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BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE: DAILY BRIEFING | |||||||||||
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BW ONLINE DAILY BRIEFING |
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Amazon's Cheesy Choir vs. Barnes & Noble's Eager-to-Please Authors It's a tossup: Neither one makes me want to jump online and order Campy men in bright sweaters singing bad tunes on TV once brought to mind the Mitch Miller orchestra. From now on, they're likely to evoke Amazon.com. It's hard to forget a middle-aged male choir with cheesy grins warbling about everything from books to electronics to toys to weirdo collectibles. And then the sweet refrain: "Two minutes to buy a gift." Let's be real: A viewer can't be neutral about stuff like this. You either love Amazon.com's 30-second spots for their deliberate dorkiness or hate them for the same reason. Or both: Love can turn to hate pretty quickly when the ads air ad nauseam. Get it? Ad nauseam. Only the two spots with bald guys trilling about how much time I'd have offline if only I'd go online to quickly snap up a gift would move me from my couch... Nah. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is on next. FRIENDLY TROLL. Still, Amazon.com's ads effectively leave the impression that the e-tailer isn't in the same space anymore as barnesandnoble.com. The latter's spots feature authors who deliver buyers' books by hand, presumably to demonstrate the company's eagerness to please. Scott Turow gets doors slammed in his face (who knew the author of Presumed Innocent looks like a friendly troll?). John Gray of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus fame gets dragged into a marital spat. And star chef Emeril Lagasse cooks a bangup meal for a bemused customer. Barnesandnoble.com's ads get right down to business -- their opening shot is of bn.com being typed into an Internet browser. But their promises of extraordinary customer service ring empty because the situations are so unreal. Beyond a few chuckles, I'm left with a fuzzy feeling and not much else. And certainly no compelling reason to choose barnesandnoble.com over the site those guys in polyester think is so neat. By Tzyh Ng _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
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