Below is a sneak peak of the E*Trade 2011 Super Bowl Commercial. It's a very exclusive sneak peak being on youtube and all. It's starring those talking babies again. Remember the first E*Trade baby commercial? It was really funny right? And then the next one was funny. And maybe even the next one was funny. But then a couple of years passed. And now it's on the Super Bowl. AGAIN. So my question is— is it STILL funny?
I work in advertising so I know coming up with a Super Bowl worthy commercial is a tough task. And I do think that PARTS of the E*Trade ad are funny, but they've already done the uncensored E*Trade ad. And the rule is usually that if you use the same campaign from previous years on the Super Bowl, you've got to up it a little. Cause you're paying a lot of money for that ad and you want people to talk about it the next day.
I'm guessing E*Trade thinks they are upping it by putting that baby mail thing on the end. So I decided to check it out. I thought the perfect companion to my post would be my very own talking baby video starring Miss Mazzy herself. So I went on to Baby Mail, uploaded a photo and typed in the following text for Mazzy to speak:
"Are the E*Trade baby commercials still funny? Or should the ad agency get their creative juices flowing again and come up with something new?"
I pressed "speak" and Mazzy said it back to me. It actually worked pretty seamlessly. Then I pressed "send" to see how I could share it. There was an email option, a facebook option and a url link option. But no embed option meaning I couldn't post it on Mommy Shorts. So I wanted to hit "cancel". But there was no "cancel". Although there was a little fine print on the bottom that said "by creating or viewing this baby mail, you agree to the terms of use". I went back and checked to see if it said that from the very beginning before I pressed "send" and it did not.
Now I'm not a lawyer and have never read or understood a "terms of use" in my life so I don't know if because I didn't share it, the terms do not apply or if it is now E*Trade property simply because I viewed it. All I know is I wanted out and that option did not appear available to me.
I clicked off of it quickly hoping that would make my new contract with E*Trade dissappear. But I'm pretty sure my baby is still hanging out in E*Trade Cyberland somewhere, except because I didn't share it, I have no way of knowing what she is up to or how to see her again.
So if you happen to be on the E*Trade site and find her, please be nice. She is all alone there. Tell her I'm sorry. And that I feel dumb. And that I will only upload her face to Mommy Shorts from this point forward.
In the meantime, I'm gonna take solace in the fact that they probably won't do anything with a baby who's challenging their ad team to come up with better commercials. At least for the Super Bowl.
UPDATE: An insider (see below) has just told me that E*Trade has more planned for Sunday than this spot. So I will reserve judgment. For now.
I dunno, I still love the E*Trade baby commercials. Especially when compared with some of the other stupid ass commercials out there.
My all-time favorite ad campaign? The All-State commercials with the guy from Rescue Me playing Mayhem. I f*cking LOVE those. “I’m all, Becky’s not even HOT!!!” LMAO
Here’s a question for you – the Geico commercial where the random woman mistakes the gecko for “Stanley” – I personally feel that the ad could have been So Much Better, but they missed it somehow. What do you think, and how would you have improved it?
Ha! Those tricky eTrade people. Stealing your babymail. So not nice.
And…dumb. you’d think they’d WANT people to be able to embed those!
Bad people.
We tried the same thing, didn’t like the robot voice we got.
They can keep our robot baby.
The answer is NO, they are not still funny. They are amusing. They are kind of cute and somewhat entertaining. But, not guffaw worthy. The bar had been set comedically with the original and even some of the follow ups over the years. Now, we have seen it before. So the originality and cleverness that made us laugh previously has become tired and expected. There may be some that say I’m wrong and they are still funny. But I’m not wrong. Like I said, they are semi-amusing. But not funny. Trust me on this. It’s a fact. (Spoken like a true friend of Mike’s)
Outtakes are always funny. So I think they’re still funny.
Well speaking as someone that works at said advertising agency, I’m a little biased. However, I have seen the commercials airing on Sunday and I can safely say that one of them is hysterical. I’l withhold any further commentary until after the game so I don’t show up on Monday and get escorted out of the building.
But there’s also some great stuff before the game…so watch the pre-game sports commentating about 45 minutes before the game. :))
I hope you post a follow up on Monday so I can read what everyone thought….:))
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Mayhem ads. Although I’ve never watched Rescue Me. I associate Mayhem with OZ and the Liz Lemon’s ex-boyfriend who owns a BEEPER company.
As far as the Geico commercial, I appreciate what they were trying to do but it’s not really that funny. Not sure what they could have done to make it better. It might just be too far-fetched. Or maybe it’s the woman’s acting/delivery. It also needs a better ending— it falls kinda flat.
Social media NOVICES!
I feel better knowing that Mazzy is not alone there. Maybe our robot babies will become friends!
I think they are still funny enough for regular television but I like to think that we set the bar higher for the Super Bowl. But maybe I am still living in the late ’90s.
It’s just that E*Trade has already have ran baby outtakes commercials…
Alright— I’m reserving judgment but now my expectations are HIGH!
O my gosh, this makes me SO excited for superbowl commercials!
Well the second spot is NOT as funny as the first…or “cute” as you said. So please lower said expectations from this point forward.
For the record, it’s definitely in my top five if not my top three. I also liked the first Carmax and the Beetle ad.
Loved the Beetle ad…one of my favs.