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* I’m not sure yet whether this is an Internet ad or a TV ad, but the Brady campaign has just posted this 30-second spot. Two young women discuss Pat Quinn’s pay raises for his top staff. Rate it…

I’m told Brady has a new radio ad up that connects Quinn to Rod Blagojevich. I’ll post it when I get it.

* Mark Kirk has a new Internet promo ad. Rate it…

* And Scott Lee Cohen’s running mate Baxter Swilley was interviewed by Avy Meyers. Have a look…

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 9:19 am

Comments

I hope that Brady ad isn’t meant for television for their campaign’s sake. The woman on the right sounds like a Keebler elf and her performance is short of lackluster. I almost spit out my coffee when she pushed her cake away and proclaimed exasperatedly “It’s like he’s not even listening to us.” They can certainly do better with the gems Quinn’s leaving around.

Comment by Bring Back Boone's Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 9:24 am
If that’s carrot cake I’ll take the rest.

Comment by Leroy Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 9:30 am
I wouldn’t eat anything Brady touched either….I know a lot of Illinoisans who quote editorials around the old 50s diner coffee shops.
Good example of messengers being so distracting that no one comprehends the message
Quick CampaignMasterJerry get a 1000 points behind this one !
BTW do we have Steele coming to the fair yet?

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 9:37 am
I’m not sure ad quality even matters all that much for an ad like this. The inflammatory piece is the pay raise issue and keeping that front and center is points on the board.

Heck, save money on production costs and buy more time with the money.

Comment by John Bambenek Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 9:38 am
The acting in the Brady spot makes dinner theater in the Dells look like the Royal Shakespeare Company. It has to be a joke.

Comment by And I Approved This Message Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 9:38 am
I heard the radio ad. It is good. They should put it up on TV as soon as the verdict is delivered.

Comment by Niles Township Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 9:41 am
The message on the Brady ad is good, I would have done it a bit differently (like toss a reference to how much is owed schools) and let the annoyance build.

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 9:45 am
Can someone explain what the deal is with the cake at the end of the Brady ad? I’m trying to figure out why they focused on that image.

Comment by IL Yeezy Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 9:46 am
- IL Yeezy - Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 9:46 am:

“Can someone explain what the deal is with the cake at the end of the Brady ad? I’m trying to figure out why they focused on that image.”

I’m thinking Marie Antoinette, “Let them eat cake.”

Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 9:52 am
Two whiney white ladies…Pat has never said let them eat cake…hopefully, Brady will be eating some crow after Nov 2…

Comment by Loop Lady Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 9:54 am
The Brady lady ad is acted so amateurishly viewers may cringe. It would work if we suddenly discover that it is one of those old Energizer Rabbit ads with a Brady pitch. Ick!

The Kirk internet video sounds like an Austin Powers soundtrack. It gives the impression that the information it is presenting isn’t serious. While that may be OK regarding their take on Giannoulais’ answer, it shouldn’t be regarding their take on the charges they are leveling against him.

And this entire Kirk angle is making me wonder why they have invested so much into the “Mob Banker” charge. They have nothing else? Kirk has nothing to say to voters to induce them into voting for him? He has no positives? Kirk has no other problems with Giannoulais other than this?

“Giannoulais is a Mob Banker” has been played out to such an extent that Kirk and his supporters seem out of ideas to present the Congressman. It is absolutely nuts.

I don’t care for either “ad”. Who is putting this stuff together? Neither presentation gives us an impression that either Brady or Kirk have a sense of who they are or know how to tell us who they are.

Brady ad = C
Kirk ad = C

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 9:56 am
Ugh. Scripted political ads with “real” people played by bad actors are nothing but annoying, unless it’s done for laughs. The content is there, but I find the creative bad.

I’m not sure about the cake close, either. Is it, “Have you had enough cake” or is it “Quinn says let them eat cake?” Not sure.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 9:56 am
Perhaps it’s a play on “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.”

