Copyranter calls this one “the MANLIEST beer commercial ever produced”:
For Aussie beer Hahn Super Dry. Pretty funny (especially the trophies gag), and I hated the 80s (divorce, debt, long story). I appreciate that it deviates (slightly) from the now-tired go-to beer strategy employed recently in both Australia and New Zealand—the de-pussifying of the pussy male.
A reader writes:
San Francisco Giants just released their "It Gets Better" video. I've never been more proud of my team!
A country gets back on track:
Kohaku has details:
To celebrate the first run of the rainbow-colored Shinkansen from Kagoshima to Hakata in Kyushu, more than 15,000 people doing a "human wave" across the island were filmed from inside the train. 100 hours of filming were compressed into 50 minutes of video, from which the final (and unusual) 180-second commercial was pieced together.
The song in the commercial is called "Boom!" by the Japanese-Swedish artist Maia Hirasawa. She wrote the lively tune after being commissioned by JR Kyushu for a song that will "bring smiles to people's faces". It will be available as a mini album from May 8.
Online reactions of people have been enthuasiastic with comments like "It brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it", "I like Japan even more!", "I hope people in Tohoku would have this kind of power".
The reader who sent the link adds:
I rode the Shinkansen trains in Japan, and I get their enthusiasm. Americans just don't know what they are missing.
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“The Sooner You Advertise Here, The Better,” reads this award-winning ad from The Netherlands. Copyranter reassures us: “Yes, the space was bought before locals got the Full Monty.”
A reader writes:
My wife and I saw this the other night during Glee. We both teared up – me not only for the message, but the fact that it was being communicated in prime time during a very popular show (albeit one that already confronts a lot of gay issues and whose audience skews young.) Still, I have a lot of respect for Google for doing this and makes me want to support them by using Chrome (thus making it one of the more effective ads I've seen in a long time).
Dan chimes in:
[Terry and I] asked—in our very first meeting with Google—for the ad to run during other programs, and other kinds of programming, not just during gay-friendly programs. So the ad will be appearing elsewhere. Keep your eyes peeled.
Who are you guys rooting for in the NBA worlds-series-finals-championships-whatevers? I don't usually pay much attention to the NBA, but this year I'm thinking I might tune in.
Cough. Cough.
Copyranter calls it "maybe the coolest commercial ever shot using balloons":
Balloons were fastened onto a 200 meter long rail, and lined up via laser guide. To achieve a moving picture effect, 10 balloons had to be popped per second, or 600 balloons per minute. It took nearly 24 straight hours to shoot the multiple takes needed.
It doesn't make me want to watch MTV, though.
TAP INTO IT from Vancouver Craft Beer Week on Vimeo.
A little bit self-parodic, I concede. But cool nonetheless and probably unimaginable in America, where beer is mainly sold with not against type, let alone a disorienting mashup of the two.
Matthias Giraud and Stefan Laude capture some of the most incredible content seen by GoPro as they hit the Alps like true heroes skiing the French backcountry while escaping a large avalanche on their tails!
The Dish 