[extropy-chat] Blog spam

[spike]

> Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] Blog spam
> 
>8.  RayyyyyNeeeeeerrrrr _ _ _ _... 
> 
> --- "J. Andrew Rogers" <andrew at ceruleansystems.com> wrote:
> 
> > "Alejandro Dubrovsky" <alito at organicrobot.com> wrote:

> > > Still no idea about Rayner.
> >
> >
> > It is a much beloved and long lost commercial reference...

A remarkable ad that deserves a sidebar comment is this.

Make a list of the three most overall effective ads 
you have ever seen on TV and why.  In third place, I
have the 1984 superbowl ad for Apple MacIntosh.  Surely
you recall the stunning effects: grey, lemming proles,
marching lockstep, presumably using IBM PCs, young
woman in living color, hurls hammer thru Big Brother
screen.  That scene is burned into your memory, is it 
not?  I'm sure it sold a lot of macs.  Glaring weakness
is that it was very long, so it was actually too expensive
to show repeatedly.  

In second I have the Where's the Beef ad: little old
lady calls CEO of burger chain, who is sipping martinis
on the deck of his yacht.  In a surprisingly gravelly
voice, she WHERE'S THE BEEFs him.  So startled is he
that he falls overboard backwards SPLOOSH!  It is funny,
short, cheap to make, became a national catchphrase for
years (still is), memorable, brings in subtle class-
envy elements, etc.  Glaring weakness: it isn't clear
which burger chain makes its burgers big enough to
actually find the beef.

All alone way out front then is the Rainier beer ad: Guy 
hops on bike, starts up RummmRummm, *snick* into gear, rides 
off toward the distant snowcapped mountains as the bike says
Raaaaaayyyyyy Neeeeeerrrr Beeeeeeerrrrr...

This is absolutely brilliant advertising for so many
reasons.  The beer market is tough because there
are many competent producers in a wildly contested 
market, all selling approximately the same thing.  One
is astounded by the amount of money poured into pitching
beer: the clydesdales, the superbowl ads, the racecar
and speedboat sponsorships, talking frogs, etc.  

Along comes a stunningly simple meme by a company so 
small I had never even heard of it, a ten second spot 
that cost practically nothing to make, yet combines 
all the elements of a great sales pitch aimed at guys:
internal combustion, nature, freedom of the open road, 
noise, speed, a little recreational danger, oh my heck.  
It clearly identifies the brand, it is so memorable, no 
irritating jingles that get stuck in one's head, no 
expensive stars, very short, fun to say, fits on a
bumper sticker, introduced a national catchphrase that 
was the brand of the product itself, surely a grand 
slam in the ad world.  

The only weaknesses I can think of would be that it
had no girls and may have actually sold more motorcycles 
than beer.  However I suspect that if we could get
sales records or stock prices from Rainier beer from
those years (~1990) we would see a very simple meme 
that could be considered the most effective TV ad 
campaign in history.

Too bad transhumanism has not come up with something
like that.

spike