Lippert's Critique: Moonstruck

CLICK HERE for Barbara Lippert's podcast.Look, up in the sky: It's a bird! It's a plane! Well, actually, on Friday, March 21, it was supposed to be a ginormous green Rolling Rock logo, projected on the full moon through advanced laser technology.After seeing an entertaining commercial on Saturday Night Live that promoted the event by searing into my brain an image of the lunar surface with the RR logo lighting it up like a neon sign, I noted the date and made sure to check out the situation in a very scholarly fashion -- through a moon roof, while sitting in the back of my friend's car, on the way to an Indian restaurant.As it turned out, that night the Earth's natural satellite looked dazzling, all white, pure and virginal, unmolested by any pie-in-the-sky, fake and cheesy (or even green cheesy) commercial product placement. Why yes, children, the moon refused to be our billboard -- and a flat-screen monitor it will never be.A bit of a back story -- even though I review ads for a living, and I'm supposed to be a bitter cynic, I'm embarrassed to say that I'm still so gullible that I sort of semi-believed this moonvertising stuff might happen. Given all the talk of advertising beamed to satellites (aren't we fighting with the Russians over this?) and a vague memory of Coke trying to do something similar, like the ultimate in New Year's Eve laser shows, at the turn of the millennium, I thought it might make sense. After all, now that we had conquered inner space in a super-classy way, by plastering ads in toilet stalls and all, the moon really was the final frontier. Obviously, I don't know much about space travel, but I could imagine thousands of geeky Rolling Rock drinkers assiduously following every step of the math -- hard science, hard drinking.OK, so I'd been had. And belatedly checking out the hilarious Rolling Rock Web site, moonvertising.com, I feel like even more of a chump.Although in the case of some of the cleverest stuff -- like the downloadable PDF marketing presentation by Ron Stablehorn, vp, marketing, it's a fine line between the usual cliched marketing drivel and really good parody, as only insiders can do it. For example, one of the PowerPointed points is that the moon "reminds people of Rolling Rock when they are most likely to drink it -- at night." Also under the category of "why it will work" is this gem: "No one owns the moon; media buy is negligible."Granted there's lots of 1950s-ish sci-fi-type graphics, but even that is so sophisticated that it doesn't seem that outlandish. (Although the laser beam machine is like something out of the 1930s.)That's all in the service of planting the Rolling Rock logo on the moon. "And now, using this revolutionary Web site, you can broadcast your own message on the moon as well," it instructs. "Click on the green dots to see what other people wrote." In other words: One small step for man, a giant leap for chump kind.The hoax is never abundantly clear, even while watching the various commercials featuring "Ron, the marketing vp." In the first, he explains that Rolling Rock is an "independently spirited beer that does things a bit differently." I love that line -- it had to come from someone who's written hundreds of such examples for real and hungers to do something a bit differently. He goes on to explain the link between the beer and the moon with, "Rolling Rock is extra pale, has a rich tradition and is best shared with others, like the moon."The point is also made that the moon is "unaffected by DVR technology."I'm not sure anyone outside of advertising will get how funny the "no fast-forwarding" thing is.A day after the supposed moon show, a spot called "Apology" showed up on YouTube. First, he apologized for the video that showed "me accidentally blowing up a pyramid, Easter Island heads, and, um, Florida."Then, he promises, solemnly, that on his next attempt, April 20th, "Fewer world treasures will be destroyed."So get ready for the next full moon-it's April 20, and the faux Rolling Rock lunar cycle starts anew.So remember, the fault is not with ourselves, but with the stars of this creative team. I'll be peeking through the moon roof, half-believing.

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Lippert's Critique: Moonstruck

Barbara Lippert

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Barbara Lippert