Dude, you're getting benched -- Dell makes an ad change
About time. While Dell's ads with the goofy, geeky blond-haired college due Steven was great at first, I think he was only irritating by the time later versions of the ads hit the airwaves. According to this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required):
Steven, a blond-haired college dude played by Nashville actor Ben Curtis, has practically blanketed the pop-culture landscape since his creation by Interpublic Group of Cos.' Lowe agency in late 2000. In fact, NBC's "Saturday Night Live" spoofed the character during its regular "Weekend Update" feature this past Saturday night.
...The original Lowe spots featured home videos of Steven trying to harangue parents into buying their high-school offspring a Dell. Three months later, Dell took its account over to DDB, which added the famous tag line "Dude, you're getting a Dell" to the mix.
..."My guess is that Dell found he was not hitting the demographic as strongly as they wanted him to," says Jeff Lotman, chief executive of Global Icons, a Los Angeles branding consultancy, of Steven. If his assumption is correct, Mr. Lotman likens Steven to a popular ad character like Joe Isuzu, who he says enthralled the nation but did little for the overall sales of his backer.