What do Lavell Edwards an Elf and Dell Schanze have in Common?

Answer: All three have starred in and/or produced some of the most bizarre local TV commercials I've ever seen.

Since my experiment a couple of days ago with reader submitted commercials didn't catch on, I have been forced to find some of my own. I hope to someday come up with a top 10 list, but for now I chose three of my favorites from Utah. Not all three of the ads I found are commercials or even videos, nonetheless you will probably find them funny if you've ever lived in Utah.

1) Totally Awesome Computers:

This company is no longer in business and all videos have been erased. Therefore, all I could find was an audio clip. But, for those who remember the commercials this audio clip of Dell Schanze criticizing the Better Business Bureau will bring back some dreaded memories of his annoying TV adds.

Totally AWESOME!

2) Big Lots

You have probably seen the happy little Big Lots elf in their new commercials. Now you can watch the auditions and how Mikey the elf beat up a two foot plastic reindeer in his quest to become the Big Lots Christmas SpokesElf.

Check out Mikey

3) Intellibed

This has to be the all time most awkward commercial I have ever seen. The legendary BYU football coach Lavell Edwards and Paul James, the former voice of BYU football, team up to make this bed commercial (the only problem is that they're in the same bed).

-I'll apologize in advance because this link doesn't go directly to the commercial, but follow the link below to the Intellibed website. From here you should see a picture of Lavell and under his picture the link to the commercial. Sorry!-

Awkward Bed Commercial

And 1 in Provo

On Friday night I had the rare opportunity to watch And 1 play at the Pinnacle Security Gym for free. On Saturday the same team played at Timpview High, in front of a paying crowd. That's just one of the perks of having a wife that works for Pinnacle (I'll have to blog about my trip to the tumbling gym later).

The video is kinda short because we only had my wife's digital camera, but it was one of the best dunks of the night. During the warm-up the guy I have the picture with (I can't remember his nickname)pulled a 360-under-the-leg slam, the Air Up There's signature dunk. They put on a good show, so even if you have to pay I recommend going. I'd be interested to find out if anyone saw them play at Timpview.

Why Local TV Commercials Stink

I was reading a classmate's blog today, and she mentioned something that I have long been put off by... Bad marketing campaigns and sucky commercials. A common theme with all poorly done marketing campaigns seems to be that they are mostly produced locally.

I want to try an experiment with this post. Instead of spending hours sifting through local commercials and picking the ten that I think are the poorest, I think it would be fun for the readers of this blog to search for their favorite cheesy commercial and leave the link to it in a comment. I'll then go through the links and do a top ten list, much like the one I did for the Loved Yet Forgotten Childhood TV Shows and then submit the list on Digg.

As a small prize for submitting the best commercials I will include your name (either real or some sort of username) and a link to the website of your choice. This could be a blog or a web page you have, I just ask that the content of the page you choose is clean and unoffensive.

A lot of the elements that local TV commercial producers employ can be seen in the video I've linked to this post. My brother made this ad as a joke in high school and I think in some ways it's better than some of the local commercials I've seen. So, there you have it. Let the experiment begin!

5 Biggest Online Marketing Stories of the Week

Today

First Virtual-World Millionaire, in Real-World Dollars

Who ever thought that an avatar would land the cover of Business Week?! Well, that was over 6 months ago, before Anshe Chung of Germany had officially become a millionaire. Before the semester began I had never heard of Second Life, but now it seems that not a week goes by without some story mentioning the virtual world.

If you haven't read the story of how the virtual real estate mogul amassed a fortune in "linden" dollars, which she then converted into real currency, then here's links to a couple of sources: Paul's Blog, MarketingVox Article, Business Week.

Thursday

Half of Youtube's Audience is Over 34

This was big news, especially since the 35-64 demographic is the most sought after group by marketers. When you think about that it makes sense because a majority of the wealth in the US, and I would presume abroad, is held by this group.

Wednesday

Youtube Goes Mobile with Verizon's help

Youtube is making it's first step toward mobile uploading and viewing of it's videos with a partnership with Verizon V-cast subscribers. This was good news for Verizon, but no one knows how long this exclusive partnership will last. According to Youtube cofounder Steve Chen, the company's eventual goal is to make sure all cell-phone owners have access to the site's videos.

Tuesday

Websites Score Big with Fantasy Football

Sixteen million adults are expected to compete in fantasy football leagues this year, compared to fourteen million this same time last year. The great thing for websites that host leagues is that fantasy football players are some of the most engaged consumers online. An average user spends 3 hours a week researching players.

Monday

Cyber Monday Sales Worse Than Expected

After all the hype, the phenomenal gains expected for online purchases just didn't measure up. The biggest day so far for online purchases was not Monday but the day before Thanksgiving. And most companies believe that the biggest day of all is still to come.

Top 10 Loved Yet Forgotten Childhood Shows(Of the late 80s and early 90s)

Not every childhood TV show is as memorable as Double Dare, TMNT, or Sesame Street, but once you watch these intros you might be surprised how familiar they are to you. This list is a product of reminiscing with family a couple of nights ago. Enjoy!?

10 Nick Arcade

Bringing video games to life!

9 Wienerville

Remember this one? crazy..

8 Roundhouse

They made being good cool!!

7 Today's Special

Here's the real proof that mannequins come to life when little mice say "hocus pocus malimocus"

6 The Adventures of the Little Koalas

My brother-in-law loved this one so much I had to put it on the list...

5 Fred Penner's Place

Even if you don't remember this one, just watch it.

4 Eureeka's Castle

The one and only. Definitely a forgotten one because this is the only video we could find..

3 Legends of the Hidden Temple

Olmec. ha!

2 Hey Dude

It's a little wild and a little strange...

1 Land of the Lost

Yes. :)

The End

Mitt Romney 3rd On Blogosphere Poll

With the midterm elections behind them, Republicans and Democrats alike are looking ahead to the 2008 presidential campaign. As speculation of who is being primed for the candidacy unfolds, the prospects for Governor Mitt Romney are looking good.

On a popular conservative news blog, Hotair.com, I took a poll on likely GOP candidates in 2008, and among the pool of likely candidates Romney was high on the list. Of the 8,100 or so submissions - blogosphere wide - Romney came in third. Barely behind Giuliani and about 5 percentage points behind the leader, Newt Gingrich. For those of you who may want to take the poll or see the results here are the two links: Poll Rankings

While browsing for a picture of Mitt, I stumbled onto an economist article that's a couple of months old but even more intriguing after the midterms. In the article Romney is described as a "scarily perfect presidential candidate," yet he has one major hurdle to overcome, his religion.

A strikingly high percentage of voters said that they would not vote for Romney based on his affiliation to the LDS church (37% to be exact). However, the article reminds us of the following tidbit from our political history:

... 37% is certainly not an encouraging figure. But back in 1960 35% of people told pollsters that they would have qualms about voting for a Catholic, and in that year a Catholic reached the White House.

So, despite the odds Romney is still a likely candidate, who in my opinion deserves a shot at the white house. I think he is at least a viable Vice-Presidential candidate. But, let's put the question to the public... what is your opinion of the man they call Mitt?

Rutgers fans rushing the field against Louisville

Now watch as the final seconds unfold, and the Rutgers fans prematurely rush the field. Then finally, as the last two seconds expire watch the aerial shot of Rutgers fans turn the the field into an ant hill.