It’s a big year for Orange County’s tech-minded companies. Three are involved in Super Bowl ads, airing today. We got them ahead of time and have set them up to be available once they appear on TV. Until then, you’ll just see some blank spots below and will need to satisfy yourself with the extra filler.
| Vizio, HDTV company in Irvine | ||||
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Boost Mobile officials won’t say how much they’re paying to air a new 30-second commercial during a football game on February 7. But that game, which one research firm estimates costs $2.5 million to $2.8 million for a 30-second spot, is one of the most watched TV events each year.
(If you’re wondering… Boost asked me to remove the original photo with the logo on right for legal reasons. The Boost commercial is now called the “The Boost Mobile Shuffle.”)
Super Bowl XLIV will be the Irvine prepaid wireless company’s first time advertising in the game — and the first for the prepaid industry. It’s because the company had an excellent 2009 with the launch of its $50 everything-included mobile plan. That greatly helped out parent company Sprint by bringing millions of new customers to Boost.
Boost wanted to up its game, said Caralene Robinson, Boost’s director of brand marketing and communications.
“As I’m sure you can guess, the Super Bowl is always a little bit of a risk for any company and we felt that it was necessary to get into the game,” Robinson said. “We really think this is our way to expose ourselves to broader audience.”
The message? “We’re in it to win,” she said.
The commercial also has Boost’s signature irreverence — some people may remember Boost’s early commercials of senior citizens dancing to Hip Hop music. The company convinced members of 1985′s winning Chicago Bears team to parody the famous “Super Bowl Shuffle.”
Former players who show up in ad include Read the rest of this entry »
UPDATE 10/23: Added TVs/speaker systems that include TruVolume. See below in bold.
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Santa Ana-based SRS Labs wants to make some noise about its latest gadget: A device that steadies the volume of annoyingly loud TV commercials. (See lots of pictures below.)
The company, which has quietly licensed its sound technologies for years to electronics makers, plans to launch a half-million dollar marketing campaign for TruVolume, a technology that knows when an overly loud TV commercial is about to air and lowers its volume to match the show being watched.
Coincidentally, legislation working its way into Congress this week would force advertisers to keep volume to a minimum. The Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation Act, or CALM, would prevent commercials from being broadcast louder than their accompanying TV program. SRS believes its technology could fix this.
During a visit to its Santa Ana office last week, I heard what it was all about. Steve Roney Jr., product marketing manager for SRS Home Entertainment Division, played a TV clip from the recent U.S. Open with an IBM commercial. He played it on a Vizio TV, which has TruVolume built in.
With TruVolume off, the volume of the TV commercial was significantly louder. With TruVolume on, I barely noticed the volume change.
I recorded the experience with my point-and-shoot camera and put it on video for readers to judge. (SRS also offers a demo on its site.) Since SRS didn’t have sound meter, I added one from my video-editing program to show the volume changes during the commercial. You can see an obvious jump in volume when the loud TV commercial plays:
Yes, yes, you’ve probably heard about volume levelers before. There’s Dolby Volume in Toshiba TVs, Sony TVs offer “SteadySound,” to name a few.
But here’s why SRS says its TruVolume is different. Read the rest of this entry »
With the ability to fast-forward TV commercials, it seems like a tough sell to entice viewers to choose to watch TV commercials.
Time Warner Cable is rolling out such a service. Called “Promotions On Demand,” the new service will be available nationwide by the end of September. It’s available here in O.C., hidden as an on-demand channel – the Get it on Demand on channel 1308 on my TV. Most videos are just standard TV commercials (for restaurants, stores and services) and there are video tours of homes for sale. Plus, it’s collected segments of some local shows (Huell Howser rides the Metrolink train) into longer infomercials.
Coupons on your TV?
But the more potentially controversial feature is the coupons. Coupons on a TV, you ask? Yes. Sort of.
Watch the TV commercial and coupons will be mailed to your home whether you want them or not. It took me a few viewings of “Big O Tires” ad before I realized this. I thought the commercial was going to offer a phone number or Web site for me to ask for the 50 percent off oil change coupon but the commercial ends with something like “Just watch for these in your mailbox in the next few days.” I guess I’ll be getting a half dozen.
Of course, I also didn’t read the ad’s description before I hit play: ”Your personal information WILL NOT be shared with the advertiser” (Time Warner adds the all-caps).
What good can come of this? Read the rest of this entry »
Irvine’s Boost Mobile, which dropped its hipster clientele in favor of value-minded customers last fall, apparently didn’t abandon its irreverent spirit. It launched a series of TV commercials today that should trigger an immediate response in viewers.
A girl with 3-foot-long armpit hair (or boy, for that matter)? Dropping a burrito in a cadaver and eating it? Pigs eating ham? Yes, soooo wrong!
That’s not a ponytail, by the way. The commercial above was filmed in Long Beach.
The outrageous situations then segue way into Boost Mobile’s new no-strings $50 monthly unlimited plan and how right it is not to pay extra fees. The offer, which some readers found intriguing, charges $50 for everything: voice, texting, walkie-talkie, activation, roaming, even taxes. (Read the original post, “Boost Mobile adds ‘tax-free’ $50/month unlimited plan.“)
Boost is honing in on the fact that pretty much every other cell phone company has hidden fees that aren’t part of the advertised monthly plan.
“No one wants to be wronged. Everyone wants to be unwronged,” said Matt Carter, Boost’s president.
The “Unwronged” campaign is Boost’s biggest national advertising campaign to date, said Danielle Alvarez, a Boost spokesperson who declined to reveal the company’s financial investment. The commercials begin airing today, along with a national advertising campaign that is plastering ads on billboards, bus shelters, print and the web.
Watch the commercials at Boost’s web site.
Recent Boost Mobile news:
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