New blackberry ad

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
TheClash253 said:
i saw this play as one of those commercials before a movie last night. the people next to me immediately starting talking about how much they hate bono.
Click to expand...

Did you tell them to shut the f*ck up? ;)

Seriously, how can people hate Bono so much? Whom do they love? I don't hear the "I hate Bono" comments (people may not like U2, but that's fine), but if I do, I'm challenging them.

Anyway, cool commercial. But I just got me a new iPhone - 32GB! And I love it. Thought about the Blackberry. Wish I could have both. LOL! But for now, I have the iPhone. If iPhone doesn't live up to expectations in the years to come, I may switch. Or who knows, maybe I'll someday work for a company that gives me a phone. Usually companies give Blackberry phones.

I wonder if the commercial will help the album? :hmm:
 
Not being bias or anything but Blackberry's is better. When I first saw the Coldplay one first thing that came to mind was how it was so much like what U2 would do.
 
I for one like this ad. Saw it two nights in a row on The Tonight Show
 
Why is U2 doing this??? It better be for charity! I guess selling out doesn't exist anymore. I could deal with the Apple commercials since it was about music but this is a freaking phone. I guess there is a U2 app but this is pushing it in my book.

Once Billy Corgan gave Visa "Today" I lost all respect, especially since they stand for what he was once against. No wonder Jimmy Chamberlin left the band "The band would not further his commitment to music"

"Last year, I was offered heavy, heavy money to license ["Today"]. I actually turned down two huge, huge, seven-figure-plus deals last year for two songs.... At this point in my life, I don't feel comfortable. Those songs are the reason I'm alive. If your music is not sacred to the point where it's a really, really, really heavy decision about whether or not you would allow somebody else to exploit it, then what's not for sale?" -- Bill Corgan, 2004

Why is everyone blind to this?
 
why is everybody bitching about the editing and missing the fact that the beginning of this is a completely different audio mix of the song?? never heard Edge's guitar like that on this song.
Im hoping this is the radio mix and its the whole song like that (ala Temple Bar mix). sounds great and matches Edge's comments about finding this song during rehearsals as a guitar based song instead of piano based.
 
GretzkyU2Yanks said:
why is everybody bitching about the editing and missing the fact that the beginning of this is a completely different audio mix of the song?? never heard Edge's guitar like that on this song.
Im hoping this is the radio mix and its the whole song like that (ala Temple Bar mix). sounds great and matches Edge's comments about finding this song during rehearsals as a guitar based song instead of piano based.
Click to expand...

I noticed this and definitely preferred the "spacier" sound it seems to have now. I look forward to hearing the full version.
 
jalbs1 said:
Why is U2 doing this??? It better be for charity! I guess selling out doesn't exist anymore. I could deal with the Apple commercials since it was about music but this is a freaking phone. I guess there is a U2 app but this is pushing it in my book.

Once Billy Corgan gave Visa "Today" I lost all respect, especially since they stand for what he was once against. No wonder Jimmy Chamberlin left the band "The band would not further his commitment to music"

"Last year, I was offered heavy, heavy money to license ["Today"]. I actually turned down two huge, huge, seven-figure-plus deals last year for two songs.... At this point in my life, I don't feel comfortable. Those songs are the reason I'm alive. If your music is not sacred to the point where it's a really, really, really heavy decision about whether or not you would allow somebody else to exploit it, then what's not for sale?" -- Bill Corgan, 2004

Why is everyone blind to this?
Click to expand...

I hear you and I will admit, the U2 of the 80's and early 90's would never do this. U2 would probably say this themselves.

But the world has changed.

First, Blackberry is sponsoring the 360 Tour. This commercial ties U2 and Blackberry together, promoting both. Clearly U2 don't need a lot of promotion for a tour that's pretty much sold out everywhere already, but it gets people ready to explore the Blackberry angle more.

