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  • Favorite Local TV Ads!

    As the yin to the yang of the local TV ads you don't like thread, I figure we could toss some "props" at the made-in-Hawaii television ads that we enjoy. As I mentioned on the other side, I actually think the "Cars Cost Less at Cutter" ads are pretty cute. I always wonder if there'll be more scenarios... sort of like how Geico ads have been (the soap opera, the CSPAN hearing, the baldness cure, etc.).

    Right now, my favorite Hawaii-based ads are the ones for Aloha Airlines. There are three: the in-flight auction for amenities (peanuts!), the automated comfort attendant (press twice for pillows), and the ala carte check-in (would you like you and your baggage to arrive at the same destination?). They were so well done, I couldn't believe it was a local ad... perhaps a "generic" ad branded by the airline. But I read an article on them that did confirm that it was a local effort. I could see 'em winning at least honorable mention in a national advertising contest.

    (The funny thing is, the "coming soon/farewell" ads that preceded the airline's unveiling of its new services and website were among my least favorite.)

    Finally, as I also mentioned in the other thread, I enjoy some of the DOH's "Start. Living. Healthy." ads, and the kids anti-smoking ads.

    So. All good stuff -- well done, funny, or at least memorable in a good way. What do you like?

  • #2
    Re: Favorite Local TV Ads!

    Good, bad or ugly, I think what we all have to remember is that the ads shown on TV allows us for the most part, to get that particular broadcast for free or at least as a basic tiered cable service.

    I can't think of any local ads that stand out right now, but there are several memorable ones from the past that I like.

    I posted these on the Hawaii Radio & Television Guide Message Board last year:

    1. First Insurance: Two little children are dragging this heavy bowling ball up a flight of stairs in a blanket. They nearly reach the top when the bowling ball breaks out of the blanket, rolls down the stairs and smashes several household objects along the way before finally hitting a table holding up an aquarium filled with water and fish. Crash! Voice over about the merits of buying homeowners insurance from the firm.

    2. Consumer Tire Warehouse: The late Malcolm Love was the star of a series of tire repair shop commercials with the monicker "Go Now Hawaii, Why Pay More?"

    3. Lex Brodie's: Lex Brodie had a series of tire commercials where he simply sat in front of a blue screen talking about different aspects of tire repair and maintenance and finishing each commercial with the memorable "Thank you very much" tagline.

    4. State Office of Elections: In the late 1980s they had a memorable commercial that encouraged people to vote or else.... society would become totalitarian. A grandfather and his young grandson are walking around a darkened state capitol building talking about the importance of voting and what happens if you don't vote. Everywhere they go, they are being watched by "Big Brother" via a series of remote cameras.

    The sad fact is that even though we live in a democracy, surveillance cameras are pretty much omnipresent in practically all public places.

    5. Hawaii Visitor's Bureau: In the mid 1980s they ran a commercial that stressed the importance of the tourist industry by tracking a $20 bill that is first spent by a tourist and how it circulates within the local economy.

    See the original archived messages:

    Classic Hawaii TV Commercials
    I'm still here. Are you?

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    • #3
      Re: Favorite Local TV Ads!

      Those are indeed classics, Mel! The First Insurance one was the template for a couple of bad dreams I had as a kid, I think. And I know I saw the "$20 Bill" one within the last few years, believe it or not.

      I forgot about that State Office of Elections one, but now that you posted a description, I can still see it vividly in my mind's eye. Definitely distinctively done. Very "1984," I think.

      Of all things, you reminded me of an ad that a relative of mine was in way back when. It was for GECC, the offshoot of GE, and featured children with balloons running through a flock of pigeons in the Honolulu Zoo. It was only 15 seconds and featured little more than the GECC jingle... but at one time that ad was everywhere!

      Lex Brodie, Didi Ah Yo... I suppose there isn't much of a difference between a good ad and a memorable ad (or slogan), since getting you to remember is the point. But I would say that while "Thank you... very much" or "Hi, I'm Didi Ah Yo and away we go!" developed into icons of local advertising, I wouldn't say they were especially well-done ads... just persistent ones.

