I hate the little Encore man

A short time ago, I praised the marketing genius of the Super 7 superheroes. Well, the OLG has concluded that personification of lottery games is the road to marketing victory. This faulty logic has brought forth the "Little Encore Man" who is letting the public know about the new and improved Encore. Truth be told, I hate the little Encore man...

He's dressed up in fancy clothes and a blue top hat and does a brief stage performance on spotlight. Encore... I get it. Perhaps it's my visceral hatred for bad theatre, but I believe the little Encore man commercials are terrible. If the OLG is listening, I am not all doom and gloom. My criticism is constructive...

So far, you've explored the idea of "We're surprised that there's a little Encore man that's appeared out of nowhere." Now that you've introduced the little Encore man (with 2 different commercials thus far), you can play with the character a little more. The Super 7 superheroes were successful because they were tongue-in-cheek ridiculous and over-the-top. Please DO NOT make the little Encore man over-the-top. That would be terrible! The little Encore man CAN be tongue-in-cheek ridiculous though. Perhaps something similar to the antics of Hammer Head from the Building Box. The world of stage theatre can be a parody of itself, so hopefully the little Encore man commercials can explore that a little more. I hope the OLG revamps the new Encore commercials, because they are annoying in its present state.

Oddly enough, successful marketing does not guarantee successful sales. The Lotto Super 7 will be decommissioned this September despite a great marketing campaign. The Building Box has been taken over by Rona, so Hammer Head is no more. (I've seen the Hammer Head actor on another commercial recently, being a clumsy mascot for a completely unrelated product.) Snakes on a Plane was a movie that generated a lot of marketing hype, but it didn't translate into movie sales. If the OLG wants to go the opposite route, it can continue to make the little Encore man commercials more and more terrible, and they will get strong brand identity through annoyance and hatred of the little Encore man. The choice is up to them.

Recession DIY: Coat Hanger HD Antenna

Tired of your cable bill? A few of my friends started making their own HD TV antennas out of coat hangers, and it inspired me to make one myself. I can get all my local TV stations, and depending on what direction your window faces, you can get signals from more distant stations as well. The beauty of digital HD signals is that you either get the signal or you don't. (You may get square blotches if the signal is weak, but it's light years better than the old days of putting aluminum foil in bunny-ear antennas.)

Here are some good references on how to throw one of these together:

• YouTube: Coat hanger HD Antenna!
• Blog: How to build an HDTV Antenna... cheap!
  
• Listing of over-the-air HD stations
  

It's not pretty, but it's definitely a conversation item when friends are over. Build your own HD TV antenna and kiss your cable company goodbye! I'm going to try to post a series of DIY tips for all you recessionistas out there.

Escaping the television ghetto

For the longest time I've had the same reliable television. It's a 22-inch cathode-ray-tube television that's not that fancy. I don't watch that much TV, so honestly it wasn't a big priority for me to invest in a new TV set. In fact, the quality of TV shows has been drifting into a bottomless abyss of mediocrity and I believe that television is being quickly replaced by the Internet as a past-time for people looking to vegetate at home.

However, things started to change in the last few years. Television was starting to change! Now instead of watching a bottomless abyss of mediocrity, you could watch mediocrity in high definition. You could watch mediocrity on a giant 52 inch screen. You see, television is no longer a dying medium... It's a dying medium with high dynamic constrast ratio and 120Hz refresh rate!

To me, high definition television is like a putting lipstick on a pig (or Sarah Palin). You can make it pretty with improved visuals and sound, but you haven't addressed the real problem. The problem with television is not picture quality... it's creative writing. As a medium, television doesn't need more engineers. It needs more English majors. (Attention English majors, this is your calling.)

Despite all this, I have jumped into the fray. As promised in my last blog posting, I've replaced my reliable old television for a new high definition TV. I soon will be able to see the same crappy programming in ways I could never have experienced before. I will bask in the glow of mediocrity in full high definition glory. I can hardly wait!