New Palm Pre Commercial Hits the Airwaves

Posted By: Ryan Kairer Monday, July 13, 2009 12:08:46 PM

Creepy Pre AdIn the past week or so Palm has begun running a new television commercial for the Pre on major networks in the US. This second ad from Palm features the same woman from the previous Chinese dancing ad, however instead of meditating on a rock, the woman speaks directly into the camera while showing only a quick glimpse of the Pre. You can catch the video embed after the break.

The new ad, titled "Go with the flow", has received a good deal of negative and confused reactions online. Numerous forum members have called the spot creepy, while others say that it plays more like a pharmaceutical commercial.

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nice ad

Scud @ 7/13/2009 1:00:42 PM # Q
nice ad, can't see what's the problem :)
RE: nice ad
jca666us @ 7/13/2009 4:58:26 PM # Q
This is a fantastic ad - if the objective is to help apple sell even more iphones!

What a piece of crap ad - definitely could pass for a Prozac or PMS commercial.

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Fire the Ad VP

vetdoctor @ 7/13/2009 1:20:55 PM # M Q
No wait, they already did.
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Palm - Pharmaceutical company

abosco @ 7/13/2009 5:50:33 PM # Q
Once-daily Pre is non-habit forming. Side effects include headache, nausea, vomiting, and thoughts of suicide. Consult your doctor if you have an erection lasting for more than four hours, as this is a sign of a rare, but serious, side effect.

-Bosco
m105 -> NX70v -> NX80v -> iPhone -> iPhone 3G
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It's a nice ad...

zuhmir @ 7/14/2009 7:34:25 AM # Q
I get where you're coming from saying it's like a Prozac commercial, but hey, who says Prozac owns all soothing voice? can't I be relaxed without narcotics?
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bizarrely, pervasively creepy

Ryan @ 7/14/2009 9:13:58 AM # Q
So says Fast Company...

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/chris-dannen/techwatch/whats-wrong-palm-ad

RE: bizarrely, pervasively creepy
Gekko @ 7/14/2009 9:24:57 AM # Q

agreed. it's an awful ad, but so is the device.
RE: bizarrely, pervasively creepy
SeldomVisitor @ 7/14/2009 12:05:51 PM # Q
It seems like a just fine ad to me as long as the viewer already knows about the device (*).

I owner what the brand retention is - an hour later, does the target remember what product the ad was about.

=====

(*) Well...yes...that DOES mean it's a useless ad.

But the ad itself was fine!

RE: bizarrely, pervasively creepy
SeldomVisitor @ 7/14/2009 12:06:56 PM # Q
> ...I owner...

I have NO idea how my fingers put down "owner" instead of "wonder" and how my synapses accepted it!

RE: bizarrely, pervasively creepy
freakout @ 7/14/2009 6:06:39 PM # Q
Gekko wrote:

agreed. it's an awful ad, but so is the device.

I noticed yesterday that you'd gotten yourself banned from Precentral, Lizard-man. i'm guessing it was such delightfully subtle criticisms like this? :P

RE: bizarrely, pervasively creepy
Gekko @ 7/14/2009 6:12:47 PM # Q

a bunch of bible-thumper fanboy nerds run that site.

they thought I was some friggin jerk. they treated me like shiit. now i gotta turn my back on them.

RE: bizarrely, pervasively creepy
abosco @ 7/14/2009 6:18:02 PM # M Q
Sounds like they weren't too far off from the truth.
RE: bizarrely, pervasively creepy
freakout @ 7/14/2009 9:44:27 PM # Q
Never mind Gekko, PIC still loves you. Cane has a poster of you on his bedroom wall, y'know.


RE: bizarrely, pervasively creepy
Gekko @ 7/16/2009 2:42:47 PM # Q

nobody caught my movie reference? bosco?
RE: bizarrely, pervasively creepy
Gekko @ 7/16/2009 7:46:39 PM # Q

NOBODY caught the movie reference? NOBODY????????????????
RE: bizarrely, pervasively creepy
Gekko @ 7/20/2009 3:10:16 PM # Q

it was Goodfellas. Big Paulie Cicero.

shame on you all!!!!!!!!!

2:50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOXaBxmEIFA


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Not the best imaging

CFreymarc @ 7/14/2009 1:22:03 PM # Q
Ok, first they design the thing to look like a stream stone. Now they push this, blonde version of Mona Lisa to say "Go with the flow."?? We are in a recession now and they place the product as something that is a tool that lets you be passive?

People want to be in control of their lives and not hitting a "buy" button on a handheld device endlessly running up their credit card. I'd love to know where in the heck they came up with their demographics and survey information on this.

My sympathy goes out to the dozens of engineers who worked their butts off making this happen only to have some product planning / industrial designer type who never picked up a soldering iron or wrote a line of code to package it as a wimp.

Fail!

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Song used in the ad

hkklife @ 7/14/2009 3:15:54 PM # Q
The song used in the ad is "Doot Doot" by Freur and it perfectly fits the bizarre, ethereal mood of the commercial. That said, it's a terrible commercial for a smartphone.

Freur was an artsy English synthpop-funk-rock band active in 83-85. They were originally identified by an unpronouncable squiggle (long before Prince). Freur released two albums to little fanfare but this song was a minor hit in several countries and has sort of taken on cult status in recent years. More significantly, the band reinvented itself as Underworld in the late 80s, playing more accessible funk synth-rock with a tab of techno flavor (but still found little success after 2 albums) before disbanding once again. Rick Smith and Karl Hyde left the other members behind, reshaping their sound again in 1992-93 to great critical and commercial success (appearing on the Trainspotting & Beach soundtracks etc). They have been active ever since as a duo or a trio but refuse to comment on their 80s legacy, much less perform this or any other material.

Doot Doot also appeared in the 2001 Tom Cruise film Vanilla Sky in the last part of the film during the rooftop sequence (which had a similar vibe to this commercial). The song was not included on the soundtrack, unfortunately, but that film did a lot to bring Freur's work back into the spotlight. Great song, though. I've been a Freur/Underworld fan for years in all of their various incarnations.

Pic of the band:
http://www.geocities.com/~junebugtd7/uw-freur_header.JPG

Full video of the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opaeNiiizxo

And despite the 80s camp, it's STILL not as bad as this gem:
http://tinyurl.com/nhe25c


Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?

RE: Song used in the ad
Gekko @ 7/14/2009 5:07:54 PM # Q

Doot Doot? should be called Doo Doo - the band - the song - the phone - the commercial - and the schmo who green-lighted it.
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Not for you

vetdoctor @ 7/14/2009 3:26:30 PM # Q
I finally watched the ad. It's not for you (or me for that matter). You are a white male 20-40 years old, a hyper-tech uber-geek who actually knows what "rooting" a Pre means. The ad is for the women out there who would never look at a Pre because their friends all have iPhones. This is to make them stop and wonder, "Could this be as good as an iPhone"?
In short, I had always believed that the world involved magic: now I thought that perhaps it involved a magician.
- Chesterton
RE: Not for you
SeldomVisitor @ 7/14/2009 4:01:21 PM # Q
They are probably comparing it to a Garmin GPS system rather than a phone.

RE: Not for you
CFreymarc @ 7/14/2009 8:09:38 PM # Q
Honestly, I don't think the marketing-czar knows exactly how to place this product. They are trying to make a "third wheel" out of the duality of iPhone vs. Blackberry and create a "smartphone triangle." I would not be surprised if there is massive cookies on the Pre's browser to get some sort of user profile to see who and how these products are being used. Anyone read the fine print of the EULA for the Pre yet?
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