      One aspect of local ads that both these threads and your archived thread bring up are ad jingles. I think they're far more prevalent here in Hawaii than they are elsewhere... at least these days (I'm sure jingles were all the range decades ago). But that would be yet another thread! Someone else should do the honors... but I bet we all could post a lyric or two!

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      • #4
        Re: Favorite Local TV Ads!

        Hey.. thanks for the "yin" to the "yang" of my thread!

        Yeah! That Aloha Airlines "peanuts and sandwich auctions" commercial is very clever.. Great stuff!

        Who's the ad agency that did that one?

        I watch The Food Network and HGTV (and occasionally OC-16 - which explains the Augie and Lanai commercial I mentioned in that thread) a majority of the time, so most of the local commercials I see are Oceanic plugs.
        Last edited by Pomai; May 28, 2004, 08:01 AM. Reason: typo'
        sigpic The Tasty Island

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        • #5
          Re: Favorite Local TV Ads!

          The agency was MVN. Here's are some write-ups. One debuted during the Super Bowl, so it actually garnered national attention, and of course won a local award:

          Aloha Airlines ad campaign gets Hollywood attention
          Pacific Business News, March 15, 2004

          Aloha is Super Bowl bound
          Honolulu Star-Bulletin, January 25, 2004

          Oscar night for Hawaii’s ad industry
          Honolulu Star-Bulletin, April 4, 2004

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          • #6
            Re: Favorite Local TV Ads!

            Originally posted by pzarquon
            ...I know I saw the "$20 Bill" one within the last few years, believe it or not.

            I forgot about that State Office of Elections one, but now that you posted a description, I can still see it vividly in my mind's eye. Definitely distinctively done. Very "1984," I think.

            Lex Brodie, Didi Ah Yo... I suppose there isn't much of a difference between a good ad and a memorable ad (or slogan)...
            Yep. I have seen the $20 bill ad appear for a short time about a year or 2 ago.

            Another famous "1984ish" ad that I can think about is the Super Bowl ad that introduced the world to the Apple Macintosh in..... 1984! This is the famous one directed by Ridley Scott that featured the lady with the hammer running down the aisle filled with drone-like people.

            See it here (Quicktime video stream)

            As for the Lex Brodie and Didi Ah Yo ads, often a memorable or good ad doesn't have to be highly produced. Brodie's ads were just simple matter of fact 20 second infomercials that all ended with his famous "Thank you very much" tagline. The simple fact that we all remember these ads years after they aired authenticates their effectiveness.
            I'm still here. Are you?

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            • #7
              Re: Favorite Local TV Ads!

              I liked the one for an insurance company...can't remember which one but the two guys bumped and one guy says: Eh you didn't stop...I did, no you slowed down but you didn't stop...etc. I always smiled at that one and I enjoyed the ones with the kids running into LONGS. Most of the time I try to MUTE the commercials! The exception being during the Super Bowl.
              Retired Senior Member

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              • #8
                Re: Favorite Local TV Ads!

                I love the Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park commercials, I especially like the latest one with the kid sitting in the dentist's office when the kid suddenly gets the urge to start spraying water from the dental hose device all over the office! Its obviously taken from the vantage point of a hidden camera, then suddenly you see the dentist's feet as he walks into the room. I think it would have been even better if we could see the look of horror on the dentist's face! Anyway, a great commercial!

                Say what you mean and mean what you say....

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                • #9
                  Re: Favorite Local TV Ads!

                  Originally posted by Mocha
                  I liked the one for an insurance company...can't remember which one but the two guys bumped and one guy says: Eh you didn't stop...I did, no you slowed down but you didn't stop...etc. I always smiled at that one and I enjoyed the ones with the kids running into LONGS. Most of the time I try to MUTE the commercials! The exception being during the Super Bowl.
                  I think that's First Insurance. I'm so out of touch that was the first time I'd ever seen the hands over ears and "la la la" bit.
                  http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/

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                  • #10
                    Re: Favorite Local TV Ads!

