that, and that's great.
Thought-provoking ads are great.
There's a time and place forevery kind of ad.
Uh, t-mobile ran some reallyfunny ads and I think they tip,
(07:49):
they kind of put the icing onthe cake when they got, um, old
Jason Mabola himself, you know,um, um, involved in it and to be
in the ads.
I think that that was kind ofthe funniest ad campaign at
least in 2024, that I canremember was T-Mobile.
Now T-Mobile is running adsagain about, you know, and
they're using Billy Bob Thorntonand him walking around the
(08:11):
middle of a field in what lookslike you know Iowa or Wyoming or
God knows where, and the wholepoint is that he don't know
where he's at, but with hisphone he can find out, and so
that's something that's going onright now and that's an
interesting ad campaign and it'smore about not so much about
how you feel about T-Mobile orhow you feel about 5G or how you
(08:32):
feel about farming or what youthink about what Billy Bob's
wearing or Billy Bob Thorntonhimself.
It's just more or lessemphasizing the point like, hey,
t-mobile's got some satellitesnow so they can always get you
connected, no matter where youare.
And it kind of reminds me ofthe Verizon ads of can you hear
me now?
It's just their way of doing itand showing off the prowess of
(08:54):
the network and how strong it is, and that's a good ad for that
reason.
There really wasn't much elsethought behind it.
It's like hey, we need to showoff what we can do, and that's
what you want to do with an ad,right, and hope that you touch
an audience that receives thatad and says, man, I need that.
And then they do that, andthat's the point.
Um, I'm seeing a lot of ads forpets.
(09:14):
Um, you know a lot of thingsgoing on in that realm.
Chewy's got some prettyaggressive OTT ads running right
now and streaming about dogfood and how to take care of
your dog.
I mean, there's one dog runningaround and it looks like it's
just going nuts as far as how itbehaves and it's like, ok, we
need a type of feeder for a dog,which I didn't know existed,
(09:36):
but they have a cage, all theseother things to keep from
chewing up stuff because it'sgoing to be a puppy for the next
two years or going to gothrough that period.
They kind of intentionally putthat into the ad so that if
you're like, wait, I got a dogthat's within that two year
period and is doing all thesethings, this ad is showing
(09:56):
Chewy's is my place to go sothat I can get some products and
dog food and other things andhopefully keep the dog from
chewing up my sandals.
That's a commercial that's outthere that I think is pretty
darn good.
You know recent ads, that kindof play on YouTube.
(10:17):
You know they're testing alonger ad cycle On YouTube.
They're testing a longer adcycle.
I mean 30-second ads are beingadded to the existing mix of
6-second bumper ads and15-second unskippable ads.
I know that's annoying.
I know that's annoying, but youknow what?
That's also why they annoy thecrap out of you wanting to buy
or pay for YouTube.
(10:37):
This is a platform that's just,over the years, has lost more
money than I don't.
I don't know, I don't know ifthey, according to their
reporting, I mean they're doingokay, but other than that, I
don't think they're making money.
Um, so, you know, you go frommonetization to okay.
Well, the ultimate monetizationis doing a Netflix model where
(10:58):
we charge people for YouTube andthen you can bypass ads.
I don't think that'll happen,because I kind of see all the
money that generates fromadvertising.
Somebody's going to sneak in anad somewhere.
If you have a streaming service, just try it.
Try watching something and thenpause and see if an ad comes up
(11:19):
.
Or does the video just pause,because on some networks, like,
for example, peacock, they haveintermittent.
I guess interstitial ads iswhat they call them.
Anyways, there are ads that arethere if you're pausing the
programming and we can place adsinto those areas for our
customers.
So it's a decent thing, right?
It's like ah, I got to go on apee break, pause, and then
there's kind of an ad, that kindof loops, you know, or maybe
(11:41):
it's just a graphic with a QRcode so that you can just pick
your phone up and there you go,I'm going to get that thing or
learn more about that product.
It's great because we've allgot to figure out.
The entire thing is like there'sa war between advertisers and
ad blockers and people can getannoyed with ads and we get it.
I get annoyed with them, butyou know, I'm in a business of
(12:04):
ad, of advertising and and, um,that's sometimes I like watching
ads and watching how peoplereact to ads.
I think it's very interesting.
I just I can't help it.
I'm a psycho that way.
I suppose.
Um, you know, right now onYouTube there's a playlist of
commercials, um, you know, andthere's in there in different
(12:27):
volumes.
You can go have to Google 2025commercials, but you can kind of
see.
Um, you know, you've got 2025commercials.
Uh, one of the volumes is, uh,you know, comedy central, fxm,
discovery, free form, adult swimin MTV promotional spots, um,
(12:47):
you know, for for toys, I meanthe fantastic four film and all
the different things and all theadvertisement for that.
I mean, you talk about a thingthat was advertised that
everybody misread and thoughtwas going to be something that
wasn't.
As far as a film goes, that'sthat one.
Um, maybe it happened in postediting, I don't know, but I'm
(13:07):
hearing really good things aboutit, that that Marvel's trying
to actually, you know, get backto, you know storytelling, and
so that's awesome.