Why do U2 have a promoter when years ago they would refuse? It's the high cost of touring. Artists make the bulk of their money from touring these days (years ago, touring was done at a loss, but done to promote an album - now it seems an album is almost there to promote a tour) and the cost of travel, staff, insurance, food, lodging, etc. has sky-rocketed. Touring is expensive. Rather than pass that cost along to the consumer via ticket prices, a sponsor gets some advertising and the consumer gets lower ticket prices. Not a bad deal. I'd rather see Blackberry advertised at the concert than some cheap beer (which has sponsored way too many concerts in the past).

Second, gone are the days of MTV or radio playing simply playing music. MTV and radio used to play videos and songs from a wide array of artists, helping create hits. Now, even a well established artist, like U2, is not played as stations argue that their "listeners" don't want to hear it. Really? NLOTH is the top selling album of the year and the tour has already sold out before it started. Yet "listeners" don't want to hear U2? Hmm... interesting. The truth is that the big wigs behind the stations pick what they want as hits. If something deviates from that, too bad. This is why sometimes a song can be a top downloaded track on iTunes, but barely have any radio airplay. Fans are paying with their wallets, but radio stations aren't always listening. Kings of Leon, Moby, Sting, Coldplay and U2, amongst others, have had to resort to TV commercials to get their music heard. Once the commercial takes off, people request the songs on the radio and finally radio has to listen. As catchy as "Vertigo" is, if it weren't for the iTunes/iPod ad, I doubt radio would have really given this song a chance as it didn't blend in with all the R&B crap they play. Heck, even though the song was a hit, it struggled to reach #31 on the Billboard charts. "Beautiful Day" was considered a hit, yet it fought to get to #21 based on airplay. That alone tells you about radio's resistance to playing music people really want to hear.

The third point is that U2 are also benefitting from this. The iTunes/iPod helped not just promote new U2, but also the U2-themed iPod. This Blackberry commercial helps promote the tour.

So while this probably is the definition of selling out, sadly, in today's world, it's necessary. If radio won't play one's tunes, and as MTV doesn't play videos, where can one's music get heard? I wish we could go back to the days of even the mid-90's, but that time is gone.

As for some artists having old songs in commercials, all I can say is that not all artists control their music. For example, Michael Jackson owned the rights to the Beatles' songs, so he was able to use them as he wished, including for commercials. Some artists may hear their songs in a commercial, even though they weren't involved in that decision. Iggy Pop once stated that these songs were not written with a commercial in mind, so even if that's how it's used now, the true meaning of the song is still present. Some artists may find themselves supporting or agreeing with a product, so they lend the song to it. And still others may simply need the extra $$. I can't speak for them, just offering suggestions.

Given that U2 have had difficulty getting a hit song from NLOTH, perhaps this commercial is needed.
 
thelaj said:
I noticed this and definitely preferred the "spacier" sound it seems to have now. I look forward to hearing the full version.
Click to expand...

I love this song on the album, love it live, sour on remix still, but growing on me -- but in LUST with this commercial version.
 
warby said:
Interesting article on the Blackberry article.

New RIM ad shows deep appreciation for U2, Apple's ad team

Cheers
Warby
Click to expand...

I don't think this is as much of an Apple ad envy thing as it is the signature of the people who made the ads. I'm not sure what the company's name is but they may have got it done by the same company which did the Vertigo ad and did some of the Metal Gear Solid 4 intro movies.

Heres one of the things they did for Metal Gear Solid 4:

YouTube - MGS4 Pievure Armement Hideo TV

Has the same sort of sparkly balls of light in it (which you can see if you watch in HD on the page). I know for sure these are the guys who do the Apple ads. And it seems like they may be behind the Crazy Tonight ad.

edit: I've been looking it up and it seems like these guys did it:

massmarket

They aren't the guys who did the Apple ads but I guess they were heavily influenced by them.
 
I heard the ad on my son's TV and ran over to watch it. He loved the song, the way it looked but was confused with the ad. He said, "So what there is a U2 Blackberry?" It just made me excited to see the tour :D
 
U2/Blackberry/360 VS. Past Integrity/The Environment/Prince

**NOTE! This may fit better in the "U2 Blackberry" thread, granted, but I believe there's more to this situation than the quality of the commercial itself. I think we're dealing with some hot acid here, people. Let me know what you think!

