Professional Cycling For the Fans - Best Commercial?

Has to be the one with Lance riding along the ocean, the birds, the Harley's, the buffalo's, etc. I'd love to find that heavily forested hill he's going up in the long version (if it's real). Waving (or shaking his fist) at the kids in the hospital is a great touch!

I've seen the commercial many times, but I still slow down the TiVo to watch and listen to it again. IMHO, it ranks up there with the 1984 Apple commercial :D

-murray

You said it. That commercial gives me chills every time. Part of it is the music and I've gotten pretty good at keeping an ear open for it. I'd love to find that online and download it. In fact, I think I'll do that right now... :)

Every time a commercial comes on, I find something else to do.

That commercial is a classic. It's rare I can watch something over and over, and still enjoy it. I smile every single time the kid jumps on his wheel, and gets "the look"....

Now, the USPS commercial is a different story...

You said it. That commercial gives me chills every time. Part of it is the music and I've gotten pretty good at keeping an ear open for it. I'd love to find that online and download it. In fact, I think I'll do that right now... :)



Get it at my site, until someone takes it down!

Here! (http://www.belfast-biker.com/lance/lance.mov)


EDIT - it's 18Mb, so be patient.

Very nice of you, Belfast Biker. Thanks.

the US Postal *courier* spot ranks a close 2nd. :)

Re: the Nike spot - I spoke with one of the WK guys that produced it. He told me that the music wasn't their first choice and overall they had to "settle" for it. I can't imagine anything being better.

55/Rad

Sweet! Thanks for the download :)

Believe it or not, but I love the Bob Roll commercials too. :D Wish they had the "Tour DAY France" from last year tho :(

Wouldn't it rule if they had a "Lance Commercials" retrospective? The elephant Mouth-to-mouth, the ESPN power outage, etc? hee hee

I read that the music for the "See Lance Ride" commercial was written specifically for the ad and is not available for purchase :(

http://tinyurl.com/ysjvx

-murray

the US Postal *courier* spot ranks a close 2nd. :)

I really wish I had that commercial recorded.

Yeah. If anyone has the USPS commercial (or a link) please lemme know :) I'll give you my G-mail account if you can e-mail it

The Dasani commercial is pretty good too :)

That's easily one of the best commercials of all time. But only the 90-second extended version. It's one of those rare times when the concept is as sublime as the execution. I TiVo'd a Lance Chronicles episode a month or two ago and have saved the episode just to have a copy of the commercial; I usually watch it once a day. It's very powerful and has a lot of depth and meaning. I love how the piano cues when he pumps his fist to the hospital kids, and I love the last shot with the kid in the football helmet.

Nike has titled it "Magnet."

The Specialized commercial. It was the only ad that DIDN'T have Lance in it so I have to give them credit. (Before you Lancies start flaming me I wear my LIVESTRONG band with pride) The USPS "delivery" commercial was cool with Floyd riding the wheelie through the intersection.

The Lance commercial that everyone loves is great, but I remember a commercial from a few years ago that was even better. It was a Postal-themed commercial, with dramatic music and a lot of footage from USPS in the Tour - crashes, flats, etc. It said stuff like "Neither snow, nor rain, nor sleet ..." etc., it was just an awesome commercial. Been looking for a copy of it forever.

Not really a commercial but I like the Bissell logo when they're mentioned during the cut-in to the race. There's a cute little animation of a bike rider going over the logo as if it were a hill.

I actually have, on video tape, the very first TV commercial USPS did for the bike team. It was on ESPN, back in the days of the 30 minute update shows that were hosted by Adrian Karsten.

I miss Bobke with the toy riders saying
"hoop Jan hoop. . . ULRICH GOES DOWN. . .ULRICH IS DOWN "
does it for JaJa and on other rider (simoni? pantani?).

Pretty funny stuff. I miss Bobke's stuff like the Giro commercials.

Marty

My favorite Lance commercial is still the older nike one, where he says something to the effect of.. "What am I on? I'm on my bike 6 hours a day working my ass off....what are you on?"

I miss last year's commercial w/ Bobke imitating various commentators, esp when he's doing Phil Ligget:"And Armstrong is coming down the straight like a Grand Prix motorcar!"

I wish we got the funny american ads. Oln canada only shows canadian ads, so we miss out on the funny ads. I remember getting tapes of the Vuelta, with that hilarious "Phil and Paul Bingo." A classic!

