Where to start? Well, my editor sent me a press release yesterday having something to do with the Toyota Sienna SE minivan, which they dub the "Swagger Wagon" in a heavily pumped viral-marketing campaign. I've been seeing the click-through ads for some time, but never, you know, clicked through (despite the fact that it's sort of my job to look at stuff like this). The reason I always passed it by is that whole thing reeked of painfully self-aware irony perpetrated by a male-female duo of 35-year-old hipsters (yes, I judged this from a single click-through image). I lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for six years and now live next to Silverlake, in Los Angeles -- I see enough cardigans and stupid glasses on my walk to get a cup of coffee in the morning, thanks.
Yep. I was wrong -- this thing is a riot, start to finish. The actors are great, the kids couldn't be cuter, the song is straight-up funny and (dare I say it about a minivan) the Sienna actually looks pimp. I'm not usually a fan of ironic rapping, but somehow, they nailed it.

Next up: Also yesterday, my friend Sonia sent me a link to a Kia commercial she had posted over at her pet website, Pawesome. Why is there a Kia commercial on a pet website? Because it's the second time Kia has used hamsters -- and considering the first time didn't turn out so hot, I wasn't sure what to expect. The only thing worse than ironic rapping is when computer-generated animals spit rhymes, and this time, they're using a hip-hop song very near and dear to my heart (and the hearts of many who came of age during the 1990s) in order to push the Kia Soul. This isn't going to end well, right?
Again, I was wrong. This was awesome. The Black Sheep could have used this concept for an actual music video if they stuck together. I'm probably too old to be in Kia's target demographic for the new Soul, and I'm not sure I would have liked the looks of it had it rolled by me on the street -- but in this commercial, that thing comes off cool.

So, what do you think? Which is the more effective commercial, even if they're not aimed at you, specifically? (For the record, not having kids I also fall outside of the Sienna's target demographic.)