Um, because, uh, yeah, we uhbeen rough and rough for Marvel
and, you know, dc seems likethey got a good one on their
hands with Superman.
So I'm glad to see that all thatadvertising paid off, because
when you drop a quarter of abillion dollars on advertising,
(13:30):
you kind of want to make surethat the damn thing makes money,
right, I mean, I know I'd liketo see success happen when
people run an ad.
I don't want to see somebodyfail or anything, because it's
really hard to make an ad.
I don't want to see somebodyfail or anything, because it's
really hard to make an ad, youknow, and the whole Sidney
Sweeney thing, it's like itdidn't happen in a vacuum and
one person said like, oh, theyknew this would go viral and it
would cause this or that.
You know, unless somebody comesout and makes a statement yeah,
(13:52):
yeah, that was the plan, thenI'm going to reserve on the side
of like, no, like most agencies, like ours, we're not thinking
about how to go viral, we're notthinking about how to cause,
you know, social disruption.
We're thinking about how to getthe ad done, what to do, and
then when we do it, boy are wepraying to God.
(14:15):
It works Because, yeah, we'vedone our homework and all.
So it's not like we don't knowwhat we're doing or it's being
shot off into a vacuum, but it'slike, at the end of the day,
you don't know how people aregoing to respond to you what you
say.
I don't know how people aregoing to respond to this podcast
episode, with me coming outbeing like I'm sorry, but I just
(14:35):
don't think Sidney Sweeney's aNazi.
That's stupid.
Sweeney's a Nazi, that's stupid.
So you know, I've seen so manyJean ads.
I mean, I grew up in the era ofCalvin Klein.
I mean, honestly, that wasweird, that was weird, but the
ladies liked it because MarkWahlberg was wearing underwear
on a billboard.
It's fine.
So, at the end of the day,don't read too much into ads,
(14:59):
don't let social media turn yourbrain into a raisin, because
you know, somebody saidsomething about an ad and made
an assumption about it orwhatever, and overthought it and
over sensationalized oroutraged over it.
Because, quite honestly, adsaren't married.
They're not made to make yououtraged.
They're made to sell products,they're made to elevate brands
and to hopefully provide aperspective on things.
(15:22):
Um, you know, I don't thinkI've seen a jean or clothing
commercial in a while that hascreated such outrage, and I know
there has been others.
Um, so I don't know why we haveto be so focused on those things
.
I love making ads, I loveworking in advertising.
Mitch does too.
It's why we've done it for solong.
Uh, but I can guarantee youthat, like you know, I can't
(15:46):
speak for the agency that madethe ad, but we don't sit around
thinking about those things thateverybody else is talking about
after they've seen the ad.
It's always after.
That's literally.
We don't start with the processof what happens in the end.
I don't read books backwardsand I don't watch movies
backwards, and I'm assuming myaudience doesn't either.
(16:06):
So when we make an ad, we don'tstart with oh well, what are
people going to think?
We'll get to that part beforewe deploy it.
And if we think that it's stillworth it to deploy it, we're
going to freaking do it, becauseit takes a lot of effort to do
what we do.
In any advertiser, in anyindustry, it takes a lot of
(16:27):
effort.
I mean, you know there's beentimes during COVID where we were
very like.
You know we're not going to putthat message out right now.
It just seems very tone deaf.
And then we didn't.
But you know you got a globaldisaster happening, so it's kind
of warranted.
But you know you got a smallaudience, small amount of people
that are upset, and next weekthey're going to be upset about
something else.
If not, by the end of the day,something else, then that's fine
(16:49):
.
You know fast food ads.
Let's briefly talk about that.
What's going on with fast food?
I know y'all noticed it.
Look, I will say I like BurgerKing, but I don't want brisket
on my Whopper.
I'm sorry, that just doesn'tlook appealing.
I kind of I like my barbecuewith my barbecue and my burger
(17:11):
with my burgers, and I just whyis Taco Bell making fish, not
fish tacos, but they're goinginstead chicken?
I don't know, but everybody isselling everything under the sun
.
Did you know Arby's has aburger, like you?
I don't kind of.
If arby's wants to ever send meanything, or any of these
(17:33):
people that I'm mentioning willsend me anything, I'll eat it
and I will give you a fairrating, but I'm just not
convinced about buying it.
And then you look at placeslike chick-fil-a that are just
rolling out commercial aftercommercial right now and they've
got their people talking aboutdipping chicken tenders and I
think it even inspired Popeyesto make a chicken tender dippy
commercial, where people aredipping and singing and stuff
(17:55):
and it's like it's more activeand energizing than the
Chick-fil-A ones.
At the end of the day, you dowhat you do really well.
Do that when you start lookingacross the aisle what the other
ones are doing, and you getdistracted and you're like, oh
my gosh, I'm a taco place and Imake tacos.
Really well, I'm going to haveto make some chicken things.
No, make better tacos.
(18:17):
That's just my opinion, thoughI don't know what yours is.
I hope you enjoyed this episodeand if you like it, you know
where to find it.
Subscribe, blah, blah, blah allthe things and remember, keep
your nerd brand strong.
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