The Best and the (Mostly) Worst of the Super Bowl LV Commercials

Okay, so where am I? 

Let's just say that I wasn't one of those 25,000 people who was watching Tom Brady become the greatest of all time. (The kids tell me to just say GOAT, but when I was a youngster, the goat was someone who failed in THE big moment). Let's just say I'm in the same place that I have been for the last 45 weeks. That should narrow it all down. 

The big question is, how come 25,000 people got to go to the big game went we are told to not gather with others to the point where places like Oregon want to arrest you or fine you if you. Here you have the two sides with two agendas:

Meanwhile money ruled the day, especially for the telecast of the game. CBS released their Super Bowl rate card for 30-second commercial spots at $5.6 million which kept the average cost level with last year's game. In the midst of the ongoing pandemic, CBS didn't sell out until late January (Fox sold out its ad inventory in November and had to add two and a half minutes of commercials to meet demand). What's worse for CBS, they had to undercut the opening price to actually achieve sold out status. (Adweek reports that Scotts Miracle-Gro purchased an :30 in mid-January at a discounted $5.5 million.) If you wanted to be included in the CBS Super Bowl live stream, advertisers had to pony up another $300,000. 

On the Tom Brady-Boston divorce, it was very apparent that one-half of the couple clearly missed the other a whole lot...

On the total ratings front, CBS and reported that 96.4 million viewers watched "across all platforms, including the CBS Television Network, CBS Sports and NFL digital properties, Buccaneers and Chiefs mobile properties, Verizon Media mobile properties and ESPN Deportes television and digital properties." This is the lowest the Super Bowl viewership since 2006. On the bright side of things for CBS, the game performed better on digital, with 5.7 million streamers setting a Super Bowl record and is up 65% over last year. It's hard to spin these Super Bowl ratings into a positive story, with the numbers plummeting despite the much-hyped matchup of star QBs, snowstorms in the Northeast snowstorms, and a litany of other factors that should have pointed to an increase in ratings. But... 

This game will be the most viewed U.S. telecast of 2021 by a wide margin. The NFL remains as the most powerful TV product in America. The Super Bowl shows that when it comes to ratings, a competitive game matters more than any other factor and this game was the second biggest Super Bowl blowout in the last 18 years. 

Now onto the good stuff...

If you thought the Super Bowl ads from 2017 were awkward and weird and tried too hard to fit the cultural narrative, you need to see some of the misfires from this year’s game. I don’t need to remind you that 45 weeks of lockdowns and hearing about washing your hands, wear a mask, and social distancing produced a million disastrous situations for our friends, families, and countries. This year a bunch of ads paid homage to the big issues (but passed over the particulars) while others presented ambiguous pushes for national unity as they opportunely failed to reference exactly what it was that’s divided us. These ads didn’t land because, well, you can’t actually have an effectual unity or compassion message without specifics—but then again, you can’t say too much or you run the risk of offending one side of the country and maybe both. 

Winners

General Motors

Will Ferrell.

Awkwafina.

Kenan Thompson.

Bad Scandinavian Navigating.

 

What more do you want?

General Motors’ ad agency crafted this tour de force depicting Ferrell as an electric vehicle enthusiast with a curious resentment against Norway, because it “sells more electric cars per capita than the U.S.” If it’s up to Ferrell that won’t last long as GM has long been ahead of the Green New Deal promising to release 30 new electric vehicles by 2025. 

Eat it, Norway! But much like energy czar John Kerry who flies everywhere in his private jet, the stars of this spot expanded their carbon footprint multi-fold by embarking on a spur-of-the-moment and pointless trip to Scandinavia.

Bud Light Seltzer

Physical comedy reigns kings again. The commercial starts like this…

“When did Bud Light Seltzer start making lemonade? Probably when 2020 handed us all those lemons.” 

And that’s where the fun begins as it starts raining lemons like cats and dogs, and smashing anyone unfortunate enough to stand in their path—kind of like 2020 itself! As we know too well, the tragedies of the past year are best met head on with a stead diet of alcohol. 

