Advertising Shortcuts: Cheating Songs
Clorox Fashionably Clean : Featuring : Thao - Bag Of Hammers
I fall for it every time. There is no denying the fact that it is cheating, but I still fall for it: A commercial rolls onto the screen and it carries a friend of mine along with it, and I’m hooked. I connect. Advertising that works is all about connecting. People don’t really want to be sold something, but they do want to feel like they are a part of something larger than themselves. A vibe. A coolness. So, being a people, I fall into this trap when a clever advertiser borrows an artist’s hard-earned cool for a commercial.
This is how my thinking goes:
“(gasp) How did they know about that song? It’s such a cool/indie/obscure/totally-not-radio-friendly-omagodiloveit song! And someone at Clorox likes it, too! Clorox gets me! They understand me! I love Clorox!”
Rational? There is not an ounce of lucidity in that stream of consciousness. It wears off, eventually, but now I have a new affinity for the product when I’m shopping. Employing cool songs for instant connection is one of my favorite advertising shortcuts. Here is a collection of a few well-flaired cheating song commercials that on air now:
“New Lobby” Courtyard by Marriott : Featuring : Throw Me The Statue - Lolita
GE Today: Healthymagination : Featuring : Joshua Radin - Brand New Day
Summer Costs Less at Walmart : Featuring : Zee Avi - Bitter Heart
Parking Garage Honda Insight : Featuring : Rabbit! - Together
Miller Chill’s Summer Serenade : Featuring : The Dodos - Fools
And the spot that sparked my desire to become a professional persuader:
Nike “Revolution” : Featuring : Beatles - Revolution
(Originaly posted on flairification)
Thao - Bag of Hammers (Claymation Video) (via thaomusic)
The very definition of extraawesome: Thao
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down - Bag of Hammers (via thaomusic)
I will never tire of Thoa and her bag of hammers.
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down “Bag of Hammers”
From the album We Brave Bee Stings and All
After picking up her guitar at the age of 12, Thao Nguyen began performing and recording as a pop-country duo with a high school friend. Raised in Falls Church, Virginia with her single mother, she often practiced her songs while working at her mother’s laundromat. She often cites Lilith Fair as an inspiration for her desire to become a singer/songwriter. After recording an EP that differed from her initial style, she began performing as a soloist with her acoustic guitar. In 2005 she recorded Like The Linen, her first full-length album.
Nguyen initially toured as a duo with drummer Willis Thompson, but expanded her act to a band of four during the Kill Rock Stars “Sound The Hare Heard” tour. The band now consists of Nguyen, Willis Thompson, Adam Thompson, and Frank Stewart. The band was named The Get Down Stay Down by a former bassist. —Last.fm, Bio
According to Thao Nguyen, she has two talents: her first is she has a knack for beat-boxing and humming at the same time (Rahzel needn’t worry about any competition just yet though) and her second, and in her opinion finest, is that she had a capacity to watch so much TV as a kid, she’s convinced her personality is made up of several different sitcom characters. Of course Thao, the 23 year Virginia-bred songwriter, is forgetting her unique voice, natural sense for a good melody, and striking lyrics, skillful guitar plucking and her deadly dry sense of humour. Thao’s debut for Kill Rock Stars, showcases all these talents and more, proving she’s a star in the making.
With her perky strumming guitar, bluegrass tinged banjo, giddy sense of self and uninhibited vulnerability, Thao manages that rare combination of songs that sound happy but are, at times so sad. Whether using an acoustic guitar strummed with a toothbrush or a sharpie pen, or employing keyboards, horns and a full rhythm section with her band The Get Down Stay Down, her songs are always buoyant, littered with catchy riffs and lyrics gripped with intimate details juxtaposed with her cheeky humor. “My songs reflect my personality as far as shirking the seriousness of things” says Thao.
Thao’s sly and mischievous sense of humour is all over this record, lightening the gravity of her words in the tradition of the very best songwriters, raising the mundane and ordinary to the extraordinary. Her music comes to life during her live performances, where Thao’s clever, self-deprecating and charming personality shines, surpassed only by her guitar picking skills.
The vinyl version contains two extra tracks: a cover of the Smoky Robinson classic “You Really Got Hold On Me” and an a Thao original “Tallymarks”. —Buy Olympia
On Last.fm as Thao and on Last.fm as Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, with 179,356 plays (8,169 listeners)and 102,038 plays (3,372 listeners) scrobbles respectively.
Thao with The Get Down Stay Down on MySpaceMusic
Bag of Hammers on YouTube
Buy Olympia | Kill Rock Stars
