When It Comes To PMPs, CSS Have Got The Touch
After the Dropkick Murphys love, we found ourselves sitting on the couch and inspired to watch Game 4 of the World Series and noticed an ad that initially seemed like another perfect strike from the marketing geniuses over at Apple. But the credit for the perfect combo of iPod Touch and "Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex" doesn't belong to Jobs & Co. In a world of user-generated content, meet user-generated advertising: This one is based on an amateur spot, created and uploaded to YouTube by an 18-year-old student/Apple fan from Leeds named Nick Haley. Check it (thanks to P4K for digging it up):
The clip's an interesting backstory -- and is probably fanning the flames of contention between Zune and iPod ...
NYT provided the backstory:
It is based on a commercial that an 18-year-old English student — an Apple devotee named Nick Haley, who says he got his first Macintosh when he was 3 — created on his own one day last month.Nick explains how it all happened:His spot offers a fast-paced tour of the abilities of the iPod Touch, set to a song titled “Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex” by a Brazilian band, CSS.
Mr. Haley said he was inspired to make the commercial by a lyric in the song, “My music is where I’d like you to touch.”
"I was sitting on the bus and I got this e-mail on my phone," Mr. Haley, a native of Warwick, England, said in an interview yesterday from the University of Leeds, where he is a "fresher," or first-year student.Watch Nick's original here.The message said, “ ‘We represent Apple and we’ve seen what you have produced and we’d like a chat with you,’ ” Mr. Haley recalled, adding: “This seemed ridiculous and far-fetched. My initial reaction was, someone wanted to steal it.”
He was soon convinced that the message was real and came to Los Angeles this month, in his first visit to the United States, to work on a broadcast-ready version of his spot with creative executives at TBWA/Chiat/Day, part of the TBWA Worldwide division of the Omnicom Group
As for how faithful the professional spot is to the amateur version, Mr. Clow said, “we didn’t mess with his content” because “it has a charm to it, a youthful fun.”
Interesting as this all is, our initial response was "Wasn't CSS the official spokesband for Zune last year?" We remember Microsoft saying they had flown Cansei de Ser Sexy out to Seattle, given them computers to blog with, and pulling their tour diary feed onto some page on the Zune Marketplace. Never really followed up and poked around in the Zune store, but it's less larcenous on Apple's part for the song to have come from a student rather than their ad team. As for CSS's ship jumping? Guess Lovefoxxx got sick of having no one to squirt to.
Posted at 12:55 PM in Commercial Appeal, Video
Tags: Apple | Microsoft
I actually really dig this, but the lame side-effect of all this is that the same people who have ignored my raving about CSS for the last year are now coming to me asking about them. Even the ones that couldnt be bothered to pop over to the tent for their awesome Coachella set.
Sigh.
Well, at least its gettting CSS into more ears.
I just hope "Artbitch" or "Meeting Paris Hilton" dont become clubskank anthems now ala Pussycat Dolls
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This reminds me of the Postal Service track that was played in a UPS commercial a few months back. Right after they played that gig for the USPS and started selling their swag on the USPS web site.
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mr. cardgage, CSS are doing FINE. a lot smaller bands with more talent to worry about getting to people's ears. example. CSS are on the road with GWEN STEFANI right now supporting her world tour.
I think they'll be OK
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The young director of the commercial did a great job.
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@Josh 3:17
Postal Service had been selling their CD on the USPS web site long before the UPS commercial. It was actually part of an agreement between the two reached after the copyright issue of the name "Postal Service" came up. It was a surprisingly amicable solution to a potentially ugly fight/lawsuit.
As far as the CSS commercial, I tried really hard not to like it. But the kid did an awesome job, and the song fucking rocks. And yes, their Coachella set was sick, even if Paris was sidestage singing along to her namesake song...
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