Commercial Watch: Sigur Ros, Sea and Cake, Unicorns + more
April 15, 2009
I was watching LOST last week (probably the only show that I still watch live) and I saw indie artists in three commercials in a row and decided it was about time for another edition of “Commercial Watch”. So just in case, you also use your DVR / Tivo to skip straight to the show, here’s a few of the best songs that those creative types at the ad agencies are selecting for their marketing campaigns. Includes MP3s and link to video free of charge.
Disney’s Earth: Sigur Ros – Hoppipola
I’ve seen this commercial tons of times in the last couple weeks (and not just on Disney-owned TV stations like ABC and ESPN). Seems like they’re pushing this Earth thing pretty hard. They take some cues from BBC Planet Earth / Slumdog Millionaire spots on the song choice, which is fine with me since you’ll never hear me complain of hearing a Sigur Ros song, especially when it’s soundtracking things like baby ducks and polar bears.
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Citibank: The Sea and Cake – Jacking The Ball
“Jacking The Ball” is my favorite Sea and Cake song and it actually works really well in the background of this commercial. The ad has lots of people talking about the different ways they save money edited together to make look like one ongoing conversation. Not a bad spot if you ask me.
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Crayola: The Unicorns – I Was Born A Unicorn
Ads for children’s products usually have the worst type of Kidz Bop-like songs but not the case for this Crayloa commercial for crayons that make your drawings look 3D. The song is Unicorn’s classic “I Was Born A Unicorn”. The only problem is everytime I hear this song I start singing UGK in my head. Wonder why?
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Blackberry Storm: Simian Mobile Disco – I Believe
I’m not getting rid of my iPhone anytime soon (or ever) but I do have admit the Blackberry Storm looks pretty cool, and not just because Jim from the Office tells me so. Here’s an flashy ad showing off some of the smart phone’s features with Simian Mobile Disco’s “I Believe” providing the beats.
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Victoria’s Secret: Joanna Newsom – Sprout and the Bean
You would think Joanna Newsom would be just about the last artist featured in an ad, but Victoria’s Secret made it work. Really, what other artist could soundtrack a video of someone frolicking around in the woods in their underwear?
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Axe Anti-Dandruff Shampoo: TeddyBears – Hey Boy
Axe has always had some of the worst commercials and their latest campaign continues with the trend. In this installment, a bunch of girls tackle some guy in a night club with bad dandruff and shampoo his hair while the DJ in the club announces how great Axe Shampoo is. Swedish electro band TeddyBears (whose “Cobrastyle” was used to sell Heineken, deodorant, and lots of bad movies) lent their track “Hey Boy” to the ad.
Let me know if there’s any other good commercials out there I’m missing.
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Tags: Commercials, Joanna Newsom, Sigur Ros, Simian Mobile Disco, Teddybears, The Sea and Cake, The Unicorns
Posted by Taylor in Television
I absolutly love it!
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April 16th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Thanks for the great synopsis! I don’t have TV at all so wouldn’t have seen any of them. Very cool!
April 17th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Great post, but I have one problem with it:
Blackberry Storm is not, in fact, awesome. It’s like the original iphone. It’s new and unperfected. Give it a year or two… then it’ll be awesome.
April 19th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
The Sun Chips commercial has a great song. It’s called Golden Age by Jay Jay Pistolet and there’s a bit of whistling in it and talk of sun.
Love you!
April 19th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Sorry…no whistling, I just heard it again.
April 19th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Marriot Courtyard: Throw Me The Statue – Lolita.
Lolita was also used in a Rhapsody commercial a ways back. Not aired too much anymore though
April 21st, 2009 at 1:29 pm
I love this post! What annoys me the most though is when I hear a catchy song on a commercial but cannot locate the name! But anyways, here’s a commercial song that caught my attention. It’s Birdies Singing by Kelly Stoltz which is used in the Regions bank commercial. It’s quite catchy with it’s spring-time lalalaaas.
April 29th, 2009 at 1:10 am
Sherwin-Williams recent commercial features a nice song by the Pernice Brothers called “Weakest Shade of Blue.” It has that driving-county-roads feel to it.