‘The Newsroom’ treks into desert territory in new TV spot
Together they stand alone.
That’s the new tagline for the second season of Aaron Sorkin’s political drama The Newsroom returning to HBO July 14. Playing in front of Tom Odell’s mesmerizing track “Can’t Pretend” is this new promo revealing the tagline and starring the core members of Atlantic Cable News. Jeff Daniels’ Will McAvoy leads his cable news team into a barren desert where relationships are tested and a TV stuck in static remains. What does it mean? The comment section is yours.
Update: A new clip with actual footage from season 2 is live: watch after the break. (Click here for more…)
It’s Spock versus Spock in an extended, nerd-tastic Audi ad
I’d hate to post a commercial here outside of the Super Bowl, but this one’s special. The old Spock and the new (namely Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto) star in this nerd-tastic extended advertisement for the Audi S7. Titled “The Challenge,” the spot features Quinto placing a fun bet with Nimoy and along the way you’ll hear “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” and you’ll witness the Vulcan nerve pinch at work. Don’t ask, just watch.
Tina Fey & Amy Poehler ready for the Globes
SNL pals Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are hosting the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards. If you need proof that these two are the perfect match for the awards show look no further than this video here. Well, maybe a bit further; after the break you’ll find another clip plus a promotional image that wonderfully encapsulates the kind of wild spirit the 30 Rock and Parks and Rec stars will bring to NBC on January 13, 2013 at 8PM. Review the nominees here. (Click here for more…)
New ‘Revenge’ promo is rated SE: Sexy for Everyone [Update: new cast photos]
Revenge is a beautiful thing. Don’t believe me? Watch this brand new promo that debuted New Year’s Eve between ABC’s live coverage from Times Square. Whether you’re into the ladies or the guys this 30-second spot will satisfy. In one corner you’ve got Victoria’s former lackey Ashley Davenport, the Queen of Hamptons’ daughter Charlotte Grayson, and the radiant, fearless revenger Emily Thorne. And in the other corner? The Porter brothers Jack and Declan duke it out, Emily’s right-hand man Nolan Ross, and her former fiancé Daniel Grayson go shirtless. From the thumping music to the colorful imagery, this wild commercial will try to get you excited for the second half of the addicting soap’s second season. It will succeed. They sure know how to make ‘em.
Revenge returns this Sunday, January 6 at 9PM on ABC.
Update (1/4): ABC has released a bunch of new images featuring this good-looking cast of Revenge. The most notable image, however, has to be the final group shot which features Jack sitting up against a bloody chest containing who-knows-what. Take a gander in the gallery below.
Let Microsoft’s first Surface commercial dance right into your heart [Update: Pricing & specs revealed, preorder today, ships 10/26]
With the release of Microsoft’s radically new operating system coming out so soon, the company has let loose a fun commercial touting its in-house tablet dubbed Surface. Directed by Jon Chu (Step Up 3D) and choreographed by Christopher Scott and Jamal Sims, the spot incorporates an infectious track and aggressive dance moves to market its snazzy slate to a young crowd. Though it doesn’t offer specs and pricing, it does highlight the Surface’s ability to snap to a cover/keyboard hybrid the company calls Touch Cover and Type Cover, and it also puts the device’s built-in kick stand in the spotlight. It also screams that Windows 8 begs to be touched.
Surface for Windows RT releases day and date with Windows 8 on October 26.
Update: Now there’s even more to celebrate. Today Microsoft put up a product page for Surface with Windows RT and it includes a final spec list and pricing. Three separate SKUs are offered. The tablet starts at $499 and that gets you a 32GB slate. For $599 you get the same storage capacity and the slate is bundled with a black Touch Cover. And for $699 storage jumps to 64GB and you’ll get a black Touch Cover. The company is selling Touch Covers separately at $119.99 in a variety of colors including black, white, red, cyan, and magenta. Also sold separately is the Type Cover at $129.99 in black only. According to the site, the cheapest SKU ships “within three weeks” while the other two will arrive on your doorstep on Windows 8 launch day October 26. Preorder today.
When Microsoft announced Surface in June, they didn’t fully divulge all of the tablet’s specs. Now we’ve got ‘em all. Been wondering what the 10.6 inch display’s resolution is? It’s 1366 x768. For a full list of juicy specs, jump after the break for the official PR. Glance at new images that just surfaced below.
This Internet Explorer TV commercial touts “a more beautiful web”
Who woulda thunk Microsoft could actually make their aging Internet browser look so good?!
Update: The revitalized IE marketing campaign continues with another (rather self-deprecating) spot called “The Browser You Loved to Hate.” It’s embedded after the break for your viewing pleasure. (Click here for more…)
‘Revenge’ promo will get your heart racing for more Thorne
A marriage destroyed [Queen Victoria & Conrad Greyson]. An empire threatened [Greyson Global]. A family torn apart [the Greysons]. An alliance forged [Emily & Nolan]. A friendship tested [Emily & Jack]. A fiancé with blood on his hands [Hello, Danny]. And she’s just getting started. When everything you love is stolen from you, someone has to pay.
This promo for Revenge aired during last night’s Oscars telecast. It might have been the highlight of the evening. The infectious soap returns this week on Wednesday, February 29 at 10PM on ABC.
Megan Fox and Josh Duhamel hunt for Billy Crystal in star-studded Oscars promo
As you wait for the nominations to break, sit back and take in this premiere promo for the 2012 Oscars. It stars Transformers stars Megan Fox and Josh Duhamel searching for this year’s host Billy Crystal. William Fichtner (Prison Break, Entourage), Vinnie Jones (The Cape), and Robin Williams make cameos throughout. If the February 26 telecast is anything like this bizarrely entertaining clip, that’d be really great. Because last year’s snoozefest hosted by an overly excited Anne Hathaway and drugged James Franco is but a blip in my conscious memory.
