Looks like we have the new look of Palm’s ads fairly established now: somebody out there, mobile, magically interacting with a floating screen that simultaneously changes the landscape surrounding our flaneur. Sure, there’s not much focus on the hardware itself, but we’re cool with that at this point. Bottom line: No more creepy women, no more moms, just a good indicator of the multitasking and Internet connectivity that are the hallmarks of webOS.

Here we have ‘The Movies,’ and as with Shoes and the ‘New Digs,’ we like what we see. You?

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If we had to pick just one cause behind the failure of the Palm Pre to really catch on with the general public, it’d have to be that increasingly bad advertising from ad firm Modernista that tried and failed to introduce webOS to the world. We won’t link you to them to refresh your memory – you don’t want that. What we will link you to is a report from AdAge: the relationship between Palm and Modernista is over.

Palm is, quite obviously, now in the market for a new ad partner. The new partner will be working with a Palm that has lost a lot of momentum in recent months and has tons of excess inventory to move. Modernista’s ads for Palm have improved recently, so we can’t help but wonder if the parting of ways is more over money than anything else.

Several months ago Cadillac also dumped Modernista, a move that came as part of GM’s restructuring and an effort to cut costs. Modernista is a small independent firm with only a few major clients, and thus charges more than some of their larger Madison Avenue competitors. For their part, Palm has already shifted their focus to point-of-sale advertising (in-store ads and training for store staff) and cut back on expensive television advertising, leaving that to the carriers instead.

[via: PreCentral sister site TreoCentral]

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While we’re still plenty happy with Palm’s new Life Moves Fast, Don’t Miss a Thing ad, there’s still concern out there that it doesn’t quite do justice to showing that all that fancy multitasking is actually happening on a piece of hardware. Enter ThiesFX, whose entry into the PalmSpot contest is, as we say above, pretty much full of win – and not just because PreCentral leads off the video

It’s funny, but the core problem with webOS is that its killer feature is nearly impossible to describe in 30 seconds. Namely: the natural elegance of multitasking and notifications all working in concert.  What do you think is the best way to show that off in 30 seconds or less?

YouTube embed after the break

via Engadget and webOS Roundup, thanks to everybody who sent this in!

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Adam sent in a link to the above, Verizon’s latest Palm Pre Plus ad. It’s still aimed at mothers, it still trashes your cherished memories of 80s fashion, but this time it’s happening in Spanish. On top of that, Verizon Wireless’ YouTube Page is branded to the nines with Pre and Pixi.

Meanwhile, Sarah over at tech4mommies.com wrote in to let us know that she’s also taking a look at the Palm Pre Plus from a mother’s perspective and we’re liking how she talks to moms a lot more. Instead of relentlessly trashing backwards, sticky-note using moms, she’s actually posting some great tips about apps and will keep it up throughout the month. Heck, Verizon even provided a Palm Pre Plus for her to give away later on, so it’s definitely worth a look. 

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[ youtube link ]

There’s no lying about it, advertising can be pretty annoying sometimes. There are times that its so bad that I decide not to buy the product out of principle and spite, because the commercials are that annoying. The folks at Wired agreed, and they’ve found some dooseys amongst the world of technology advertising. There’s catching netbooks with the body’s largest pair of muscles, annoying people singing badly with their computers, an operating system launch party, sock puppets, and serenades to locomotives. And then there’s Palm, coming in at #4, with that commercial that just creeps us the frak out. You know the one… the juggler in the park. Yeah, he was very good. And you’re creeping me out again! Stop!

With the Droid scaring people with Stealth-dropped bombs, it makes us wonder what’s better: annoying or scary?

Thanks to Jason for the tip!

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Imagine a world where Palm’s commercials for the Pre were uncontroversial, effective, compelling, and well liked.  A world where Palm followed up on the original "Flow" commercial with ads that established the Palm Pre as a brand to be reckoned with.  Despite some focus group approval of their followup ad, that is not the world we live in.  Instead, we live in a world where the Palm ads are ‘creepy.’

Yes, Modernista! still backs their ads and yes, in our world they’ve got us talking about them ad nauseum.  What about the world of Mad Men? Perhaps the professionals in the field have some Don Draper flashes of insight into what these are all about? According to the folks interviewed by ADWEEK, it’s just as much a mystery to the pros as it is to us.

Let’s peruse the reactions, shall we?  After the break, their thoughts and mine.

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Yes, you read right! Click here to see a Palm Pre commercial actually talking about the Pre’s features! It’s still just as creepy of course, but it talks about Synergy getting contacts from multiple sources, …

Related posts:

1. Palm Pre Specs and Features
2. More Palm Pre features exposed: drag to unlock and spacebar to snap

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Those ads that we here at PreCentral.net and the Twitterati find creepy and disturbing — they appear to be working amongst the general public.  So says HCD Research, who did a "national Media Study" with 305 viewers whose emotional response was more "Happiness" and "Inspiration" (26% and 25%, respectively) and less "Distrubing" and "Skepticism" (9% and 18%).

The ad shown to the viewers was the "Bing" ad, above.  Sample-size aside, we’re wondering what the response to the "Crazy" ad would be – or even worse, the response to the unmitigated horror of the "Juggler."

In any case, it’s a little piece of vindication for Modernista, who put the ads together for Palm – 67% found the ad at least somewhat effective.

Go get your stats on at MediaCurves or grab the PDF.

Thanks to Manny for the tip! Article updated to clarify that this was more of a "Media Study" than a "Survey" or Poll.

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