M&M’s

M&M’s never fail to deliver cleverness while reminding you that you should consume some chocolate covered in a hard candy shell that melt in your mouth and not in your hands Schitt’s Creek actor Dan Levy fresh off an appearance on Saturday Night Live appearance (nice push-pull there M&M’s) apologizes to the a couple of outdoor dining M&Ms for eating their brothers and sisters only see a twist of fate for the candy. 

Paramount+

On March 4th, CBS All Access will be no mate as it rebrands itself as Paramount Plus on March 4th and you got my attention with this ad uniting some of the biggest stars and characters that we all will be be able to watch on the revamped and reinvigorated streaming network. Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: Picard)  Beavis and Butt-Head, Dora the Explorer, Jeff Probst (Survivor), Tom Selleck (the Frank Reagan Blue Bloods iteration), Christine Baranski (The Good Fight’s Diane Lockhart and Spock (Ethan Peck), and more on top of Mount Paramount.

Losers

Elon Musk’s SpaceX

Inspiration4, a project of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, wants dreamers like us to think big and envision ourselves in outer space: 

“This fall, Inspiration4 launches as the first all-civilian mission to space … and you could be on board,” says the ad, directing our curiosity to their website. 

This was a great twist on most Super Bowl ads offering humdrum fantasies of driving mid-level E- or S-class cars or diving into a fresh bag of chips—you know, the stuff impulse buys are made of. If the objective was to get me to their website (it did), but I think like most of us we’ve seen this episode of The Simpsons (they predict everything) and it went poorly for everyone. 

Doritos

Alright, alright, alright… 

Matthew McConaughey stars as a startling 2D being who repels everyone he meets in this year’s Doritos ad. It’s safe to say that this spot is not funny and if it were locked into your dreams you’d wake in a cold sweat from that nightmare. All of this to shill for Doritos 3D, and its new puffy 3D shaped chip. After sliding into a vending machine in 2D form and stealing a bag of chips, McConaughey is restored to his normal shape and size inside the fat-dispensing device. Sweet payback. Still not funny.

Guinness

Sure Joe Montana is 4-0 in the Super Bowl and never threw an interception in the big game. The time of the commercial was ill-advised and the outcome proved that Tom Brady is the true goat.

The Tears of Confusion Award

Toyota

Ok I cried, but what does it have to do with Japanese cars?

The “What the F%(#” Award

Oatly

The well sought-after “What the F%(#” award to Oatly. What’s Oatly you ask? Why it’s a somewhat unknown supplier of oat milk and oat milk–related goods. CEO Toni Petersson wasted nearly $6 million—well, way over that number when you factor in production costs to make the spot and agency fees—on a vanity piece on a maudlin country field lounge act replete with bad singing about “how oat milk is like milk, but made for humans.” Oh yes, but only if you’re a smug granola cruncher. (Apologies to the granola crunchers and/or those who are lactose intolerant.) What's worse is that the company couldn't event be bothered to put the commercial on their social media accounts. Sheesh!

Meanwhile, the Internet is undefeated!:

The Big Tech is Still Coming for You Award

Amazon Alexa

Just another example of big tech stealing from you. This time they are plotting to entice your wife with Michael B. Jordan reading to her in the bath tub creating fantasies for her as she moans in pleasure as she fogs up the windows in her high-rise office, (forever) lost in some erogenous illusion. 

“Alexa…stay away from my wife!”

Where to Find Your Inspiration

Okay, so where am I?

I’m at the keyboard trying to put a dent in my sixth or seventh book. This could be either one since I have the “memoir’ book and the photography book in motion simultaneously. When I say “in motion” I really mean moving at a snail’s pace. Heck turtles move faster on a hot summer’s day. Yet I digress…

The memoir book, aptly called “Behind the Mike: Mostly True Stories from the Media Guy”, has been a 10-year journey to tell my weird stories from the agency days where Mad Men were taken down a notch in the days before the short-lived #MeToo movement. I was inspired by the great Mary Lawrence and her book “A Big Life In Advertising”. I started writing it on the 24-hour hours of flights on my way to Malaysia in 2012 and now it has ballooned into 1,000 page of literary anarchy. Time to trim the fat off these pages for sure.