Alec Baldwin & John Krasinski kill in New Era baseball ad
30 Rock’s Alec Baldwin and The Office’s John Krasinski take sides in this Bryan Buckley-directed commercial for the New Era Cap Company. Baldwin’s a die-hard Yankees fan, while Krasinski pledges his allegiance to Red Sox Nation. Watch the rivalry and hilarity materialize above.
Sony Ericsson recruits Kristen Schaal to hilariously hype the Xperia Play
While the initial run of Xperia Play ads were extremely creepy, these on the other hand are really funny. Sony Ericsson has tapped the talented comedian Kristen Schaal (of Flight of the Conchords fame) to promote the upcoming PlayStation-certified handset. My favorite one resides above, but make sure to click after the break to check out the others. Ads in general suck, but these are totally worth watching. Schaal nails it every time.
Sony Ericsson ad reaches a new level of creepy
Sony Ericsson’s “PlayStation phone” named the Xperia Play was teased during the Super Bowl and today the smartphone company let out a prequel commercial that goes on to explain how exactly those human thumbs ended up sewed onto the green nubs of the Android mascot. If you thought the teaser was creepy, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
[Via Engadget]
Super Bowl XLV commercials

This shouldn’t be much of a surprise, but #BrandBowl was trending right next to #SuperBowl in the Twittersphere during the big game today. While the sports-loving percentage of the country kept their minds focused on the Packers and Steelers, the rest of us admittedly didn’t care so much for the game and instead invested our time in watching the commercials placed neatly between timeouts and end of quarters. As you know, companies spend millions of dollars for a 30-second spot during the most watched (sporting) event on TV. So how did they fare this year? All in all they were alright; nothing wildly spectacular caught my attention but they were definitely some stand outs worth mentioning and watching again. From beer to cars to Doritos, tech, and movie trailers–it’s all after the break for you to peruse. (Click here for more…)
Motorola takes a bite into Apple with “Goodbye 1984″ advert
Here’s a sneak peek at Motorola’s flashy Super Bowl ad. The Motorola Xoom tablet was teased last month and detailed at CES, so now it’s time to build hype before its mid-February release. The Honeycomb packin’, dual-core processin’, 4G capable tablet is nearly ready to take on Apple’s iPad. More than that, Moto is going so far to spit on Apple’s “1984″ ways (“One authority. One design. One way to work.”) and replace it with ideals including “choice,” “exploration,”and “freedom.” Gone is a world dominated by Apple and their pesky white iPod buds and ready to take over is a red gaseous planet with a giant M emblazoned on it. Tablet competition is about to get fierce.
[Via Engadget]
The Verizon iPhone is coming…let the marketing blitz begin
There’s another waiting after the break.
You’ll never guess what this epic commercial is advertising
Hint: It’s not an Inception/Toy Story mashup, although it might seem like it. Find the answer after the break.
Fringe is about to “re-animate” Friday nights
Following news that the best sci-fi show on television Fringe is moving to Friday nights, FOX put together this trailer that is all kinds of awesome. At least we know that the network is willing to push hard for the show to keep it relevant. The showrunners must be loving this.
Says Dean Norris, Fox senior VP of marketing and special projects: “We are trying to rebrand Friday, and what we’re trying to do with this show specifically is make it kind of like forbidden fruit. We want that teen demographic that might not be our audience right now to say, ‘That this is a show my parents might not want me to watch — but I’m going to watch it, anyway.’”
The Lonely Island become ROKK Vodka ‘Creative Directors’; watch their first ad here
The Lonely Island–aka The Dudes, aka SNL’s Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer–were recently appointed “Creative Directors” for Swedish imported ROKK Vodka. Apparently they will be “responsible for the brand’s consumer engagement, which includes creating digital material to market the brand and help introduce ROKK, the premium priced, freeze filtered vodka.” Says head Dude Andy Samberg: “Most people ask us to just make videos, but Diageo asked us to be Creative Directors, which sounded fancier. Anyone who’s seen our videos knows we’re fancy guys, so we said yes. And they also gave us a bunch of ROKK Vodka, which we enjoy drinking with our mouths.”
Watch the group’s first “ROKK video short” above. Additional content is expected to hit the ‘Net soon. Full PR after the break.
PlayStation Move is for man-babies
In collaboration with ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi, Sony has developed a peculiar new advertising campaign for the Latin American market. In the two commercials Sony is hoping build awareness of the PlayStation, along with the recently released PlayStation Move motion accessory. All I see are freakishly giant MAN-BABIES. But here’s how Sony explains it:
“The first commercial…features a baby as a depiction of the emotions that are often associated with the purest form of entertainment. It reminds us of a time when even the smallest actions, sights and sounds can provoke unhinged and constant entertainment.”
Riiight. Look after the break to watch another commercial starring MAN-BABIES! Oh Sony, you never fail to awkwardly impress.
Windows 7 plays nice with Mac whilst engaging in Avatar Blu-ray session
Microsoft has finally got it right with their latest Windows 7 ad. The cutesy animation paired with an Avatar cameo captures an appropriate (albeit bizarre) aesthetic that informs viewers about Windows 7′s Blu-ray playback support in a fun, creative way. Apple, the ball’s in your court.
[Via Gizmodo]
Kinect TV ads: YOU are the controller.
Here we go! Microsoft has officially begun the marketing blitz for Kinect. At the center of all these commercials is the philosophy that you don’t have to have any previous knowledge of playing video games; you are the controller, so it all comes naturally. Look after the break for two more ads featuring flailing children in large, brightly lit living spaces plus an extended commercial highlighting Xbox Live with Kinect functionality.

