Marvin Gaye Commercial

I've was watching the Olympics last night and saw a commercial from Nike featuring Marvin Gaye singing the National Anthem. It's a spectacular version and I blogged about it earlier in the year after seeing it referenced on a Twitter feed.

Here is the link to my earlier post that has the full length version: http://majka.blogspot.com/2008/04/marvin-gaye-sings-national-anthem.html

Check out the the video and tell me that's not the best version of the national anthem ever.

Here is the Nike Version:




Anyway, it occurred to me that the advertising agency and/or Nike must have come across this video in the same way I did, via social media and only then decided to make a commercial around it. It would be very interesting to learn how the creative ad types sourced their idea- an interesting case study on the impact of social media and the long tail.

What do you think?

Marvin Gaye Sings the National Anthem

OK, now for something completely different. I just found this video by clicking on Todd Mintz's Twitter page (thanks for the follow Todd) then clicking on a link to his blog.

This is the most spectacular version of the National Anthem I've ever heard. If you are a traditionalist you might not like this, but give it a shot. My brain kept trying to make Marvin sign the regular version, but he is so awesome I gave up, like the audience, and totally bought into it.