oh gawd.  this makes me feel creepy.  i tune out whenever these spots are on.

"We're not gonna tell you how the vote turns out."

Quite the incentive for participating. How do they have so much money for this?

Though it makes me cringe, I was immediately reminded of the very successful UK / North America "Gold Blend / Taster's Choice" couple from the 1990s when I heard the Spence's ad.   This sounds like a stolen idea, but well old enough to justify resurrecting it for a local radio spot.  

" The original campaign ran for twelve 45-second instalments between 1987 and 1993. It starred Anthony Head and Sharon Maughan as Tony and Sharon, a couple who begin a slow-burning romance over a cup of the advertised coffee. The ads were in a serial format, with each ending with a cliffhanger. The commercials were extremely popular, and as time went on, the appearance of a new installment gained considerable media attention. They are one of the most famous examples of serialized advertising.

Beginning in 1990, new versions of the ads were produced for the American market, where Gold Blend was called "Taster's Choice", and the ads were referred to as the "Taster's Choice saga". Head and Maughan reprised their roles (Tony being renamed Michael), but used American accents in the re-shot ads. After the first two nearly identical ads, the American ads diverged into their own storyline."

Wikipedia backgrounder

Sample ad from 1992

Last edited by SpinningWheel (June 22, 2023 5:28 pm)

Chrisphen wrote:

SpinningWheel wrote:

This sounds like a stolen idea, but well old enough to justify resurrecting it for a local radio spot.

Perhaps. The key difference is that the soap opera coffee ads were near-clever, and these ads are the furthest imaginable distances from clever. 

loved seeing the coffee duo again.

imagine how much better the Spence and the other wretched spots that make us cringe would be if genuine, talented voice actors were used

voice actors know the read is in the copy, we serve the script and make it shine or at least make the best of weak writing... the "delivery" of most of the "talent" voicing these ads doesn't even come close to glossing over the lackluster lines, something someone with real skill and "pipes" could certainly pull off

Last edited by betaylored (June 23, 2023 1:47 pm)