I am on severe weather duty this week. You are advised not to ask me how I feel about doing severe weather. There was no weather tonight, so I did what I do when there is no weather. I dug out old commercials from back when I was younger, funnier, and more creative.
I found a deep well of old commercials for the Alliance, Nebraska Radio Shack. Alas, it is no more. I loved the place, and I loved Ray, the owner. I called him “layaway Ray” because he let me pay in installments. When people talk about the benefits of small-town businesses, it’s places like our Alliance Radio Shack they’re talking about. My 46-inch Sony flatscreen is a Radio Shack purchase of many years back. Still works great.
My favorite commercials to write and produce are for products and services that are fun, and make people happy. This isn’t exactly a deep thought, but it’s true. “Fun and happy” categories include restaurants…live entertainment…recreation…and so on.
Radio Shack was definitely a “fun and happy client”. We did a variety of ads for them, most frequently around the holidays. Christmas is a fantastic source of inspiration. And also, these commercials gave me the opportunity to do some of my heinous impersonations–Jimmy Stewart, Jim Backus, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Eeyore, and so forth. So, if you need a little Christmas…right this very minute…here you go. But first, the dreaded disclaimer:
These commercials were produced and aired many years ago, before our beloved parent company set forth an official policy on not using copyrighted music or content in commercials. We don’t do it any more.
With that caveat in mind:
The Alliance Radio Shack, if I remember correctly, was bought out by Mobius, and eventually the Mobius Store faded away. Retail is a tough business.