The Worst TV Spot I've Seen In a While

Once upon a time, there was a TV show in San Francisco called Dance Party. Now, this is before I moved to San Francisco, but I'd heard of it from locals. Kathleen - my spouse - remembers it vividly. Remembered that it was on channel 5 and watched it all the time.

My friend, Dennis Rosselli - who went to Riordan - remembers that if somebody showed up to high school wearing a tie, every noontime wag would holler, "Hey, look who's going on Dance Party after school!"

So that's the background for AdGabbers critique this morning (I wonder if Steve Hall, is from the Bay Area, too?) of an unusually bad commercial. Or is it that bad?

Strategically, it's aimed at bay area boomers like Kathleen and Dennis who may never have heard of Weaver's before but would recognize Dance Party in an instant and - so the advertiser hopes - will remember the name. Might work, but not much brand building here, however.

I suspect that KOFY Channel 20 made the "retail" spot for Weaver's Coffee & Tea - which I had no knowledge of until seeing AdGabber. Not a bad media plan, though, with costs down due to the economy a local TV buy is probably pretty efficient.

Turns out John Weaver is a local aging surf dude who learned to roast coffee at Peet's, where the Starbucks guys trained.

I'll look for the brand, but hate the TV spot. I guess it might be working, already.