Typewriter inspiration for the Great American Novel can spring from many diverse birthplaces. It can spark from a pithy sentence spoken by a close friend, suddenly spurring on an analogy, and then question followed by a thought and then all of the sudden a book idea is birthed. It can come in the form of an overheard conversation in the peaceful spot of your local coffee cafe—remember when we could write our novels and screenplays at Starbucks?—a unique situation that supplies the creative for your protagonist. It can come from a walk in the supermarket, an afternoon at the movies, a night on the town, or even a particularly curious seatmate on plane. (Remember what it was like to sit next to someone interesting on a plane an actually understand what they are saying with a mask muffling all of the nuanced conversation into the vapor?)  

Whitby Abbey / "Dracula"

Typewriter inspiration can also come from a precise location around the world, serving as the seed where a novel can grow. Many of the classics we hold near and dear have roots in specific locales and even bridges and buildings.  Here’s a few...

Whitby Abbey
“Dracula’

Whitby Abbey, located in Yorkshire, England (no, not the infamous Transylvania and trust me, not worth the long drive from Bucharest to see Dracula’s Castle) is the locale that provided the muse for the classic novel “Dracula”. Bram Stoker was visiting Yorkshire in 1890 when he stumbled upon the decaying ruins of the 7th Century Christian Monastery and he found the Gothic architecture so haunting that it became the genesis for this classic tale. The structure still stands today and as the fog sets into the town looming below and the waves of the North Sea crash against the shore… well, one can see why he chose it.

Top Withens
“Wuthering Heights”

This decaying farmhouse in West Yorkshire, England is said to have provided some inspiration for the novel Wuthering Heights. Although physically the farmhouse doesn’t bear much resemblance to the family home in Emily Bronte’s novel, there is a plaque affixed to the ruins indicating that the farmhouse bears an association with the book. This countryside is said to have worked its magic on many  writers including Bram Stoker.

McDougal's Cave / "Tom Sawyer"

McDougal's Cave
“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”

In 1876, “The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer” was published and put author Mark Twain in the literary map of the world. It was a novel that was so ahead of its time in that it was filled with meaning and symbolism, aside from being engaging and fun to read. It was a story about the titular mischievous young boy, who wittingly tricked his way to get everything he wanted.

In Twain’s hometown of Hannibal, Missouri sits a small cave that soon became McDougal’s Cave. Today the former McDowell Cave was renames to honor the great work of the renowned author.

Sands Point, NY
“The Great Gatsby”

“I want to write something new, something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.” 

- F. Scott Fitzgerald in a letter in 1922, as he began to write the novel which became “The Great Gatsby”

Sands Point, NY, a small village along the north shore of Long Island, provided the inspiration for Easter Egg in “The Great Gatsby” in the form of a French Normandy-style mansion, which was once owned by Fitzgerald’s friend Mary Harriman Rumsey.

 “Fitzgerald’s Latest A Dud” was The New York Times’ headline for the review of Gatsby in 1925. At the end of Fitzgerald’s life, at the age of just 44, his publisher still had many copies of the first edition gathering dust in a warehouse. “My God, I am a forgotten man,” Fitzgerald wrote to Zelda when The Great Gatsby ceased to be published by The Modern Library. It seemed everyone had neglected his work. 

"The Great Gadsby" Mansion

It was only when a massive initiative began during World War II to distribute over 110 million books to soldiers abroad that public opinion changed regarding the novel. The Great Gatsby was one of the novels chosen, printed in editions designed to fit in a soldier’s back pocket. Finally, in the hands of American soldiers, the work began to achieve the popularity it has enjoyed ever since. From humble beginnings to gigantic success, this Great American Novel tells a typically American story, one of success and tragedy, a story that echoes too well Fitzgerald's own life.

