This is so Awesome haha, Christopher Walken doing the new YT Jeffsy ad...

BonsaiNut said:
Hmm....

My gut reaction to the ad - as a target consumer - doesn't have me racing to the store to buy one.
A lot of money and a long ad to introduce a new bike to your own current customers. If the objective was anything OTHER than this - the ad fails completely.
What is the idea that drives the creative? That your bike is your best friend - and that Christopher Walken sets you up to think he is talking about a human... and it ends up being a bike? I don't get it.
How does the execution link back directly to the brand? Is it unique? It is proprietary? Can the same execution not be done with any other product? (Sadly yes - it feels more like a whiskey ad to me)
How does the execution support the brand's positioning? Is YT the "smoking jacket and walnut paneled library" of the mtb world?
Can I turn off the sound and understand the ad? Can I turn off the screen, and listen just to the audio, and understand the ad? Can you see 5 seconds of the ad and instantly link it to the product category and the brand?
And worst of all... do you need someone to sit and give you 3 minutes of their time to understand what you are trying to tell them?

I'm not their marketing VP, but on multiple levels I would never have approved this creative from their agency.
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And that's why it's great...
 
mike said:
How do they sell bikes cheap making ads like that? Bravo to the firm that sold YT the ad.
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Walken is related to someone in the YT company.

You guys kill me. You seem to want everything to be the same, within narrow parameters of marketing tripe. No, the ad will not make me want to buy a YT, but no ad makes me want to buy a particular bike, because they all say and show the same things. The ad is surreal, and completely tongue in cheek - and that's the point.
 
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herzalot said:
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. But it requires you to actually listen. It tells you everything that other advertising hype tells you about bikes, but is far more clever. How they landed an A-lister like Walken for this is beyond me. Perhaps he rides. Perhaps he knows someone in the YT family.

Kudos to YT for doing something completely original. Sorry you guys didn't see enough action or hear enough hyperbole about how it climbs like an XC racer and descends like a mini-DH bike. Blah blah.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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My guess is that they got a hold of his agent under the guise of a voice over gig and then threw some crazy number$ at him for the on camera work:) I'm just curious what the number was...
 
Sasquatch9billion said:
My guess is that they got a hold of his agent under the guise of a voice over gig and then threw some crazy number$ at him for the on camera work:) I'm just curious what the number was...
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Minimums for most work are all union wage. Maximums are... well... whatever you can negotiate. Generally speaking, you are prohibited from working for free in the case of commercials. But I don't know what the rules are if this ad was only produced for the Internet...

Aside from Christopher Walken's fee, this was a very cheap commercial to shoot. Static scene, generic living room (might even be Walken's own), bike leaning against a wall. Shooting action shots of bikers - particularly pro bikers - is costly and difficult. If it was anyone other than Walken, it would be a real snooze-fest. 3 minutes of someone droning on about friendship? Count me out - I'd rather be biking :)

Heck, even DOG talent for a commercial can run over $100K. Taco Bell Loses $42 million Chihuahua Ruling

herzalot said:
You seem to want everything to be the same, within narrow parameters of marketing tripe.
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Nope. I just want an ad that does its job. This ad is a great example of the #1 sin of bad advertising - creative people get lost in their art and let their egos take over, and the ad that they produce is unique... but doesn't do its job. And all the ad execs get together and stroke each other at awards ceremonies, while the client spends millions and doesn't see jack from their investment.

I'll guarantee you they aren't doing any quantitative research on this. Numbers are the enemy of ad agencies :)
 
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