The post Olympics NHL return was made better by having a NHL Center Ice free preview. This means more cool Canadian ads.
If you are tired of the lame Alec Baldwin Capital One ads, or just Alec Baldwin, you might appreciate the Martin Short Canadian take on the Capital One ads. Take off eh? Take off indeed.
Martin Short plays a number of characters in the 30-second ad. In Canadian style, the ad takes place at a hockey game. The commercial is very similar in message to the U.S. version, but far more entertaining.
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Alison Jutzi.
In this most recent preview, McCain had a commercial where a woman is trying to take advantage of its pizza taste guarantee. The woman is clearly lying about how much she hated the pizza.
Besides doing a great job in the ad, this woman looked familiar. And then I remembered … "Edmonton."
About a year ago, I saw the same woman in a CAA ad as a traveler looking forward to going to Brazil until she finds out how much that will cost. Her daydream of a beach with a handsome young man (Brazil) goes to Edmonton, where she is wearing a bikini top and a sarong while dancing in the snow with a homeless guy.
As you might remember from last winter's Canadian ads summary, I couldn't find the video for the ad. When I did a search for the McCain ad, I came across the name Alison Jutzi, and that made the search easier to find the CAA ad.
Turns out Alison Jutzi is an actress and singer/songwriter. As an actress, she is known more for being a top-10 finalist on the CBC reality show "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? and supplied the voice for Peg's Mom in an episode of "Peg & Cat," a children's show on PBS.
Her niche on camera have been commercials. And she has the kind of face and voice that lend itself well to the format. So in honor of Alison Jutzi and her charming commercial ad voice and persona, here is a bonus track, the travel commercial from last year.
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Tim Hortons paints an exotic coffee backstory for its coffee. Not a mention of donuts to be found. McDonald's was giving away its coffee during a promotion. Not a hamburger to be seen.
Tim Hortons also promoted its 50th anniversary by giving away 50 Toyota Corollas in its latest Roll Up the Rim contest.
Can't get away from coffee without mentioning the Maxwell House ad featuring CBC's Ron MacLean dressed as a referee. MacLean is a referee when not hosting Hockey Night in Canada. He doesn't speak or promote the coffee. Not sure I followed why MacLean is in the ad other than he is connected to hockey.
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Commercials can paint a picture that has nothing to do with what you are seeing. A beautiful ad showing off British Columbia and talking about sockeye salmon turns out to be an ad for Northern Gateway, which wants to build a pipeline right through that beautiful territory.
The clunky gatewayfacts.ca Web site touted in the ad uses phrases such as "working hard to meet." We're not commenting on whether the Web site has accurate statements, but based on the presentation, the ad is better than what it's selling.
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"Seed" came back for Season 2 on City. The return was promoted on the Rogers broadcasts (Rogers owns City). You might remember "Seed" as the TV version of "Starbuck." You'll see a lot more "Seed" ads for shows during NHL coverage on City this fall.
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For Canadians who justifiably complain about not seeing the Super Bowl ads, the Detroit at Ottawa game on Rogers Sportsnet East did show the Go Daddy Super Bowl ad. Okay, so maybe that isn't the one you wanted. But this proves that eventually Canadians can see some of the ads.
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A Calgary-Edmonton game showed an ad for Oka Quebec cheese. The commercial poked a bit of fun at English Canadian tourists in Quebec, the kind of tourists that might come from Alberta. Always fun to see people being able to joke among themselves.
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Foodland Ontario had a nice ad that looked like it belonged in the States. Promoting local food is what you hear a lot of south of the border, but you don't see this message in food advertising.
The folks at our sister site, BalanceofFood.com, will find this ad quite intriguing.
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