                    There was an HMSA commercial I liked that ran about a year or so ago, which was shown on various Oceanic channels.

                    A very simple approach...

                    A woman sitting on a doorstep in front of an island-style home, putting a ribbon in her daughter's hair while she hummed a calming tune. A relaxing windchime could be heard in the background. No music track. The lense was filtered a bit to enhance the calm effect the ad projected.

                    I used to always sit there and watch it whenever it came on. Very relaxing.

                    Also liked the newer HMSA commercial with the family playing in the water. I believe it was filmed somewhere near Kualoa beach park.

                    The K.I.S.S. theory always works best.
                    sigpic The Tasty Island

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                    • #11
                      Re: Favorite Local TV Ads!

                      Speaking of relaxing commercials, it occurred to me that I really like some of the ads in American Savings Bank's "new image" campaign, pushing the iconography of their taro leaf logo. Rich, selectively saturated vistas of taro fields, mountains, and other decidedly hawaiian scenes, subdued music and a subdued voiceover... probably the first ads I've ever described as gorgeous. And, as an added plus, I definitely remember who's doing the advertising.

                      By the way, Honolulu Weekly named the "Best Local TV Commercial." It was a tie between AIG's "Rotten Teeth" and "Just Let Me Breethe." I can't remember them myself, but, I guess they're good.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Favorite Local TV Ads!

                        Originally posted by pzarquon
                        as I also mentioned in the other thread, I enjoy some of the DOH's "Start. Living. Healthy." ads, and the kids anti-smoking ads.

                        So. All good stuff -- well done, funny, or at least memorable in a good way. What do you like?


                        Trying ta think of good local commercials...hmmm.
                        only thing that comes to mind are ones made back small keed time and up to the 80s or so here.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Favorite Local TV Ads!

                          Originally posted by kimo55
                          Trying ta think of good local commercials...hmmm.
                          only thing that comes to mind are ones made back small keed time and up to the 80s or so here.

                          I liked Lex brodie ads before he passed on.
                          Lippy Espinda too, and anything Robert luck did.... that transplanted texan known by lucky luck.


                          Currently;
                          Cooking with Cutty is really cute.
                          the surfah singing about how hungry he is and that keiki showing him cuttys over there cooking up some chow..then the synced goofy dancing stuff...
                          well done and memorable.
                          not gimmicky like the bank with the guy dangerously flinging sharp instruments around the lobby; or doing backflips... "Our ninja trained tellers are very nimble and athletic!"
                          (I wont go into THAT building!)

                          and i actually like
                          "eh and remember no scratch da truck.
                          no worry brah, we gettum.
                          eh whaddappen to mah truck!
                          eh brah next time, lavalyyyyne!"

                          I would prefer to see much less mainland commercials and more delima (taxi tutu is cute.), more augie/lani, I think ogata and da bumatais oughta be doing more commercials.
                          I mostly like the bruddahs commercials but would rather see them speak sans fake teeth.
                          Remember that one with Tony Silva where he goes around town shopping with his 'family"? I asked him once; eh brah you lucky, get one young and one older girlfriend in that commercial! joking about the bad casting; the "wife" looked years older than Tony. He said, sorry eh, wuz outta my control.

                          would like to see da braddahs in their hawaii 5-0 parody mode more in commercials selling products and services. It's a good format/setup.
                          Last edited by kimo55; August 12, 2004, 09:19 AM. Reason: misspelld wurd

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                          • #14
                            Re: TV commericals you like to watch

                            While I am not a fan of HMSA, I like the generic drug commercial that is airing with the 2 same women talking to each other.
                            I'm still here. Are you?

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                            • #15
                              Re: Favorite Local TV Ads!

                              Originally posted by kimo55
                              I liked Lex brodie ads before he passed on. Lippy Espinda too, and anything Robert luck did.... that transplanted texan known by lucky luck.
                              Hey I know Lex doesnt do the ads anymore but he hasnt passed on yet.

                              Thank You Very Much.

                              Makiki Boy

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