This is a commercial that Sportsnet aired to build hype for the 2011 Toronto Blue Jays season.  The music featured is “Coming Home”, by Diddy, which perfectly sets the mood for the advertisement.  This commercial is memorable to Blue Jays fans thanks to how well it pumped everyone up for the start of the season.  I think that this ad illustrates how selecting the appropriate music for any commercial is so vital in determining whether it’s a success or not.

“Coming Home” was a hit at the time, so immediately the tune would catch the attention of anyone near a TV when the commercial came on.  But further analysis of the ad shows how well the Sportsnet producers tied in the lyrics with what was shown visually.

Firstly, “Coming Home” is perfect for the team which heads north from Spring Training in Florida at the end of March each year.  Fans of every team, of every sport are always excited for the season to begin.  The first half of the commercial is set to the slower tempo portion of the song.  It features slow motion effects; shows a sweaty and exhausted Aaron Hill to the lyrics “all the pain from yesterday” and also a night time aerial view of the Rogers Centre (home stadium) to the lyrics “my kingdom awaits”.

The music then shifts to the faster paced, joyful portion of the song which is teamed with joyful images of the players playing and fans cheering.  It’s pretty amazing how the music changes the mood dramatically, the producers of this ad did a fantastic job because they knew that the “high” experienced by viewers towards the end of the ad would be felt more if it were preceded with a “low”.

If you want to attract viewers, then this is how it’s done!

Video games have become extremely popular and marketable for the younger portion of society.  However, game developers realized that there was a huge market that was not being targeted: adults.

Call of Duty Black Ops’ promotional video was aimed at obtaining a wider variety of gamers for the product.  The video demonstrates a “real life” demonstration of how the game is played.  The song “Gimme Shelter” by The Rolling Stones plays in the background (one of the favourite songs, if not THE favourite song of yours truly) to grab the attention of anyone passing by a TV when the commercial was aired.  The song, as popular as it is, was also originally recorded during the time period when the game’s story takes place.

The video shows viewers how exciting and action-packed the game can be.  With rockets and bullets flying everywhere, the developers of this ad clearly want to show you how you feel right in the combat zone.  But, the video shows all sorts of people participating in this battle.  Men and women of all occupations (concierge, food vendor, businesswoman), races and ethnicities apart of this battle.  Treyarch (game developer) is obviously appealing to a wider market of people to sell their game to.  They are also trying to get past the stereotype that only young men play shooter video games.  Heck, they even throw Kobe Bryant in there.  So if it’s cool for him to play it, then it’s cool enough for everyone else, right?

We could also consider the ethics of this ad.  Is it “right” to demonstrate this kind of violence in a “realistic” scenario?  Because even though no kids are used as actors, we all know that they are the target market of this game.  As violent of an advertisement as it is, I think it’s quite ingenious how Treyarch attempts to grab absolutely anyone who hasn’t played a Call of Duty game before by showing them how exciting it can be.