As an 11-time winner, I am Proud to serve as a #Telly Jury Council Member for the @tellyawards 40th anniversary, and lend my insights to help review this year’s best video work! There’s still time to enter your work too. https://t.co/QoA4udO00X pic.twitter.com/3HnxclrlXh

— Michael Lloyd (@MarketingVIP) February 19, 2019

Number 1
Universal Studios Tour
Featuring Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock freaked me out, but always got my attention. His celebrity knew no boundaries having cameos in all of his movies and a creepy voice to boot. I lived literally across the street from Universal Studios and I wanted to go there every time I saw this ad; and why wouldn’t I? To keep up the entertainment value of the tour (and to compete with Disneyland), Universal Studios adding fixed attractions to the tour, beginning with the Flash Flood in 1968, the Parting of the Red Sea (from The Ten Commandments and, uh, the Bible) in 1973, the Collapsing Bridge in 1974, and the Ice Tunnel in 1975. In 1976, Universal added what would become its biggest tour attraction to that date: Jaws. Based on Steven Spielberg’s break-out hit Jaws recreated the village of Amity from the movie, with a 25-foot animatronic shark emerging from the water to attack the tram.

Number 3
Earl Sheib Auto Painting
He could paint any car, any time, for $49.95…and $10 free metal work. Who could say no to this offer?

Number 4
Cal Worthington “My Dog Spot”
For nearly a twenty-five years, from the 1960s until the 1990s, Worthington ran a series of offbeat television and radio advertisements for his auto dealerships patterned loosely after the pioneering “oddball” advertisements of Earl “Madman” Muntz. They began as a parody of a competitor who appeared in advertisements with a puppy recently adopted from the pound. They were known as the “My Dog Spot” ads because each commercial would introduce “Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!” However, the “dog” was never a dog. In most cases, it was an exotic animal being led around on a leash, such as a tiger or elephant.

Number 5
RTD
The bus system in Los Angeles produced a commercial that fed on the stereotypes of LA traffic. Funny thing about this ad is that if you rode the bus you would still have sit in traffic. But that didn’t matter if an alluring model fed you a breakfast apple from the seat next to you and if you were easily saving a thousand dollars a year!

Number 6
Jerseymaid Singing Cows
A catchy country tune straight from the farm would have you imitating this spot at recess the next day at school. But why didn’t they have chocolate frozen yogurt and only strawberry. No kid ever ate strawberry. I never got an answer.

Number 7
Aames Home Loan
Character actor Patrick Campbell was forever in trouble with his finances and always accompanied by his faithful chicken. I bet I saw this spot fifteen hundred times in the seventies to the point where I could still remember this entire spot, word for word. Look at the way the copy flows from the announcer’s voice:

Number 8
Pup ‘n’ Taco Train
One of the first cheap fast-food chains to integrate American food and Mexican food on their menus, the media buyers at Pup ‘n’ Taco practically invented the remnant spot with their :10 second commercials that drove you back into your regular-scheduled programming. More bang for your buck. Taco Bell scooped up their 99 locations in 1984 and they ceased operations. 

Number 9
Continental Airlines Wide Body DC-10
Featuring Vin Scully

Smooth as silk, Vin takes you from the ballpark seats to airline seats. Great copy is the touchtone for the spokesperson commercial in this one.

Number 10
Swanson Hungry-Man Dinner
Featuring Steve Garvey and Tommy LaSorda of the Dodgers

I don’t know what the record is for holding a product close to your face in a television commercial, but this one has to be at the top of the charts.

Honorable Mention
Must Inappropriate Dialogue of All Time
Ralph Williams Bay Shore Car
Although from Northern California, Ralph got his start in Los Angeles and this is an all-time classic that really aired: