Out of the Wilderness

Dick’s Commercial Was Great… Until This Happened.

I want so much to love this Dick’s Sporting Goods commercial! I’ve written about their commercials before and the newer spots are full of inspiring and humble athletes, qualities most people appreciate… qualities I hope to display when I have the chance. This ad below is nearly perfect except for one glaring problem. Check it out and see if you can guess where Dick’s could use just one more editing update…

What did you notice that doesn’t quite fit in 2024? If it’s the dated logo, you’d be right! I can’t think of any other way to say it than this: The logo is terrible for TV. It’s like it was designed using Microsoft Paint by a high school freshman in 1995. The teacher told the class to come up with a slick logo for Dick’s and that one student who isn’t very artistic created a green block, used a varsity-style font, and the only way to include anything sporty was to make the apostrophe out of sports balls. And what even is the white circle under the baseball!?

Nothing about the logo is smooth, remarkable, or modern in any way. In fact, the Dick’s logo hasn’t had any significant changes in 30 years. That’s fine when a brand’s logo has a timeless quality to it. I’m thinking of the Nike swoosh, the old Florida State logo (can you tell I’m still bitter about this?), the Chevrolet bowtie, these have been around forever and it would be ludicrous to fix something that’s not broken, right? But in the case of Dick’s Sporting Goods, the logo definitely needs updating.

There might be some good news here, though. I watched a few other ads on the Dick’s YouTube page and the logo they used is much better, even using DSG as a brand symbol. Check this one out…

Maybe their marketing team has recognized the need to get into the 21^st century with the rest of us. Nostalgia is fine and all, but logos created in the mid-90s that look like they’re from the mid-90s have got to go. It’s kind of funny to me how much I want this change because usually I like things to stay the same, especially logos (ie. the Florida State logo change all but ruined my excitement around college football). But there are cases where I love the logo change… KIA, for example. Have you noticed their new logo on cars driving around your town? It’s not perfect (parallel lines matter, right!?) but it looks so much better than the logo they used as they introduced themselves to American consumers.

If you’re still using Microsoft Paint, Word, clipart, Power Point, wingdings, emojis, your kid’s pre-school artwork to create a brand identity, just stop. Go outside for a hike and think about your life choices. It’s 2024 and these logos need to look like it. It won’t take much for Dick’s to have one of the best sports commercials out there. They’re 99% there already. Just use a different, more modern version of their logo.

Here’s the extended ad that will inspire you to get bigger, stronger, faster!

-Out of the Wilderness

Benson Boone “Slow It Down” – The Music Video, Moon Puns, and More…

To the Boone and back! Benson Boone’s popularity is on a rocket ship to outer space. His music video for the song “Beautiful Things” is averaging 1,061,000 views per day since it was posted in mid-January. His second video is for the song “Slow It Down,” and it’s nearing a million views at the time of this posting, just a couple of days after it posted on YouTube. Take a look at the video then scroll down for more…

Boone, Clap. I have so much admiration (and maybe jealousy!?) of such talented musicians. In the video Benson is singing as well as playing the bass guitar, the piano, and the drums. It ticks me right off that all I can do is clap during a song… and sometimes I even have trouble with that AND THEY’RE MY HANDS. They’ve been mine for 45 years and I still can’t seem to keep them on beat. 🥴

Boone Landing. Benson Boone is part of a group of young artists that are carving a spot for themselves in popular music. Singers, songwriters, entertainers like Olivia Rodrigo, Connor Price, Oliver Anthony, and heck I’ll even throw in James Charles (yes, the makeup guy) in there, too. In fact, this uprising might be perfect timing for American Idol contestants (Benson Boone was a contestant, once upon a time) like Jennifer Jeffries and Jack Blocker. Should be an interesting season if these talented people can make it to the live voting rounds!

Benson Boone has 2 solid song releases under his belt and it’ll be great to watch his career develop along with his talent and popularity. I’m sure he and his family and friends are over the Boone about all his success so far.

-Out of the Wilderness

The GEICO March Madness Ad – The Crying Bandmate, the Country Singer, and More!