Oh my gosh, anybody who actually has it in their head that they want/need a blackberry because, um apparently, "Blackberry Loves U2" should go get bent. Why the hell is this happening now? Because Bono has one financial foot in the Blackberry witches cauldron, and they desperately need a few more bucks to even out the tiny profits they make out of taking a supermassive touring nuclear reactor of a stage around the world, not to mention the excessive carbon footprint it leaves anywhere it goes? I bet fucking U2360 could power a small town for a month for no reason at all.

Now, don't get me wrong. I dished out some major bucks for seats to a few 360 shows. I still love the band, regardless of how much of a Prince-like "schtick" Bono and the others have seemed to develop all the things that made them special into as of late. Prince seems to think he can float or something, cuz he's holier than most humans. Yet he's sooooo religious. And doesn't touch or look at his fans, shake hands or sign autographs because that's 50% of why people love him, for the act. Just like Bono, bitching about saving Africa in weird metaphors, wearing black, etc, rambling on and on about unity and peace. Those aren't bad things. But everybody's gotta turn off their Christmas lights once the season's over, if you get my drift. Some people don't and it looks really lame and others down the road complain. "Those people in that one house....they don't GET it!"

The U2 iPod...okay yes, I defended it, because behind the blatant marketing scheme there was a cool U2-related product to buy. I didn't even buy one, but I was still excited. For a while. As Bruce Springsteen said about said topic, "Anybody can do the job and take the money! But to do the job....and then NOT take the money...." And U2 didn't take the money for the ad. The iPod itself however, yes they did. At least that one time, there were a few other factors in the way of the band simply sitting up and selling out. This time? Blackberry? No sympathy. Sorry.

What happened to the Zoo TV philosophy?
"We have advertisers who wish to put Pepsi on the ZooTV screens."
"No, that's selling out."
"What if the concept of Zoo TV fits with those ads? We'll take the money, give it to charity, and at the same time, mock the products we're plugging!"
"No. People will see through that. It's lame."
"But Zoo TV's hardly making enough $$$ to run each night? What're we gonna do, The Edge?"
"Start printing off a lotta fucking T-shirts, Willie. They'll save us in the end."
And so they did.

Blackberry. I had to sit through this disgusting little commercial before "BRUNO" with people who know me. What did I do when they started cutting U2 to pieces? Nothing. Because they deserve it. Remember when Tony Bennet stood at the Grammys, looking all old and delirious a few years back, and started thanking Best Buy profusely for helping his career? The day I hear my favorite artist's influence comes from the place I bought the "Chicken Run" DVD is the day I cut my fingers off with a multi-tool. Holy crap.

Is there anything positive to this message? Yep. The ad reminds me of that live mix of "Go Crazy", which does rock. Get that remix dude to help you make another album. But that's about it.
 
I don't really have much to say in argument with your main point (the Blackberry thing just doesn't really bother me all that much), but I'm struggling with the Prince comparison.

So .... why the Prince comparison? What you accused Prince of doesn't make sense in comparison to U2.
 
who cares. it's the only way a musician can get their music out. If it helps album sales and gets U2's music played on radio, go for it.

Times have changed.
 
BEAL said:
who cares. it's the only way a musician can get their music out. If it helps album sales and gets U2's music played on radio, go for it.

Times have changed.
Click to expand...

:up: :applaud:

Wish we could go back to the 80's with regards to radio and MTV actually playing music (heck, even the mid-90's were still good), but today, it just doesn't happen. In order for many artists to get their music heard, they have to resort to commercials. It's sad, but true. We've seen this from both new artists, hip artists and well established artists. U2 join Eminem, Coldplay, Kings of Leon, Moby, Sting, etc. in advertising via commercials. Clarkson advertises by appearances on "American Idol". Springsteen did the Super Bowl. Both "Idol" and the Super Bowl are watched by millions - it's like one big commercial. Without this additional exposure, does anyone even know they have a new album? Not per radio and not per MTV.

