Pre is the Fall Guy in Superbowl Commercial 44
We didn't see any of the Mom-focused Verizon commercials for the Pre, unfortunately, but we did briefly see the Pre appear in a commercial for SMS Info company KGB.
It was bittersweet, though, as not only did the Pre take the fall as a stand-in for "finding information via the web," but it also had to suffer a "simulated screen image" that showed a featurephone interface instead of our beloved webOS. It also stood in incredibly stark contrast to another smartphone commercial. The Pre appears in the hand of a skinny guy who gets obliterated by a sumo wrestler, the Motorola Devour in the hand of Megan Fox in a bathtub.
Both videos after the break for your post-superbowl webOS schadenfreude viewing 'pleasure.'
Thanks to everybody who sent this in!
44 Comments
just bought two pre's from verizon - and discovered webosquickinstall and preware: Best investment I have made in a mobile device. It was between the DROID and pre and I am glad we went with the pre, I like the keyboard, screen, and the home brew community! awesome work.
This commercial and this company is dumb, 1st there is a app for this so it would take less tim to send the text and receive it FOR!!!!! 99cents. Why would anyone use this when most phones have near broadband speed.
It seems the advo agency that does the KGB spots either likes or hates Sprint/Nextel.
There was a spot I saw last week that had 2 people side by side searching for an answer. One person used the web, the other KGB. When they answer was delivered they used the Nextel 'chirp'.
I was PISSED!!!!
i'm not surprised... WebOS gets no respect...
I think there's a reason why they chose the Palm Pre for this commercial.
a) They want a big screen to show the results. They're really trying to criticize feature phones.
b) They can't use an iPhone because WAAY too many people would look at it and immediately disagree w/the point the ad is trying to push.
c) They want a phone that's a vertical slider to make it look more like a regular phone.
The Pre is one of the only phones that really meets the above criteria. Can you think of another phone they could have chosen? Personally, I think it's an odd compliment to the pre's screen size.
I'd love to see a counter ad run. I can't imagine who'd do it (google?) but if one were going to be run, the way to do is to show the same two guys. This time the guy who uses KGB getting sucker punched - not by the samurai, but by his phone bill with line after line of $0.99 charges.
How else do you think kgb paid for this ad time? By suckering people into thinking 99
ugh, that screen image is making my stomach turn!!!! =P
i think if palm pre was marketed better (like droid was) it would be much bigger than it is now.
seriously why is the droid more popular than pre on 2009 engadget awards contest? the only pro the droid has that i can think of is a bigger screen. after that a pre is better in all categories.. especially when 1.4 comes out in a couple weeks.
What does it do better? LOL. I own both. Let me clue you in on a few things... Faster, more (and better) apps, cooler nav, shoots video right now, changes UI based on the type of dock it is in, more mature and customizable operating system.
I love my Pre, but if the screen is the only thing you see that is better on the Droid when comparing to the Pre, then you aren't looking hard enough.
Funny, in my experience this following is much faster than a $0.99 text message.
- Slide open keyboard
- Type question
- Press enter
- Tap link of needed.
Tried it with: translate "i surrender" in japanese
Received the answer at top, but in actual Japanese. Can you send an American text message in actual Japanese?
Anyone else pull up the free "Translator" App and get the answer in Actual Japanese, and then clicked the text, and it turns it into the english equivalent, complete with pronunciation? I surrender = watashi wa g?buku
The other way to look at this is from the other perspective. When other companies are taking shots at your product you know you're doing something right. You know you've made it to the big time when you officially have HATERS...
+1
+1
Good joob
Funny commercials with no point. It'll be bankrupt before the end of the year.
LoL ... An optimist with a pessimist twist
@badjokes There is no question in my mind that if Palm fails, a lot of the responsibility will rest squarely on the shoulders of piss-poor marketing. Sure, Palm may be re-tooling their ad campaign NOW, but the Pre is no longer "the new thing" and the smartphone space is getting continually flooded by the Android Army. I don't think all hope is lost, but Palm had better get crackin'.
As for the KGB commercial? Idiotic. Anyone who knows anything about the Palm Pre knows that, between using webOS Universal Search and TEXTING, Universal Search wins 100% of the time (not to mention costs NOTHING!) ... But therein lies the problem: not many people do!
It's up to us, guys... get the word out about webOS!
I've personally converted 5 people to the Pre. Working on converting our company from BB to Pre. I've done my part.
ive gotten 3 ppl to convert to the pre, 2 from bb and one from a feature phone. i wanna convice my friend to a pre from a 755p but he wants a hero (ughh android)
The Palm Pre is plagued with "Bad Marketing Syndrome" and this Embarrassing mockup of the Pre's screen is further testament to that.
at&t had an ad with palm pre's!!!
It probably doesn't help WebOS any when theres so much negative talk blaming palm for this that and the other thing from their own fan community.
This commercial isn't even an attack on palm. You barely see the phone and both have some dumb mockup generic UI.
But the KGB guy blatantly says from a PALM
I saw the KGB commercial and was presently surprised to see the Pre on it, and the Megan Fox Moto commercial was funny.
I took my mom up to Verizon yesterday to get rid of her blackberry. She ended up getting the pixie and loves it. I played with the droid for a few minutes and was unable to figure out why people like it so much. It is big and clunky compared to the elegance of the pre. Its UI seemed jerky and spotty, compared to the pre's polished webos.
The verizon folks do not seem interested at all in selling the pre or pixie. They couldn't even transfer the numbers from my mom's old blackberry to her pixie, nor did they even show us how the pixie works. I have had the pre for sprint since October, so I sat down and showed her how it works. Luckily, she has most of her contacts stored on her computer so it was easy to import them from google.
