Grammys 2011

The 2011 Grammys was one that will go down in history. The Aretha Franklin tribute that opened the ceremony was spectacular. I feel that the recording academy intentionally tried to tone the event down from past years. After the Kanye West debacle I think they were trying to avoid having another disaster to spoil the show.  One thing I noticed about this year Grammys is that the performances seemed a little dry and muted. I am a fan of all music but I can remember there being way more upbeat performances like Jay-Z or Beyonce’. I wonder if the academy feels like Hip-Hop music is the cause for confusion during the show?  I enjoyed the B.O.B/Janelle Monae/Bruno Mars collab segment. This performance showed the critics that there still is a lane for mainstream music. The performance gave you the feeling that there still are true artists that perform their music with great capability.  I’m going to just put it out there and say that this year show highlighted country music talent more so than most Grammy years past. Country artist were nominated in three of the all-genre categories, along with more country performances than the Grammys usually include.

I think one of the biggest surprises for this year Grammys was the winner for best new artist. An artist named Esperanza Spalding won the Grammy for best new artist, and it felt like I could hear everyone in America that was tuning in gasped when Justin Bieber or Drake didn’t take home the award. After she won I surfed the web for some o f her music and she definitely sounds great, but come on she is nowhere close to Drake or Justin Bieber level.  The Grammy for album of the year went to a group named Arcade Fire. After this happened I logged onto my twitter account to see the people’s reaction to this and let’s just say Arcade Group wasn’t well accepted.  How in the world did they win album of the year and hardly anyone knows who they are? They were up against some elite competition in Lady GaGa, Lady Antebellum, EMINEM, and Katy Perry. I just don’t understand the academy’s decisions this year on certain winners. Maybe they were trying to prove a point that anyone can win. The Grammys is not a popularity contest. Oh yeah I can't forget this one! Lady Gaga showed up to the event in a life size egg!

Super Bowl Ads 2011

It will be interesting to see what companies will spend advertising money this year during the Super Bowl. This year Fox network was seeking between $2.8 million and $3 million for 30 seconds of time during this year's game. This is the highest price for Super Bowl ads ever. With the economy recovering from the last three years of mayhem I’m wondering which companies feel safe to spend the big bucks for advertisement. I believe that right now isn’t the time for a company like Groupon.com to go and spend $3 million on a super bowl ad. New company’s should wait it out till next year and see what the economy is going to do. A larger and more successful company like Budweiser can take the risk and spend the money on advertisement because they have the excess cash flow to spend. But you know there will always be that one lucky buyer that will be the next big thing because the Super Bowl is all about timing when it comes to ads. I can remember when godaddy.com hit it big a few years ago with their ads during the Super Bowl, which helped them with business.

I am really looking forward to seeing what Brisk soft drink has up its sleeve. They have collaborated with Rap superstar Eminem to create an animated version of the rapper and a funny sketch with him bringing much needed attention to their product. The funny thing is I didn’t even know Brisk soft drink still existed. So I wonder if the company thinks this will put them back in contention with the competition. I think even if I had the money to invest $3 million for a Super Bowl ad I wouldn’t. There is just to many different things I feel I could do for advertising with that much money. But hey I don’t know I’ve never came across that much cash flow.