At first we thought the proposition of this Comedy Central ad was about not drinking water when watching the channel – or maybe even the other way around. But that of course wouldn’t make sense. Also check the commercial. The ads, made by Modernista!, in fact tell you that watching Comedy Central on a daily basis is healthy, because it generates uncontrollable laughing fits. And we like the persuasive power of this positive message. Especially the not so obvious solution of showing the audience (reminds us of this brilliant wonderbra ad), instead of the programmes makes you curious to know what’s on the other side.

Last June Comedy Central released a new series of commercials in which clowns harass Comedy Central’s headquarters for its “anti-clown policy”. It goes without saying that the attack by the “children’s party entertainment veteran” clearly spoofs the breaking news item on the Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at George W in 2008 – this time a size 68 is being dodged. The commercial, created by Nothing and directed by Jonathan David, very smartly shows what kind of humour Comedy Central is made of – the format is the message, so to say; funny it is.

What we like best about this commercial for Comedy Central is the copy. Starting your commercial with “Comedy is serious business” does grab people’s attention. And ending the commercial with “Bunch of clowns” shows you know how to top things of in a subtle but catchy way. The metaphor of clowns attacking the Comedy Central head quarters is maybe a little too obvious and (in our opinion) not funny, but on the other hand; it does communicate a clear message: “Only seriously good comedy”. So all in all, Nothing and director Jonathan David did a good job in selling Comedy Central. Here’s another commercial that did make us smile.

“Erection? Veridian Dynamics is looking for test subjects with balls”. In this outdoor campaign Comedy Central teases its audience to watch the new TV series ‘Better off Ted’ about a dubious research institute called Veridian Dynamics. After a week the Comedy Central logo was slapped on top of it to reveal who was behind it. But of course that wasn’t clear from the start. No less than 4000 curious guinea pigs called the number to find out how they could earn some extra money – welcome to Holland. Other ads asked the Dutch test subjects to be deep frozen or launched by a rocket. Comedy Central also built a (bit of a crappy) dedicated website that links to the TV series on Comedy Central. The striking campaign was created by Dare.

We’ve always found it difficult to understand alien humor. Especially the kind that comes from the planet Comedy Central. Making holes in the earth; that’s ridiculous! Here’s another one talking about trying to get Schwarzenegger back on earth (?). And it doesn’t help that these creatures look like a scruffy version of ET, drink beer all the time and burp in their speech. The campaign consists of five commercials, of which one is a short film that will be shown tonight on Comedy Central. In this skillfully made long form film one of the bad mannered aliens borrows the body of ‘John from Burlington’ for a year, changes his job, stocks his fridge with cans of Budweiser and gets his white trashy neighbor pregnant. That is pretty funny – even for our Earthy standards. It could easily be a pilot for a new TV series. The campaign is created by John Doe and directed by Hein Mevissen. Through its long lasting relationship with MTV John Doe has specialized itself in making absurd channel bumpers. And since Comedy Central is a MTV Networks brand, that’s probably how they ended up replacing Comedy Central’s bankrupt agency Modernista! Great campaign that has lots of mileage and will easily build Comedy Central as a loveable brand.

The Amsterdam office of Modernista! (based in Boston) has gone bankrupt this week – this will make 7 employees jobless. According to the agency it was mainly due to the collapse of General Motors in the States. Early October Cadillac announced it was looking for another agency (today Bartle Bogle Hegarty NY, Publicis NY and the Martin Agency Richmond are still in the race) to recapture sales, following its emergence from bankruptcy. Hummer was sold to Tengzhong, a Chinese company – ironic when you realize Hummer more or less symbolizes America’s robust love for warfare. With these important account losses, Modernista! wasn’t able to support the Amsterdam office anymore. Modernista! Amsterdam opened its doors in 2006. Though the only local advertising we ever spotted from the Amsterdam office was for Comedy Central, we’ll miss them.

Source: Adformatie