First of all, I would like to thank Bing for being one of the few advertisers I’ve featured on the site so far that actually posted their own ads up on Google.  When I started this site, I had no idea how many times I was going to have to use somebody’s video of an ad that they shot with their camera phone or whatever, not to menu all the times that I’ve had to record the radio spots or take pictures of the ads myself.  It’s the suffering that makes this a true artfor… cough! Wow, I can’t even type that…

Anyway, I hate myself for that damn headline, because, well, the ad below from Bing is about vampires… shit.  That’s just high school journalism style headlines right there…

According to the post on YouTube, this ad started appearing in October (AdFreak posted it as well about the same time), but somehow I have yet to see it on TV until last night while I was watching TV in my room in Vegas after losing all my seed money at the roulette tables at the Hard Rock (Note: I’m here to speak at Digital Hollylwood at CES, so if you’re in Vegas for the show, swing by and say hello… fuck, now I’m rhyming, shit just never stops.).  Not only did I see it, I saw it twice in the same night on two different channels, so it looks like they felt this ad needed to see the light of day… CRAP! No more damn vampire shit…

Anyway, the ad was part of a series of ads that featured different monsters or spooky shit, probably for Halloween given the original release date (HA! Reporting!), but all I’ve seen is this vampire one… twice.

So, I’m in the business of advertising and I write this blog, so I’m going to bother to look that stuff up, however, most people won’t.  In fact, that’s my problem… the timing.  You see, if the ad just showed up around Halloween and was part of a series of monster related ads, then I don’t think I would have cared.  But, since the ad is showing up now, in January, it just looks like Microsoft and Bing are jumping on the whole, stupid vampire bandwagon.

Advertisers, I know Vampires are big right now… teenage girls and middle aged women are all over the Twilight books (How Twilight Works – The Oatmeal) and there are a bunch of TV series with Vampires in them… I get it, really, it’s easy.  But seriously, you need to say to yourself, “fuck easy” if you really want to come up with some quality work.

I mean, the ad itself is OK work, but the idea of it even existing is just stupid.  Microsoft, Bing, I dig you guys, I really do… I’m not a Microsoft hater, even though some bitch at the check-in for your party wouldn’t let me in the door even though I was a speaker and my day job is totally a partner of yours… it’s not that at all.  I’m doing this because I love you and I want you to put out so many good ads that I don’t have to see so many damn Apple ads all the time.

So, the next time you’re in the storyboard phase of a new ad, ask yourself… is the Vampire thing effed out?  And the answer will always be, yes, yes the Vampire thing is definitely effed out…

J.

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