Advertising with cats: 'Catvertising'

"Mr. Kitty" photo by Paula Slade

“Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose.” ~ Garrison Keillor ~

Whether you call it categorically correct, or a purrfect passion for the pulse of the populace, a very bright creative team of advertising professionals known as John St. have tapped into something very unique in terms of making products memorable, including their own firm.

Based in Toronto, John St.’s mottos is, “We exist to make our clients’ brands unignorable,” and in doing so they count some pretty impressive companies as clients, from corporations such as Tetley Tea and Kraft Foods, to Mitsubishi Motors and Moosehead.

On November 10, 2011, John St. uploaded a video on their YouTube Channel, which has become a viral sensation with almost 1,500,000 page views – it’s titled: “Catvertising.”

According to John St., the video was created, “To stay on top of the ever-changing advertising landscape,” and in their effort to deliver on that promise, they declared that they had, “opened the world's first cat video division. With production, filming and seeding all in-house.”

There’s no denying the worldwide popularity of Felis silvestris catus, better known as the domesticated cat.  One has only to look no further than the runaway success of Lolcats, and Nyan Cats, along with the number of cat videos that are constantly uploaded to YouTube.

IMHO, John St.’s video is certainly humorous, albeit with an ever so slight, tongue-in-cheek delivery.  However, it definitely promotes what was promised.  Even if it’s a spoof,  “Catvertising” has put their name on the map in an “unignorable” way.

Thanks to John St. for this delightful infomercial.

The 12 Days of Internet Music: Day 2

“Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
'Tis the season to be jolly
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Don we now our gay apparel.
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la
Troll the ancient Yuletide carol.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.”

The familiar tune for “Deck the Halls” is based on a 16th Century Welsh air. Lyrics were originally written and presented in Welsh by John Ceiriog Hughes.

If you’re a pet owner or just love animals, you’ll get a chuckle out of this version of “Deck the Halls.” After a brief musical intro, anthropomorphism reigns here.

Many thanks to klaatu42’s Talking Animals YouTube channel for compiling and presenting this very funny video.

Enjoy, and be sure to spread the cheer.

Giving thanks for animal friends

"Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to." ~ Alfred A. Montapert , Author/Philiospher.~

With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us, gratitude is often found in the smaller moments of everyday life.

For many people, pets fill those smaller moments and take center stage in offering unconditional love and companionship, which is so important this time of year.

I hope you have a lovely holiday and that you and yours (whether human or pet) have a day filled with the blessings of love and companionship, along with an extra helping of turkey and pie.

Hackenschmied and Derenkowsky

“Another cat? Perhaps. For love there is also a season; its seeds must be resown. But a family cat is not replaceable like a worn-out coat or a set of tires. Each new kitten becomes its own cat, and none is repeated. I am four cats old, measuring out my life in friends that have succeeded but not replaced one another.” ~ Irving Townsend ~

If you’re you’re a true cinephile or perhaps a student at UCLA or NYU film school you’ll probably recognize the names Alexandr Hackenschmied as well as Eleanora Derenkowsky and not think it’s a New York based law firm. The pair, both filmmakers, and once husband and wife, also went by the more recognizable Americanized names of Alexandr Hammid and Maya Deren.

When they were together in the 1940’s, Hammid and Deren created some extraordinary avant-garde films, most notably, MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON.

Recently, one of Hammid and Deren’s lesser-known works, THE PRIVATE LIFE OF THE CAT surfaced on the Internet and begs to be shared; it’s a poignant documentary short, only 22 minutes long, but cinematically packs a haunting punch.

Today, when we go to the theater, we expect to see movies in 3-D with computer generated imagery, oftentimes backed up with thundering Dolby sound, all designed to assault the senses and draw the theater patron in, as close to the onscreen action as possible.

However, if we step back to a gentler time, without music or voice over, and only a modest printed card or two along with a cinematographer’s black and white visuals, we are in for a surprise, and such is THE PRIVATE LIFE OF A CAT.

The story is quite simple – two cats named “He” and “She” and their timeless bond in daily life with their family of kittens.

The documentary, shot against the backdrop of Hammid and Deren’s Manhattan apartment, reaches back 66 years as if it were yesterday.

A special thanks to the Prelinger Archives for making THE PRIVATE LIFE OF A CAT available for viewing at  https://archive.org/details/PrivateL1947