New Droid ad: The iPhone's a purse
Early on Monday, we learned that the new Verizon Droid does, indeed, swap "semi-functional, giggling-brat-vanity for a bare knuckle bucket of does."
Now, we have the visual evidence. It's evidence a defense attorney would rather enjoy.
The Droid is, apparently, not a smartphone at all. It is a robotphone, according to Verizon's latest TV ad. Yes, it punches its way through steel walls and crushes rocks. Which, I believe, is known in English classes as poetry.
The lyrical content is only heightened when the giggling-brat-vanity words are uttered by an announcer who sounds like he had a previous career as an enforcer with one of the Gambino bambinos.
As the contempt drips from his lips, we see various iPhone-like devices all blinged out in pinks and purples and sequins. They look like purses.
And the subtext, which is about as covert as a right cross from an inebriated wedding crasher, is that the Droid is for boys and the iPhone is for fans of "Project Runway" and "The Real Housewives of Orange County."
Yes, your Droid is your Mixed Martial Arts-lovin', bone-crushin' robot that's going to turn you into a man. And that's what all boys want, right?
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
Droid: ****, I'm working.
The Droid ads are pretty original, have nothing to do the with devices at all - and they get one's attention. Like Seanathorne wrote, the new ads are a fun change.
Your in for some rought times. "There's an app for that" jokes are like the new "That's what she said".
Others might be insulted, and with the cellphone market saturated as it is, is that really the best way to win customers off other providers?
Its a laugh, but does the product stand up to all the hoopla created by Verizon and this ad campaign? If it doesn't, I am reminded of a Youtube video that someone forwarded to me. It was of this fight between a wannabe gangster who couldn't stop mouthing off and insulting his more reserved and some would say, "geeky" opponent who then proceeded to knock him out with one punch.
Imagine some balding middle-aged guy, stepping out of a gray primer-colored 1986 Camaro Z-28, as his enlarged gut bulges out from under a threadbare 'Metallica' t-shirt. As a pair of cute teenaged girls walk by, he stares them down, does his best to suck in his belly, straighten his comb-over job, then whips out his 'droid phone and pretends to speak with a stock broker on it.
The girls of course take one look at this cultural wreck, look at each other, and bursts out laughing.
That guy is the type to rush out and buy a 'Droid based on these 'many' commercials. Well, him and teenaged boys. But, they have to run to Mom and Dad, begging to buy a 'droid for them, so they don't count as much.
Oh my...Verizon is quivering in the shadow of Apple fanboy criticism.
The point the commercial is making is that it can do "everything." Obviously, they aren't saying it can really break rocks or punch through steel. If that's what you got from the commercial, well, there's help you can get for that. If you missed the theme that has been screamed in every commercial they've had since their first commercial, well, there's not much I can do.
My guess is that he didn't rag on Mac vs. PC commercials because that isn't the subject here. You want him to bring up a completely different set of ads just to validify his dislike of the Droid ads? You're making far too many assumptions based on his username.
That said, I am a crazy Apple fanboy with a Masters in Advertising. But even I agree that it's time to move on from the Mac vs. PC ads. The best ones were when they spoke about what Macs CAN do - not what PC can't. I'll have to disagree with whoever said they "There's an app for that" ads are overdone. While people like us hate them (we're total geeks - and we get it), they're successful. They also show those who don't have an iPhone what's on the app store.
Also, I'm not a fan of the Droid ads either. Like the original Pre ads, I think they're missing their mark and don't properly convey what the Droid is worth buying for.
The Verizon advertising that I'm criticizing is just plain BAD. It has nothing to do with what I like as a product. I've evaluating it professionally, not as a fan of a product. You seem to blind to understand that people can be adults with their opinions instead of allowing personal preference to cloud everything. Learn something about advertising before you come on here pretending that you know anything. You don't. The fact that the commercials DO promise that the phone can do EVERYTHING is part of the freaking problem, but that seems to have escaped your attention. When you promise everything, you promise nothing. And when the specific examples you mention are so completely disconnected from the product being advertised, it makes ZERO connection with the audience. It's just really, really BAD advertising.
but really ..the Droid commercial....This adis a bit silly although it speaks to the future 'droids' that will be...the 'droid' in the ad would do better to represent the OS (although they have a phone to sell). I have been a google convert since day 1...Google Corp makes Apple Co look like a joke...there i said it...A JOKE!
And therein lies the rub. All the flashy ads in the world won't help if the actual product blows, or is even kinda-okay. Apple's advertising works because Apple has earned (!) a reputation for excellent products. If the Droid turns out to be an excellent product, each forthcoming Droid ad will be a positive multiplier. If the Droid turns out to be so-so or complete suckage, each ad will be a negative multiplier, making viewers roll their eyes. We won't know which it will be until a lot of people have used it day-to-day for a few months.
This spot and the "smartbomb" were clearly done by the agency's second stringers.
bye bye iPhone. You were good till the new 500 pounds Gorilla came in town.
Motorola is notorious for building crap phones.
I can't believe this type of marketing still exists. Guess what, I can watch every UFC PPV on my iPhone, every MLB and NBA game, play Madden 10, FIFA 10, and numerous boxing and FPS games, and still receive calls while surfing the net...is that not "man enough" for you?
This is such an old tactic, when in doubt, question someone's masculinity. I hope this type of nonsense backfires on Vzw.
It's not always about the iphone. Takes me to my point, that people who do not own Apple products are always angry. Just read what they say and it's obvious they are angry people. (probably cause their stuff isn't working properly always aggravating them) Apple products cause people to be happy. Just read their comments compared to the others.
BTW I don't have an iphone.
SLOW NEWS DAY MUCH?
I said this on the last post.
IT'S A COMMERCIAL!
OOOOOOOOOOO!!! BIG SCARY WORDS!
Ya know this is about like women in organized religion gathering together in their sunday best to wag their tongues about whose kid has done what and how low one of them has sunk and how "they have fallen out of faith"
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! IT'S OLD NEWS!
GO WRITE AN ARTICLE ON PAINT DRYING OR SOMETHING! WHEN A BUBBLE IN THE PAINT POPS WRITE UP A WHOLE PARAGRAPH!
>_<
And bring on competition, we all benefit!
- by November 10, 2009 4:46 PM PST
- "If you buy our Droid phone, you're macho! If you get the iphone, you're a *****."
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (45 Comments)How original. lol My friend saw this and he thought it was an ad for a truck at first. Go figure.
And I happen to think the little Android logo seems like a cute little chubby green bot, and nothing akin to a rock-smashing, steel-wall-punching macho robot. I wish they'd make a commercial with cute chubby green dancing robots, or something along those lines... quirky and cute, but with smarts inside. They could show the iphone along side it with all flash and no substance. *shrugs* Guess I'm just not in their nonsense demographic though.