An interesting article about the Nike ad: http://www.pluginz.com/news/1777

And the full 90-second ad as hosted by the production company: http://www.darnellworks.com/a52/media/magnet90.mov

It's not at all surprising, but it did remove some of the magic to learn that they used a double in the location shots, replacing his head and shoulders with Armstrong's as necessary.

Yeah, some of the magic is gone, but all that's important is that it's really him pumping the fist for the cancer kids :)

I love the "magnet" commercial as mentioned above! Something about the music is enchanting yet powerful! And the fist pumping as he passes the hospital rocks! Can't get enough of that commercial. I also like the USPS one where the team is delivering the mail. At the end of the commercial they're meeting with their supervisor who then says something to the likes of "Great job guys! See you tomorrow." And then Lance says "Tomorrow?". Could this be a subtle "hint" that the Posties will no longer be Posties after this TdF but rather "Discoveries" (for a lack of a better nickname)? Hmmmmm.....

I think it's more about them just throwing everything into the delivery and thinking it was just for one day, only to be told that they'd have to return. I get the feeling it's more for the humor effect than a subliminal hint about USPS dropping the sponsorship. It's an overall humorous commercial.

Koffee

I have a commercial on my computer they did with Lance from ESPN where he's on his bike pedaling to produce power for the ESPN crew. I thought that one was pretty humorous.

Koffee

Interesting thought on the "Tomorrow". I was trying to figure out if it was a take on the Stage aspect of the TdF; that they would be in a different town tomorrow :)

And yeah Koffee! That ESPN commercial rocks! "Lance. What's the story?" Hey. Hey Dan. Sorry. Thought everyone left for the night." "Can I get you a Powerbar? Some water?" "No. No, I'm fine. Sorry." :roflmao:

Get it at my site, until someone takes it down!

Here! (http://www.belfast-biker.com/lance/lance.mov)


EDIT - it's 18Mb, so be patient.

Compare:

VW Commercial (http://www.vw.com/debut/index2.htm)

GnR Civil War (http://www.content.loudeye.com/scripts/hurl.exe?clipid=000658801010006900&cid=600111)

(you may have to scroll down to get to the Civil War sample audio link...)

Am I the only one that get a kick out of the commercial where the guy is rideing the trainer in his back yard pretending he is in the time trial? The look he gets from his wife while she is watering the flowers is classic! Maybe it just hits home for me?

I wish we got the funny american ads. Oln canada only shows canadian ads, so we miss out on the funny ads. I remember getting tapes of the Vuelta, with that hilarious "Phil and Paul Bingo." A classic!

Living in Canada must be like living in an upstairs apartment with a great party going on downstairs...... :p (Jay Leno)

I like the ad where Bob roll is on the Champs' and is asking Lance to Pull through and do some work. Also the one where he is on the podium with the rest of the Postal Team. If you watch, he does that finger kissing, chest pounding move that Sammy Sosa was doing a few years ago, funny!

I like the ad where Bob roll is on the Champs' and is asking Lance to Pull through and do some work. Also the one where he is on the podium with the rest of the Postal Team. If you watch, he does that finger kissing, chest pounding move that Sammy Sosa was doing a few years ago, funny!

I like the Bob Roll Trek commercial (inasfar as it is possible to actually enjoy a commercial) cause it pokes fun at his hand gesturing style. He even does the arm-rolling, pointing stuff that you only see on the worst furniture commercials.

The pictures here: http://www.darnellworks.com/a52/nr0068.htm
If you upsample it, makes for great computer desktop backgrounds.

Living in Canada must be like living in an upstairs apartment with a great party going on downstairs...... :p (Jay Leno)

It is in terms of tv. WE get tv shows like Six feet under two years late, unless you get pay tv. And OLN canada is a joke, we only get the TDF and the rest of the year it's dog shows and lumberjacks. We don't get any of the other races. As for commercials, they have to advertise canadian sponsors, no sense advertising for things like restaurants which we don't have in canada. But the ads on OLN that run during the grand tours are great, I wish we got them. Another spot I loved was the Jimi Hendrix 'freedom' ad for cycling. Canadian tv regulations suck, forcing us to watch a lot of canadian crap we don't want. THis is why I always am on the lookout for americans who will take pity on us and send us tapes by mail!

The pictures here: http://www.darnellworks.com/a52/nr0068.htm
If you upsample it, makes for great computer desktop backgrounds.


Cool,

If you read the article it tells you about the Computer Generated Images, and the body double they used for Lance. Pretty neat.

you can get the lance commercial also at wearyellow.com
just click on Lance Armstrong under where it says Learn More in the bottom right hand side, they also have the wear yellow commercial

does anyone have an mp3/wav copy of the magnet song?

Has to be the one with Lance riding along the ocean, the birds, the Harley's, the buffalo's, etc. I'd love to find that heavily forested hill he's going up in the long version (if it's real). Waving (or shaking his fist) at the kids in the hospital is a great touch!

I've seen the commercial many times, but I still slow down the TiVo to watch and listen to it again. IMHO, it ranks up there with the 1984 Apple commercial :D

-murray
agreed :beer:

I saw an awsome one today...
the guy is riding and commentating on Lance catchin the big German, it shows the road wheel come up to a little bmx wheel, the guy passes a fat guy riding a cruiser with a co-pilot attached and a kid aboard...
Funny as hell, reminded me of a post in the road forum where someone was talking about sprinting and catching an old lady, his quote was: "But I beat her damnit" LOL

Nope my new favourite commercial is the guy in the classroom
with the girl next to him doing this whole come on thing, and
playing footsie, everyone in class smells something foul
and he has just rubbed dog cr@p all over her leg. . .
(well its just a synopsis).
catch phrase "Another reason to ride"
It's for madworks? Mad cycles? Madindustries?
(commercial is so funny I forgot who its an advertisement for).

Marty

agreed :beer:
Anyone catch the Magnet commercial when it first appeared during the Giro? You see a rider skidding across the pavement in the background on that sharp turn in the downtown. Later versions during the tour cut that guy out.

One thing about the great commercials, on air today, is that most are not selling a actual product. They are selling a feeling of their brand. The new sense in marketing today is inside/out marketing. Notice how Nike never shows a product in the Magnet commercial, but everyone on here knows who the ad is for. Well so does the 8-15 y/o market that has become the largest market with expendable funds.
Seems the other commercials also worked because here it is a year later and you guys are thinking of last years spots. I love good marketing!

Cross

One thing about the great commercials, on air today, is that most are not selling a actual product. They are selling a feeling of their brand. The new sense in marketing today is inside/out marketing. Notice how Nike never shows a product in the Magnet commercial, but everyone on here knows who the ad is for. Well so does the 8-15 y/o market that has become the largest market with expendable funds.
Seems the other commercials also worked because here it is a year later and you guys are thinking of last years spots. I love good marketing!

Cross


BTW anyone know where the 62mm (I think) Honda cars ad is online?

If you upsample it, makes for great computer desktop backgrounds The text may be hard to read, but the small hyperlink just below the thumbnailis a 300dpi image. Downsampling yields a better image than upsampling the 72dpi...


Anyone catch the Magnet commercial when it first appeared during the Giro? You see a rider skidding across the pavement in the background on that sharp turn in the downtown. Later versions during the tour cut that guy out.
In the QuickTime doanload, you can still see it: http://www.darnellworks.com/a52/magnet.htm

I've attached the images from that site, resampled to 1024x768. I didn't pretty 'em up any tho. That's YOUR job :) Get 'em before they delete 'em :)

Two more (really had to compress #2 to get it under the limit. lots of info in that image...) :

http://www.henrywagner.org/video/U2ThinkDifferent.avi

for all you u2 fans out there.....

this isnt a real commercial, but if it was, it would be one of my favorites....

Nike has always spent a great deal of money to make entertaining, groundbreaking ads. The "Magnet" commercial is no exception. When Lance rides by the hospital, and the kids come up to the window, it sends chills down my spine, not because I'm touched but because those kids are about the same age as the Asian and Latin American kids working 20 hour days to make Nike shoes for under a dollar an hour. Sorry to bust everybodies bubble, but there's a reason Nike has huge enough profit margins to pay for slick advertisements that give you feelings of "transcendance". I would assume the best sort of advertisement would involve a sports figure that everyone knows and respects giving hope to cancer patients. I'd be all choked up, if it wasn't still an adertisement for another corporation with crappy business ethics. Wake up. Marketing that involves you emotionally is still selling you a product.It behooves responsible citizen to do his homework and figure out were he wants his money to go.

those kids are about the same age as the Asian and Latin American kids working 20 hour days to make Nike shoes for under a dollar an hour


Sweatshop workers are so generous... thank God for market forces.

Thanks Aaliyah!

Thanks Consuela!!

Anyone have the USPS commercial with the whole team postal saved anywhere. I'm still searching for a copy and haven't found it anywhere. I liked it a lot.Thx