Overall, it seems like Verizon doesn't care much about the pre or pixie.
they like it because of GOOD MARKETING!
good marketing makes people proud of their gadgets regardless how bad they are and the more people have them the more compelled other people will feel about getting it, again, regardless how bad they are.
A side note apart from kgb ads which displays the Pre with a cardboard box looking os.
One thing that really bugs me about the new ad campaign from Verizon is just the whole mom thing. I mean WTF? I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything but my mom can barely text let alone use a smartphone. Sure webOS is easy to use and all but I could not picture any mom using a smartphone unless they are used to today's gadgetry and I'm also talking moms in there 40's/50's. Sure there is young mothers that benefit still lol. What bugs me most is I was in a mall the other day and they have flat panel tv's hanging everywhere for advertisement and guess what comes on every 30 seconds (literally) the Palm Pre Plus, the smartphone, smart enough to keep up with mom. This made me feel shameful every time I went to use my Pre in the mall. I was like wtf lol I got the mom phone everyone!
The fact of the matter is, when it comes to cell phones, women have a herd mentality. If they think it's new and hot they will buy. I think the advertisements are very smart. The pre is simple enough for them to use, and if they want to grow and the ability to do more with it, then they can. I love my Pre and would never dub it the mom phone, but lots of moms have bought Iphones too, does that make the Iphone a mom phone? A smart phone is what you think it is, not what the media tells us it is. And, to be honest, the pre does have some female appeal. I love it because it is soft and smooth with nice curves...hmmmm! But, women will like it for those exact same reasons. I do think the Pre needs to function better in some areas. The phone is still slow to show incoming calls and when I talk to people who use them, that's their number one annoyance! I'm a Sprint user and can confirm that on Sprint, the slow phone app can absolutely outrage me. I don't know how to convince someone otherwise when they want to stay away from the Pre because of this issue. It's legitimate and I'm in agreement. I wish the Pre would respond quicker to incoming calls, and I also wish the interface would show a disconnected caller when call waiting or 3 way calling is used. All that said though, nothing beats the multitasking and smooth interface and synergy. That's just good shit! This phone is always in my hand and it's addictive like that. It just feels good and it's quick and easy to use. I love it.
I'm old enough to remember what KGB used to stand for and that would be the last place I would send a question, even if it was free.
+1!!!
*In my Yakov Smirnoff voice* "In Soviet Russian KGB asks YOU questions!" *Awkward silence as people search for the punchline*
hahahaha texmex you make me chuckle. I can't tell you how many people I have sold the pre to. Even over the pixi (which I've said before is like pre's incestuous sister that they should keep in the basement to keep her from embarrassing the family.) I also can't tell you how many people came back to us to swap out their hero, or moment, to upgrade to the pre. I can't tell you because its alot.. On the subject of the kgb... That's what google is for comrade..
i feel the pre iisss a better ph than the droi, but like everybody is is CORRECT!!! our ad campaign was suck...n it still is
I realize I'll be the only man on Earth that will say this, but here goes... I just don't find Megan Fox very attractive at all. Oh, it's all good from the neck down, but it's the neck up that makes a woman attractive, and she does almost nothing for me in that regard. I know, I'm nuts, but there it is. Certainly doesn't make me want a Droid any more than I might have otherwise, that's for sure.
You aren't the only one. She is a terrible actress that was cast for her body that fits some stupid ideal of what a woman should look like. She looks like an anorexic moron. Which is probably about right.
Agreed, she has NO ASS! But then again, based on what most white men like, the fact that she is built up like a pancake don't matter. I disagree with the "neck up" commant though. Idont necessarily think she is beautiful like Jessica Beal, but she is sexy! Albeit, she's not nearly as sexy as Jessica Beal.
you're not, mate. I completely agree. There are some ridiculously smokin' hot women out there, and megan fox ain't one.
it's marketing.
Plus, see the commercial... duck face? Eugh! What is she 14??
What a stupid commercial. Sucks as an ad, period. And I do feel like that was a foul blow to the phone, maybe I'm being oversensitive. Universal search is the only thing I use to find my answers and it works fast without fail. Much faster than waiting for anyone or anything to text you, and, like everyone's said, its free. Thank Google for being so easy to use, and Web OS for being so brilliant and seamlessly connected.
I am just happy to have a new Palm Pixi Plus.. No KGB for me.. Pass the Vodka will you? Salute!
ok, so I just looked at this commercial, is it me or are you people just oversensitive about your Pre_s. As I see it,this commercial has nothing to do with texting or the phone. It has everything to do with knowing the damn 542542 text code. It's a horrible commercial. I mean it's just ridiculous, but to say that it's a negative ad against the Pre is just ludicrous! GET A LIFE PEOPLE!
Ever noticed that the people who say 'get a life' - obviously aren't too busy with their own to make posts like this?
yes, chillywill, it's you.
LOL, You are probably right Bennish! I do need a life some days, but do you really think that KGB commercial was pointed at the phones or needing to know the text code? And, I should say that I had to replay the video 2 or 3 times to really figure out what they were selling. So, my point is, for the millions of Americans that were tuned in, I bet not a single one of them paid attention to the Pre in the commercial unless they already had one. Then, to say it's a negative ad against the Pre makes about as much sense as having a Sumo wrestler scare you into knowing the KGB text code. LOL! Are you kidding me? I mean seriously, I bet NOONE interested in buying a Pre saw that commercial as a negative ad for the phone. But, I can tell you this much, as one who watched the commercial, I will NEVER text KGB! So, their advertising dollars were definitely wasted on me! What about you?
This is just shambolic.