Top 10 Most Memorable Tech Super Bowl AdsComments:179
Posted by
Zonk
on Sun Feb 03, 2008 06:13 PM
from the hee-she-throws-a-hammer dept.
theodp writes "From 1977's lovable Xeroxing Monk to 2007's smug-and-rich SalesGenie pitch man, Valleywag has rounded up videos for its Top 10 most memorable tech-oriented Super Bowl commercials. The commercials are: Apple (1984), Monster (1999), CareerBuilder (2005), GoDaddy (2005), Xerox (1977), E*Trade (1999), Pets.com (2000), Computer.com (2000), SalesGenie.com (2007) and OurBeginning (2000). This year's ads are coming soon." I've always been a fan of the Outpost.com gerbil cannon spot.
Jeeeeez people, calm down. As of composing this, about 75% of the comments are complaining of digg similarities, the new discussion system, blah blah. Calm down, people.. it's still slashdot. As best I can tell, they've just debuted a new section (idle.slashdot). You can still post your retarded memes (In soviet Russia our new CSS web 2.0 overlords welcome I, for one), and otherwise go about your typical slashdot business.
Back to the actual article.. I'd never heard of computer.com.. I guess it would help if I watched the superbowl.. but, yea, I don't. After viewing all the ads in TFA, some are decent (and I've seen re-run later), and some aren't terribly memorable (the salesgenie ad looks like something a 12 year old kid could storyboard in about an hour). Most of the dotcom ads are from companies I'm aware of (monster, pets.com, etc), although I never heard of computer.com or ourbeginning.com.
I tried to do some research on computer.com to see what its story was (currently a doorway page [computer.com] for a linkfarm).. and as best I can tell, it burned out right away (Seattle PI story from 2yrs later [nwsource.com]). (They raised $6M+ in venture funding [medialifemagazine.com], and blew $3M on the superbowl ads). There's even a 3yr old/. story [slashdot.org] that has computer.com in the comments, but TFA doesn't seem to mention computer.com directly (and the linked "video dot-bombs" from TFA doesn't seem to work for me). I'm curious if anyone here knows the full story?
But anyway, this is scaring me. Why is slashdot trying to copy and compete with the likes of Digg? I come here because this place is DIFFERENT, the discourse is often intelligent and insightful. If I wanted mindless links to ads, Ron Paul you tube videos, and funny pictures I wouldn't be on a site that purports to cover "News for Nerds".
Of course there are trolls. You're going to deal with people like that everywhere you go, on and offline (They're just more prevalent and egregious when they have anonymity). I've read genuinely interesting and informative posts too, and they usually out number the people that are just making noise.
Why is slashdot trying to copy and compete with the likes of Digg?
Why shouldn't it? The core of Slashdot is and always will be the same. Adding more on the edges (the Idle section) is unlikely to effect that. As for the layout if the site that is known to be 'news for nerds' fell behind tech wise it would be a laughing stock. They need to try new things every so often. If no one likes it they will go back to the old design.
Side note: Scrolling in this new comment system does suck. Go in to Prefs and turn off "Enable Dynamic Discussions" for a speed boost.
by Anonymous Coward
on Sunday February 03 2008, @06:40PM (#22285970)
I'm a former jock and I don't give a damn about professional sports. What the hell do I care about some massive corporation pitting its employees against each other in arenas that were subsidized by tax payers? You might as well be rooting for coke versus pepsi. Incredibly retarded, but I guess sports suits the goal of placating and soothing the masses so they don't have time or energy to care about important things that are affecting them.
I'd moderate you up, but I don't have any points at the moment.
The millionaires who demand subsidies to build stadiums or they'll move their team elsewhere insisted that their sporting events helped the local economy by bringing in tax revenues. The first baseball strike proved what a lie that was. What actually happened was people did other things in their cities. They went to dinner and a movie or the theater, etc. They spent roughly the same amount of money except they spread it across multiple businesses instead of only at the stadium. This was actually BETTER for the local economy. More businesses benefited and the tax revenues were often bigger because the professional sports team often received a tax break to stay in town.
Screw professional sports. The next time one demands the taxpayer's cough up money or they'll walk, show them the door.
by Anonymous Coward
on Sunday February 03 2008, @06:20PM (#22285838)
Is just horrible: Don't go the same way as Digg, or you'll also start attracting the same crowd.
I don't need pictures of the movie: If I'm interested enough, I'll click the freaking link...
I'm going to have to guess that this move is to attract a larger user base and get some more ad revenue. Having a site devoted to geeky tech articles limits your user base considerably. Internet/Tech pop-culture is an extremely easy way to widen your target audience. Sites like Digg have tapped into this audience and Slashdot apparently wants a piece of the pie.
On the plus side it's in its own section with a design so gaudy I can easily avoid it. That's the only plus though. The bad part is it will attract
I like most of it! I like how it separates the text from the comments in a distinct way. I also like how the new comment system works faster for me than the old one, and the extra features it brings.
I don't like the now very small text boxes to input text in though, among a few things.:-S
This message was brought to you to by the Resistance From Geeks Reluctant To Change.
It wouldn't be so bad if you could change it like the other sections. Like the IT section. Just change it.shashdot.org.. to shit.slashdot.org/... and the ugly white/brown goes away. Not so here. Maybe they've 'fixed' the other sections too now.
Not only that, its enforced pointlessness. http://slashdot.org/users.pl?op=edithome [slashdot.org]
Its the only section that you can't shutoff from showing up on the main page. Obviously just forgotten but still ironic they'd miss the only section a significant number of members will shut off.
The 1984 Apple advert was clearly a classic and the 1977 Xerox one (while seriously dated) was pretty entertaining. The rest, it seems, were really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Were there really no good superbowl commercials in the last 30 years? The pets.com one looks like the kind of thing that made me give up having a television in my house.
Back off topic, I quite like the new layout but the comment submission page sucks beyond belief. Was the CareerBuilder.com advert
I thought I read "tech-oriented"? Then why the hell is Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, SalesGenie.com and *gasp* OurBeginnings.com in that list? Everything with ".com" in the name is "tech-oriented" now? Sheesh.
No shit. Then there's the fact that it's supposed to be the "most memorable" ads. Did the editors even *look* at that Salesgenie ad? One of the most boring and tired ads I've seen.
Back in the early 90's they had an IBM ad for a slick phone/wearable computer/heads-up display. Some guy was trading pork belly's in a park on the other side of the world while feeding pidgeons. They showed it again on the last episode of Star Trek TNG. Probably a few times after that. The product never made it to market and even if they launched it today would probably be the iphone killer that every geek dreams of.
My vote for the biggest vaporware product ad evah.
Wasn't GoDaddy the company that paid lots for the superbowl advert, then died?
I ask purely because I know there was one famous dot com bust faliure known for a great superbowl advert that failed soon after, and I can't recall the name.
There, and I didn't mention the hideous new layout once....
layout change... disconcerted...confused... make. it. stop....
ok... trying to focus...
Top 10 lists. Is it just me? Or does everyone when they see any kind of "top 10" list they immediately think:
1. Lazy worthless journalists.
2. Product placement / viral marketing / ad by stealth
I need to work 10 list of things I'd like to do to journalists. But it'll have to wait until after I have recovered from the brain damage that is this new layout...
The historical context for the Apple '1984' ad was that in that era, most computing was locked up in Mainframe operations. There was a crew with labcoats on who where the only people allowed to touch actual computer hardware. If you needed a printout, you filled out a form and put it in the basket next to the half-door that separated 'users' from the IT staff. Microsoft and Apple were both 'liberating' from that computer culture, with the notion of everybody having their own computer on their desk.
However, most PC users are quite annoyed with their computer experience. Most of the recent Mac commercials I've seen poke fun at all the problems that PCs usually have, like viruses, ugly computer design, and the fact that they come installed with tons of adware. Mac commercials say, here's a list of all the problems we know you have, and we know you hate. And if you want something more out of your computer, then buy a Mac. I'm typing this on a Windows machine myself, which I don't really have a proble
Besides Officemax's Rubberband Man is the most memorable superbowl ad.
While I'll agree Rubber Band Man should be on that list, and a few that are on the list shouldn't be (I mean, come on, what's funny or interesting about the SalesGenie.com or GoDaddy.com commercials?), there's no question the 1984 Macintosh ad is the best, so far, and will probably remain the best for a while. Seriously - the thing was directed by Ridley Scott. Of course, if you actually watched it when it originally aired, it was a lot m
digg? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:digg? (Score:5, Interesting)
But I really like the updated layout. They're no longer wasting valuable real estate on the pointless left-hand column.
Grumpy old men... (Score:5, Interesting)
Jeeeeez people, calm down. As of composing this, about 75% of the comments are complaining of digg similarities, the new discussion system, blah blah. Calm down, people.. it's still slashdot. As best I can tell, they've just debuted a new section (idle.slashdot). You can still post your retarded memes (In soviet Russia our new CSS web 2.0 overlords welcome I, for one), and otherwise go about your typical slashdot business.
Back to the actual article.. I'd never heard of computer.com.. I guess it would help if I watched the superbowl.. but, yea, I don't. After viewing all the ads in TFA, some are decent (and I've seen re-run later), and some aren't terribly memorable (the salesgenie ad looks like something a 12 year old kid could storyboard in about an hour). Most of the dotcom ads are from companies I'm aware of (monster, pets.com, etc), although I never heard of computer.com or ourbeginning.com.
I tried to do some research on computer.com to see what its story was (currently a doorway page [computer.com] for a linkfarm).. and as best I can tell, it burned out right away (Seattle PI story from 2yrs later [nwsource.com]). (They raised $6M+ in venture funding [medialifemagazine.com], and blew $3M on the superbowl ads). There's even a 3yr old
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:digg? (Score:5, Interesting)
But anyway, this is scaring me. Why is slashdot trying to copy and compete with the likes of Digg? I come here because this place is DIFFERENT, the discourse is often intelligent and insightful. If I wanted mindless links to ads, Ron Paul you tube videos, and funny pictures I wouldn't be on a site that purports to cover "News for Nerds".
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You must be new here. You can count on Slashdot discussions to contain gems of wisdom like:
Re:digg? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:digg? (Score:5, Insightful)
Side note: Scrolling in this new comment system does suck. Go in to Prefs and turn off "Enable Dynamic Discussions" for a speed boost.
Re:digg? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:digg? (Score:5, Interesting)
The millionaires who demand subsidies to build stadiums or they'll move their team elsewhere insisted that their sporting events helped the local economy by bringing in tax revenues. The first baseball strike proved what a lie that was. What actually happened was people did other things in their cities. They went to dinner and a movie or the theater, etc. They spent roughly the same amount of money except they spread it across multiple businesses instead of only at the stadium. This was actually BETTER for the local economy. More businesses benefited and the tax revenues were often bigger because the professional sports team often received a tax break to stay in town.
Screw professional sports. The next time one demands the taxpayer's cough up money or they'll walk, show them the door.
This new look... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This new look... (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sorry, this is against the Slashdot terms of conduct.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
On the plus side it's in its own section with a design so gaudy I can easily avoid it. That's the only plus though. The bad part is it will attract
You would think... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't like the now very small text boxes to input text in though, among a few things.
This message was brought to you to by the Resistance From Geeks Reluctant To Change.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:You would think... (Score:4, Insightful)
errr..... (Score:5, Funny)
Idle (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Idle (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
http://slashdot.org/users.pl?op=edithome [slashdot.org]
Its the only section that you can't shutoff from showing up on the main page. Obviously just forgotten but still ironic they'd miss the only section a significant number of members will shut off.
oh my god (Score:5, Funny)
Poor article got the shaft (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The 1984 Apple advert was clearly a classic and the 1977 Xerox one (while seriously dated) was pretty entertaining. The rest, it seems, were really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Were there really no good superbowl commercials in the last 30 years? The pets.com one looks like the kind of thing that made me give up having a television in my house.
Back off topic, I quite like the new layout but the comment submission page sucks beyond belief. Was the CareerBuilder.com advert
BTW, where is The Dot? (Score:3, Informative)
And then there were IBM's OS/2-toting nuns ("my mobile") & gears supplier (to Japanese clients)... Sightings, anyone?
wait a second... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Still waiting... (Score:3, Informative)
My vote for the biggest vaporware product ad evah.
godaddy (Score:2)
I ask purely because I know there was one famous dot com bust faliure known for a great superbowl advert that failed soon after, and I can't recall the name.
There, and I didn't mention the hideous new layout once....
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
It seems that computers.com did not fare good as well.
Outpost.com gerbil cannon spot (Score:2)
Budwiser should fire their add agency (Score:3, Funny)
And they paid first commercial money for that. Ouch.
10 Best Ads Already Done (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Super-Tech-Ads/ [eweek.com]
Steven
Really? The go daddy ad? (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
My personal favorite (Score:4, Funny)
Arrrgh... top 10 lists (Score:4, Funny)
ok... trying to focus...
Top 10 lists. Is it just me? Or does everyone when they see any kind of "top 10" list they immediately think:
1. Lazy worthless journalists.
2. Product placement / viral marketing / ad by stealth
I need to work 10 list of things I'd like to do to journalists. But it'll have to wait until after I have recovered from the brain damage that is this new layout...
apple ad, prophecy? (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Microsoft and Apple were both 'liberating' from that computer culture, with the notion of everybody having their own computer on their desk.
The 'IBM
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Super Bowl?!! (Score:3, Funny)
I can't filter idle? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
While I'll agree Rubber Band Man should be on that list, and a few that are on the list shouldn't be (I mean, come on, what's funny or interesting about the SalesGenie.com or GoDaddy.com commercials?), there's no question the 1984 Macintosh ad is the best, so far, and will probably remain the best for a while. Seriously - the thing was directed by Ridley Scott. Of course, if you actually watched it when it originally aired, it was a lot m