Bath, England
“Persuasion”

Bath, England

Jane Austen resided in Bath, England from 1801 to 1806 and this town became the setting for her novel "Persuasion". Not only was the town the center of fashion and nobility in the early 19th century, but it also became the location where her characters socialized, attended balls, and attempted to arrange marriages. Many of Bath’s addresses are included in the novel and Bath itself still pays homage Austen with events like the Jane Austen Ball and the Jane Austen Festival.

Stanley Hotel
“The Shining”

Stephen King’s stimulus for his haunting novel “The Shining” came in the form of a precarious hotel in Colorado's Estes Park. King’s stimulus for his haunting novel “The Shining” came in the form of a precarious hotel in set below steep mountains. King and his wife Tabitha checked into The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, on October 30th, 1974. Having recently written Carrie and Salem’s Lot, two novels set in the writer’s home state of Maine, King needed a change of scenery to get his inspiration going. In another somewhat obscure fun fact, the hotel’s on-site pet cemetery served as inspiration for another successful King novel, "Pet Semetary".

The ghostly hotel fueled King’s idea process and the pressure to perform had him on edge to create a masterpiece. He was under a self-imposed deadline due to the fact that he had to pay for his room each additional night in which he did not find the right idea. The fact is, that this combination of stress and inspirational atmosphere was the perfect concoction in order for him to create one of the most notable novels in history.”

(c) The Stanley Hotel

Itching to Travel? There’s 10 Countries That Still Want U.S. Travelers

What do Albania, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Dominican Republic, Kosovo, Maldives, Mexico, North Macedonia, Serbia, Tunisia and Turkey all have in common? They are all welcoming U.S. travelers without a quarantine period. For those who have six months of pent up cabin fever, this should be music to their ears.

Keep in mind that the health advisory issued by the US State Department on March 31 still stands. It instructs US citizens to avoid all international travel due to COVID-19 while the CDC lectures “travel increases your chances of getting and spreading COVID-19.”

As Coronavirus cases in the United States passed the five million mark, more and more people sought the need to get out of the house at the worse times—protests, going back to bars and parties, and family vacations. The majority of U.S. citizens are opting to stay local, choosing to stay off airplanes and opting for shorter road trips instead of international air travel and for good reason. Absent from the European Union’s list of 15 countries whose tourists are allowed to visit is the United States.

Once one of the world’s most formidable travel credentials, the power of a USA passport has withered in the haze of the coronavirus, with borders looked down tighter than that vaults that contain all of the conspiracy theories of what is the real deal with COVID-19. With almost 200,000 deaths credited to the virus, most countries now view the United States and their tourism dollars with apprehension, proving that it doesn’t matter how much they want American greenbacks when US travelers could be carrying the deadly virus with them no matter how asymptomatic they appear.

Now with constraints easing up for some destinations, Americans are still on the restricted list for approximately 200 countries, but the Big 12 that left their doors open offer simple entries [think a temp check before and after boarding and a COVID-19 test before getting your passport stamped] into foreign land. It’s worth pointing out that anyone that boards an international flight should check with the airline and the US Embassy prior to finalizing travel plans, and oh, pack a couple of comfortable, full cover masks.

So without further ado, here are the nations where US passport holders can visit without quarantining for days or weeks and jump right into living it up in a new land.

Albania

Albania

Perhaps the most underrated Mediterranean destination in the entire world is Albania, which sits just across the Adriatic Sea from Italy, The former communist country recommenced international commercial in June. Known for its scruffy mountains, glistening beaches, and fortress towns, Albania was closed to foreigners for much of the 20th century. The first set of inquisitive travelers found a land where ageless codes of conduct still held influence and where the wind shrilled through the exhausted remnants of half-forgotten ancient Roman and Greek sites. A quarter century later after throwing off the constrains of communism, