DirecTV

DirecTV does things pretty well. I used to sell it, when I worked at Best Buy, and it was rare to bump into someone who'd had a bad experience with the satellite provider. They round out their excellent service with an excellent image - due in no small part to some really good advertisements.

My favorite of DirecTV's admittedly large portfolio of slam dunks has to be their recent use of actors to read, with unbridled gusto, the letters sent by DirecTV customers who praise the service. So far I've seen Andy Garcia, Laurence Fishburne, and Joan Cusack and all three have been infinitiely satisfying.

And really, who among us could convincingly read a letter with the words "jumping Jehosephat, yee-ha" better than Laurence Fishburne?

I think the best part of these ads is the lack of sleeze. Ours is a cynical culture. When we see celebrities doing ads, in many cases there may as well be the words "sell out" scrolling along the bottom of the screen.

But this is a totally different approach. These actors aren't endorsing DirecTV, not explicitly, anyway. They're only acting out real and true testimonials from honest-to-god consumers who think DirecTV is, according to subscriber Chris Kopency, "Great."

So it's the best of all worlds. And I wouldn't be a student film maker if I didn't note that from a stylistic viewpoint, these spots look pretty cool. The use of an undecorated, tastefully lit soundstage is a very nice touch. Seems to confer that much more legitimacy to the letters being read.

There's no substitute for quality.