Comment by Earnest Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 10:10 am
The ratio of people to cake is too big.

Comment by soccermom Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 10:14 am
Perhaps the intent of the ad is to use it as a tool to see if the message works. Then create a real ad based on a tested theme.

Since these ads are so cheap to produce, and easy to receive comments on (like these here), we are seeing a new method of “focus grouping.”

Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 10:14 am
Brady ad - Good on message - poor on production. Should be redone, probably with a reality tv / flip cam feel.

Kirk internet ad - they could have accomplished that whole message in 90 seconds, instead of 180.

SLC - not even willing to waste my time checking it out.

Comment by A.B. Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 10:21 am
LOL, soccermom. To paraphrase Peter:

“Every day of this election cycle has been worse than the day before. So every day is the worst day. Couldn’t you just give me something to zone out til November?”

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 10:24 am
@Cincinnatus

I thought about that, too, but it doesn’t make sense. These “common people” had enough money to buy cake AND eat it. And yet they didn’t finish eating the cake they had, thus causing the whole metaphor (if it was intended to be one) to fall apart.

Comment by IL Yeezy Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 10:26 am
Brady - Local high school has far better actors. Message is predictable.

Kirk - Hey I got film from Fox. Let’s put it in an ad. Long rambling ads will make our point.

SLC - Pass.

Comment by zatoichi Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 10:33 am
I agree with all who say the acting in the Brady ad is bad and not convincing at all. Phony outrage doesn’t work.

Comment by Old Milwaukee Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 10:55 am
The intention behind the Brady ad is good, but the execution was not. I didn’t like the whiney-voiced woman and the diner setting. the ad didn’t do the outrage over the payraise issue justice.

Brady should go back to the ad in which quinn is quoted saying “that’s how it is” over and over. And, brady should get some everyday Chicagoans, ala man on the street, with their horrible chicago accents, and maybe a suburbanite or two, telling the governor how wrong it was of him to give pay raises and how it hurts the citizens of illinois.

Comment by Will County Woman Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 12:24 pm
so… “The cake is a lie”? That spot has about a dozen things wrong with it, thematically, structurally, and in the execution. Brady’s B-team must be working on these. To have an easy story like the raises to tell, and to tell it like this is, well… half-baked.

Comment by Newsclown Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 12:47 pm
Newsclown,

Maybe sometimes a cake is just a cake…

Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 1:56 pm
Brady ad - D
Kirk ad - B
Brady ad- Will shut off all left brain activity. If times are so tough for simple folks (which this ad wants us to believe these women are), how can they afford to eat out? We can’t. Acting was terrible! Nobody I know talks the way these two do. It was way over the top, piercing and whiney. I would have placed two different women at a kitchen table in a simple house, and had them discuss in a casual, yet disgusted manner how 20% raises can be given while critical programs for education, disabled, and mentally ill are cut. I would have left the question in the air to weigh on the minds of those who saw it. Hard to take these two women serious. They strike me as the type who waits for Hubby to tell them who they should vote for. If I shot this one - there would be no temper tantrums,or shoving away of the cake, only talk of how they are looking forward to November to make things right.

The Kirk ad had a few good slaps in it. I for one didn’t know Alexi received a salary from his bank in 2006. How can you receive a salary if you are not employed there? That ad left me with questions. Maybe just enough questions to change the way I planned to vote? Gives pause.

Comment by Say WHAT? Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 2:39 pm
The Brady ad is garbage. There are so many other ways he could have hit PQ on this. I like the comment above about referencing funds owed to public schools. Combine that with the production quality and painful acting and you have a classic swing and a miss.

Bambenek: Put more points behind this ad? Really?

Brady ad grade: Failboat

Kirk ad:
Too long given the content. Could have done without all of the FOX logos.

Grade: C

Comment by Obamarama Wednesday, Aug 11, 10 @ 7:36 pm