Stihl is hosting a commercial competition at poptent.net. Seeing as we use Stihls and enjoy film making, we had to give it a shot... :)
Check it out.. Let me know if it makes you want to buy a Stihl...
http://www.poptent.net/media/24982
That's pretty darn good! [cool]
What camera did you use and what audio or was it camera audio?
[cool] Andrew
If I didn't love my Husky so much I'd be inclined towards a Stihl.
Shoot--I failed! ;) We thought about doing one of those Mac vs. PC commercial spoofs... "Hi, I'm a Stihl".. "..and I'm a Husky".. Though, name-bashing is just too unprofessional. :)
peternap- The camera, unfortunately, is merely our pathetic 6-year-old Canon MiniDV. The audio was camera-recorded with an external shotgun. I know that probably really hurts our chances of winning, but Stihl did not specify if the footage had to be HD. I'm hoping for an HD camera someday, but for now we just work with what we have.. ;)
Funny commercial. :) I was already sold on the saws, been using them for over 20 years.
Which external microphone do you use? I'm shopping for one now....
(BTW.... very, very nice job)
http://www.amazon.com/Technica-ATR-55-Condenser-Shotgun-Microphone/dp/B00006J04Z
It's just an inexpensive one, but at the time I bought it I decided from the reviews that it was the best thing I'd find for under $100. I've been happy w/ it... I had to make a shock-absorbing collar for it to eliminate handling noise, but I think that's pretty typical.
very cute! :D
Very nice! A professional looking job, I would have thought it already was a Stihl ad had I not known. I think you have a real shot at it.
I covet my little 260. :)
I vote for STIHL even though I can not afford one. :(
Bought a new ECHO falling saw this year. :-[ But you guys and STIHL are so good. WOW!! :)
Love the commercial, Ha Ha
I run stihl not just because they're a great saw but because no matter where I am I can find a stihl dealer right around the corner.
That was a cool commercial.
We should video Glenn trying to start one of his Stihls but then not many Stihls would be sold and the editers would ruin our video with beeps :-[
Thanks for the compliments, guys!
Quote from: Whitlock on September 08, 2010, 10:35:10 PM
That was a cool commercial.
We should video Glenn trying to start one of his Stihls but then not many Stihls would be sold and the editers would ruin our video with beeps :-[
rofl It's all about special-effects, Whitlock. We could make Glenn's saw into a smooth-running machine no matter how much abuse it has taken... d*
We have a lot of video editors on here I see. I belong to the video editors and Stihl club too...
Earnest,,, here is a commercial idea for you... Video the Stihl starting up and listen to it run, then show brand X each time you pull it, bleep out the ticked off cord puller. Then make a little musical montage of Rrrrrrrrrrrrr, beep, Rrrrrrrrrrrr, beep. Close by saying, "If you didn't buy a Stihl, you bought (beeep)"
Sometimes it starts with no trouble, Whitlock, and if I'm not cutting overhead it never leaks gas in my face... [waiting]
BTW, good job, Andrew. I liked it.
Sorry about that.... I know I should proof read a little better ..... :-[
I did go back and correct it. I do apologize to YOU ALL and to STIHL as well.
Rick
Not a problem, Rick. Typos happen. I just made about six of them typing this sentence.
I think I corrected at least 5 of them [ouch]
Oh great
now I am pissed off again -- you reminded me that some SOB stole my Stihl 192T from my garage 2 months ago ( for real)
I was just getting broken in -- started first pull every time
but great video !
Ouch. 'Guess our commercial hit too close to home to be funny... :-\ Stinks that stuff like that happens. Sounds like you enjoyed your short time together, though. [noidea'
Do you know what compression format your host site is using?
Unless I upload in 1080 or 720 P...Vimeo does a number on my video quality. Yours looks great.
I did this last night and to save a couple of hours uploa time, sent it in High quality SD...It irritates me to watch it. >:(
http://vimeo.com/14822205
Weird... I looked at this yesterday, and now it is telling me I don't have permissions to view that page.
Me too. I guess we wore out our welcome, Frank. :(
He may have passworded it to keep the competition from seeing it.
Sorry about that, guys... There was a little mixup on Poptent's part, as Stihl wanted to keep the videos private until after the submission deadline for some reason. [noidea' It should be available again after midnight tonight.
I have no idea what Poptent does as far as encoding goes.. That's getting a little technical for me. :) I've never had a problem with bad-looking vimeo vids.. http://vimeo.com/user1018315/videos
Quote from: Ernest T. Bass on September 09, 2010, 04:52:33 PM
Sorry about that, guys... There was a little mixup on Poptent's part, as Stihl wanted to keep the videos private until after the submission deadline for some reason. [noidea' It should be available again after midnight tonight.
I have no idea what Poptent does as far as encoding goes.. That's getting a little technical for me. :) I've never had a problem with bad-looking vimeo vids.. http://vimeo.com/user1018315/videos
Could be my converter is lossy, As long as I stay in H264 1080 or 720 P, you can cut yourself on the image. Once I go below that, I lose detail and saturation. I may try a different converter.
[cool]
Uh-oh... I think we may be in trouble. :-\ This submission made us laugh, and it's very professionally produced..
http://www.poptent.net/media/27451
Honestly I like yours better. Theirs is pure Madison Ave. But theirs is the reason I hate going into a Big Box Store. Sort of like talking to Napoleon Dynamite's twin brother or sister.
Yeah, their skit is very true to life... They really went all out, too. Looks like they printed up generic chainsaw boxes, hid all of the other brand's logos and made a custom work apron for the kid. I'm glad you liked ours better, but if I were Stihl... I'd probably go more professional-looking.
Andrew.. we'd stihl think yours is better ... no matter what.... [waiting]
Oh no you don't! I want unbiased opinions, whether I like it or not. ;)
OK - here is what I really think. Yours is better.
The other people have a much worse pronunciation of the name, Stihl, than your actors do, as well as a much more boring presentation.
At least from the Western point of view, they are saying Steel, a highly refined iron product. Out here we say it more as "still", a contraption for making non-taxed liquor. [ouch]
I am sure they will want to appeal the the Western market where trees are bigger than pencils, therefore requiring a larger, more expensive, hence, more profitable saw. :)
I can see their presentation in a normal home depot. When do I get to see a couple cool dudes sitting on a backwoods porch stealing from each other?... [noidea'
Hillbillies just normally use bigger more expensive tools than city slickers...... [waiting]
Theirs was well lighted a and scripted. I didn't care for the casting. The photography was fine and gave the big box feeling....but it was pretty bland.
Yours was my hands down favorite! It had a lot of subtle class.
theirs was polished and shiny. it focused on how bad home depot was instead of how good stihl was.
yours gave testimonial view of the product by someone who obviously uses it, build a cabin, cuts wood, etc.
I already know how bad the box store is, I liked the hillbilly porch version better. Not only was it funnier, it also focused stihl in a positive light while the other just put homelite and home depot in a bad light. Between the two approaches, I like something being raised up over something being put down.
Well, I'm glad for your honest opinions! And I'm glad for what they are, too.. ;) I showed the competition to some friends and they were a little confused by the concept, not knowing that Stihls aren't available in box stores and figuring that's what he was looking at originally.. It was obvious to me, but maybe not to your average chainsawless Joe.
I guess speculating is kinda pointless.. And like AFV, the vidoes that I think are the dumbest always win. d* The low video quality is bothering me, though. It's not going to broadcast pretty on a 52'' plasma.
Quote from: Ernest T. Bass on September 12, 2010, 12:00:58 AM
the vidoes that I think are the dumbest always win.
Being a prophet 'aint always easy... The winner was announced today. Suffice it to say, we weren't selected. We weren't even a finalist, and neither was "Pretty Sweet".
Here's the winner:
http://www.poptent.net/media/27637
I don't want to be a sore loser, but frankly I think these people have no taste. The video footage used was canned promo stuff right from Stihl. Why do they want to pay someone 5 grand to basically stick
their clips together with a few animated titles? The monologue was also pretty much cut-and-pasted right from Stihl's creative brief.
I want a Husky.
You all got chain saw massacred. The head office for STIHL or who ever picked the winner has no value for humor nor creativity.
Pretty poor IMO - I could hear the clanging music but not clearly hear what he was saying over the music...and I got that from listening to too many Stihls running with no earplugs... (and rock-n-roll).
I just don't understand it... It would be one thing if we lost to a creative, well thought-out original spot... but this is kind of frustrating.
We lost out on a couple of other contests as well.. The only one still running is an etrade campaign to come up with some new funny talking-baby-themed ideas, and we have four submissions..
http://www.poptent.net/user/LundFamProd#tab=media
Fingers crossed!
I find many advertising people to be pretty clueless about what is really good and what is bad. Look at the idiotic adds nowadays...clearly for the dumbed down America for the most part....
Hey, I'd never seen this thread before - I thought you guys did a great job! Kept me very interested & it was very entertaining. The one that won was very boring!
One of these days you'll make it! 8)
Thanks Sassy.. I hope so, but if none of our babies pull through I don't know if we'll be trying any more.. Maybe if we get a better camera someday. ::)