GEICO is known for their funny insurance commercials. I know, how can funny and insurance be in the same sentence but from the reemergence of the Caveman to the Billy Blanks workout ad, they are swishing three-pointers with every commercial and since it’s March, of course GEICO had to get in on the madness. Here’s their latest sports-related ad, then scroll down for more…

It’s a full court press of laughter but the buzzer beater was when the band member played her clarinet through sobbing tears. The whimpering sound that proceeded was hilarious. Plus the innocent use of the word “geek” was perfect. One of my pet peeves is when movie or TV show scripts write dialogue for kids but not in any type of way a real child would talk. Having this young actress attack the point guard as a geek is very refreshing in that regard.

Then a music celebrity appears donning an LSU sweatshirt. I can’t find any ties between country/soul singer Breland and LSU but he may have a future in acting because his scene was great. I especially love the way he turns his head at the very end of the ad, as if to tell his friend he better shape up.

Breland performed the national anthem at the Big 12 championship a few weeks back so I’ll end with his well-done rendition…

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A post shared by Breland The Pen Point Guard ✍️ (@breland)

-Out of the Wilderness

The iPhone Don’t Let Me Go Commercial – The Music and More!

Goodness, what has happened to Kentucky basketball? They’re about as relevant to the NCAA tournament as the color green is to gender reveals. Last night they got beat in an upset by the non-Cinderella team from Oakland University (a college in ~~California~~ Michigan). During that entertaining game I caught a new iPhone commercial and I gotta say that it’s one of Apple’s best ads. Clever, creative, funny, and a fantastic union of visuals with an unusual song. Take a look then scroll down for more info…

The Music. I hardly noticed the subtle variation of the song used in the commercial. In fact, I was halfway done writing this post when it dawned on me that the original song is called “Don’t Let Go,” an uplifting almost Gospel-sounding track. But in the ad the lyrics are “Don’t Let Me Go,” notice the addition of the word me, which really syncs the music with the scrolling photos in the ad. This was a great move as adding “me” gives a different meaning to the chorus. I mean, how many of us have photos in our phone galleries that should be deleted? But some of them, especially the millions of dog photos are begging to not be deleted! I have a handful of photos from a year or two ago that are basically all the same pics of my beagle beagling in a river… but guess where they still are? On my phone.

Back to the music, though. Sharing the spotlight with the iPhone is the funky song called “Don’t Let Go” by Terrace Martin, Mr. Talkbox, and PJ Morton. Here’s the full track from 2019.

And then there’s a less synthesized version by PJ Morton, too. Here’s that one…

Mr. Talkbox shares his cool talents and skills with a version of the song, too. One day in Heaven I hope God allows me to have even half the singing talent that these guys have but for now, I’ll just keep being jealous!

These creative guys are understandably pumped up about Apple using their track. Here are a few posts sharing the excitement.

You can find each of them on Twitter here– @PJMORTON / @mrtalkbox / @terracemartin

Ruff. I laughed the most when the dachshund dog carried the final note. Storage capacity is almost always a factor when people look for new phones. Running out of space is ruff, we all know that. Another important factor is battery life– addressed by Apple in their iPhone karate kid commercial.

What do you think about the ad? Did it make you laugh and most importantly, does it make you want to switch from Android to iPhone… or just go pet your dog?

-Out of the Wilderness

Let’s All Go To The Pantry -The Throwback Commercial from Hulu

I was watching Hulu the other day and a catchy commercial popped up. This is the first time in all my 45 years of living that I remember hearing this little jingle, which is kind of shocking. I’ll reveal why after the ad…

The one I saw had a Reese’s peanut butter cup in it, I swear. Hey, anything with peanut butter and I’m going to remember it. But I couldn’t find the exact ad on YouTube. The one above advertises Hulu and indirectly, Petsmart. But the jingle has been around for ages. Another rendition goes back almost 30 years, this one advertising milk in 1995.

I believe this is the earliest and the original from 1957. It would air in theaters before the feature presentation started.

Funny how things stay the same even when things change. In this case, if you need to use your cell phone in the theater, just go to the lobby! 🎶 But if you need a snack at home while you’re watching Hulu, just go to the pantry. 🎸 I can’t believe the first time I heard this jingle was this year, 2024. Seems like I would’ve caught it any many other points in my life!

Do you like Hulu’s throwback ad? Chime in below…

-Out of the Wilderness

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