Author: Kyle Johansen

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I have to get this one off my chest. There are only a few commercials that I’ve had to mute in the past year or so. The main one was that AT&T commercial where the guy supposedly calls his mom but turns out it was the wrong number.

The premise made no sense–who doesn’t have their mom auto-loaded in their phone?–and that is fine if the commercial has redeeming value. But no, not only was it not funny, it was on every single commercial break during football season.

Luckily, AT&T has replaced that one with a much tamer, if not any smarter, new commercial. However, an ad that I believed was done for good has risen from the dead. I’m sure you’ve heard it, as the “na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, hey hey hey, goodbye” is heard in the background.

This song is slightly annoying, but it can be funny in the right situation. This commercial, however, is not funny. And not only does it fail to make you laugh or smile, but you are forced to hear the nauseating song while watching people march their old tailgates to who knows where.

The idea is that GMC has such great tailgates that you no longer need yours. But GMC is not selling tailgates a-la-cart. And if they are, it isn’t clear. So, I have no idea why these people would need to remove their tailgates before buying a new car. You are killing the resale value!

In all seriousness, this is one of those commercials that ticks the three boxes of TV ad failure:

  • Premise makes no sense
  • Annoying audio aspect
  • Company looks dumber after viewing

GMC must have a hole in their marketing budget, because this commercial is many years old. Time to rethink your strategy GMC, no one is buying a car based on this commercial, and GMC would be much better off not wasting their money, airtime, and our attention span.

So, every time this commercial goes on, I hit mute. And if I don’t have the remote, I politely ask for it to be muted. Am I the only person in the world that does this? Probably. But is GMC selling a single truck based off this kooky nonsense? Not a chance.

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[Shrug] “Works for me…”

When I hear the phrase, “works for me” I think about something that probably isn’t the best, but it’s good enough to get by. If someone were to say “hey, it works for me” it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Sprint however, decided that admitting they aren’t very good but they may just be good enough was the way they wanted to market themselves and I just do not understand it.

Christmas Day, 2017 was the first time I had heard the new slogan in a commercial, and my jaw dropped. Maybe that was the point, maybe Sprint is doing some kind of reverse psychology where I’m supposed to respect them more now that they’re being up front about just being plain old average.

If that was the plan, it’s not working. I’m almost more determined than ever to never pay a dime to Sprint in the future, because what I’m taking from this slogan is that whatever the product is they’re offering, there is probably a better version out there.

Doing some googling shows that the “works for me” campaign was started as part of Sprint’s “renewed focus on the customer.” Apparently Sprint wants me to interpret the the phrase as Sprint is working for me.

Unlimited Freedom is the primary plan Sprint offers. It works for anyone. “Works for Me” marks the first ongoing national advertising campaign Sprint has created in collaboration with agency Droga5 New York.

“‘Works for Me’ should be the desired response for any company that aspires to put its customers first, so we started there,” said Matt Ian, Executive Creative Director, Droga5. “This first ad demonstrates how Sprint would work for Brent and his uncle Phil: two exceptionally prolific political debaters. Sprint Unlimited would work for them and all the data they burn through fighting on social media. And if it works for them, I know it’ll work for me.”

That’s just absolutely ridiculous. I cannot understand why Droga5 didn’t foresee the fact that “works for me” is often said with a shrug about an inferior product.

Maybe I’m alone on this one. Matt Ian must be a pretty smart guy to be the Executive Creative Director of a major advertising agency in New York. However, I think this was a huge swing and a miss and believe that “works for me” may truly be the worst slogan ever created.