As I wrote before, NLOTH is the top selling album worldwide thus far this year and U2's tour sold out long before it started, yet radio stations are claiming that people don't want to hear U2's songs. Riiiiiiight... It's like saying the new "Transformers" movie is a bomb because critics hated even though it's already grossed more than the first and is the only movie to gross $300M+ this year in the U.S. Clearly there's a disconnect between critics and fans, just like there's a disconnect between radio stations and fans. How else to explain songs on iTunes getting hundreds of thousands of downloads, yet only be moderate radio hits? People speak with their wallets.

Blackberry is sponsoring the tour, so it's only natural for U2 to have a commercial with them promoting both the product and the tour. Would you rather see U2 in a Bud Light commercial? One would prefer no commercial at all, but recession or not, touring is wildly expensive. Sponsorship keeps ticket prices down. We could "pay" via the commercial or pay with a more expensive ticket. Hmmm... :hmm:

Personally, I like seeing U2 on TV. :yes: So I'm all for commercials. Rather U2 playing music than an artist I don't like (not mentioning any names).

Oh, and you completely lost me with the Prince stuff. Not sure of the point there, other than Christmas.
santa_3.gif
 
doctorwho said:
It's like saying the new "Transformers" movie is a bomb because critics hated even though it's already grossed more than the first and is the only movie to gross $300M+ this year in the U.S. Clearly there's a disconnect between critics and fans, just like there's a disconnect between radio stations and fans. How else to explain songs on iTunes getting hundreds of thousands of downloads, yet only be moderate radio hits? People speak with their wallets.
Click to expand...

doctorwho, I respect you and like your posts, but please... PLEASE, never equate U2 with Transformers again :crack:
 
Meh. Something about U2 on adverts just doesnt sit well with me. I have no problem with sponsorships, just the adverts. It just seems whorish to me. Whatever though.
 
I prefer not to see U2 "sell out", but like I said before, times have changed. I used to laugh when the Rolling Stones put their songs on everything, but that was back before radio went to crap and ditto for MTV/VH1.

The fact is, unless you're cherry picked by a record company, you are going to struggle to get songs played. Would Viva La Vida gotten it's airplay on mainstream radio if not for the commercial? Unlikely, but Coldplay also has the advantage of being the "next big thing" thrown out with their name. Or the next U2.

Doctorwho is correct. U2 has the best selling album, sold out world tour (stadiums to boot), and yet there's not a single request for radio play?

Some might argue that U2 has the same touring rep as the Stones, and while this is true, the Stones don't sell albums anymore. To me, it's more of a chance to see legends, much like if the Beatles were around, they'd sell out every time too regardless of new music.

There does seem to be a bit more U2 backlash with last album, and to most of us it shouldn't be surprising. U2 became everyone's darlings again, and when you're loved for so long, the public will naturally turn on you. Bono's charity work has a lot to do with it as well. People don't want good stories, or to constantly feel guilt, and unfortunately I think a lot of people do get that feeling, or one of envy.

I think that might explain why U2 have been almost quiet on the promotion. It probably cost them a good 100k in initial album sales, but they'll get that back as the tour goes. Probably worth the tradeoff as the U2 bitching would be even greater.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Will Larry Return to U2?
Replies
16
Views
428
Headache in a Suitcase
Headache in a Suitcase
dan_smee
I listened to No Line on the Horizon right through tonight for the first time in about 10 years…
2 3
Replies
83
Views
2K
lazarus
lazarus
W
A Boy Falls From the Sky is some U2's best work
Replies
3
Views
2K
zoocarolina
Z
Janet H
  • Sticky
Forum Update - We're back! Ask your questions here.
2
Replies
36
Views
2K
Popmartijn
Popmartijn
O
Better late than never “they” say…
Replies
1
Views
300
Headache in a Suitcase
Headache in a Suitcase

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom