Charpie

They’re baaaaaack!

That’s right! Our production partner, Dandy Dwarves, is about to Crash the SuperBowl. Again! But we need your help!

Frito-Lay and Doritos are back at it with another installment of their Crash the SuperBowl contest. This year, it’s bigger than ever. How does it work? Simple. Sign up and create a 30 second commercial featuring Doritos snacks. Then, ask America to vote your spot to the top!

The top SIX finalists will get a cool $25,000, but that’s just the beginning. If you place in the top 3, your spot airs on national television during the SuperBowl. It doesn’t stop there. Place first on the USA Today Ad Meter and walk away with $1 million. Place second, $600,000. Third, $400,000. If Doritos places 1st, 2nd, and 3rd on the ad meter, everyone gets another $1 million!

Last year, you may remember Dandy Dwarves placed in the top five with their spot Too Delicious.

This year, they’re back for more! Enter Señor Queso, he’ll do anything for a Dorito. Doritos please!

Watch now, vote later! Voting begins in January, but be sure to stay up to date! Join the Facebook group for bonus pictures and videos!

Also, check out the high quality version of Señor Queso: Doritos Please via Dandy Dwarves.

Snack strong!

Well, I haven’t been able to update my blog in a long while, but what I caught on Anderson Cooper 360 last night couldn’t be a more fitting post for my reasoning behind such untimely posts.

I’m busy as hell.

And the rest of Fargo seems to be doing ok, too. CNN’s Gary Tuchman paid us a visit recently to report on the recession, or lack thereof, and how it’s affecting Fargo businesses. It’s definitely an interesting story to check out and could possibly lead to some folks trying to seek out a conservative tip or two.

I definitely wouldn’t go as far as Mayor Walaker would in saying that Fargo is not at all in a recession. I’ve seen more than a few of my friends get laid off and businesses tighten up their pockets and brace themselves for what may come. However, maybe what he meant was some business may slow, but he definitely wouldn’t refer to this as a recession.

Either way, life is still pretty good up here.

Props to my client, Appareo Systems and David Batcheller, for the excellent work on camera!

Check out the video here.

We’re kicking off the grand opening of our new office! Join Charpie, Shafer PR and Arctic Audio as we host a rockin’ super bowl bash! Watch the game in high definition on a 120” screen or any of the 58” LCD TV’s. You can also register to win a private movie night for six in Arctic Audio’s spankin’ new retail showroom.

That’s not all! Think you’ve got a killer crockpot creation? Well, from the creators of Grill-A-Thon, we’re officially announcing Crock-A-Thon! Everyone who’s anyone is welcome to bring a pot and set up shop. We’ll be voting on the best dishes and prizes will be awarded. Yippeeeeeeeee!

As if that weren’t enough excitement, we’ll be on the edge of our seat the entire game for the announcement of Doritos’ grand prize winner in the Crash the Superbowl contest. So come on over and cheer on “Too Delicious” from those talented fellas, the Dandy Dwarves. Don’t forget to vote for “Too Delicious” every day until January 25th!

Gates open 3PM on February 1st at 14 South 8th Street in Fargo, ND!

View the Evite.

First and foremost, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Hope all had a great time with friends and family. I know I’m fat and happy; stuffed full of bacon wrapped pheasant, turkey, squash, potatoes and a nice dessert of grilled, cedar-planked meat loaf.

And speaking of turkey day and birds, check out the latest spot from Dandy Dwarves for Doritos featuring the boldest man in the world and a giant Peruvian condor! That’s bold!

It’s official, Doritos trees exist! But is their fruit too delicious?

Check out the latest spot from the Dandy Dwarves. Excellent work!

This is probably getting a little old; my Microsoft ad campaign banter. But they just make it so easy. This latest ad is a perfect example. What’s with the line at the end?

“I’m a PC and a human being. Not a human DOING, not a human THINKING, a human being.”

Huh? You don’t DO or THINK? You just BE? It seems to contradict the entire ad showing many people with their accomplishments. Obviously they must have been both thinking and doing. 

Microsoft has aired their followup to ‘Shoe Circus.’ The four and a half minute ‘New Family’ segment is no doubt thoroughly entertaining and stays true Seinfeld’s ubiquitous ‘a show about nothing’ genre. So what is it, a campaign about nothing? I think most viewers would think so. I say, “who cares?” It’s entertaining and fun, something Microsoft is not very well known for unless you count Xbox which they were afraid to put their name on for years.

The story, however, is taking a bit of a turn. Apparently, Microsoft is dropping good ol’ Jerry. Sources across the interweb say the move was planned by Microsoft from the beginning, but it seems a bit fishy that it comes after a buttload of not so positive feedback toward the campaign’s first two spots.

So, I really tried to give Microsoft credit this time. I thought the spots were fun, even though they didn’t really bring any hard substance to the table. Turns out they may be as lame and out of touch as I initially wanted them to be.

It will be interesting to see where the $300 million plan heads now.

Microsoft’s new $300 million ad campaign to counter Apple’s PC vs. Mac ads has debuted with a somewhat unusual approach. It kicked off with a 90 second tv spot featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates last Thursday. It’s definitely entertaining, which is not something hard to fetch when featuring Seinfeld. I could sit and watch him eat a churro and probably laugh my ass off for hours. Maybe that’s just me. However, what did the ad accomplish besides seemingly mindless banter about shoe size? Many don’t seem to know, and I don’t think we’re supposed to know.

Yet, anyway.

As much as I dislike Microsoft, they’ve got superstar agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky heading up the campaign and with their track record I know they’ve got something interesting up their sleave. But what is it? So far, the ad is seeing some harsh reviews and they’re probably from people who just aren’t seeing the whole picture.

Either that, or Microsoft just sucks. We’ll see.

The Dandy Dwarves have produced this pretty good spot for Full Throttle energy drink. Enjoy!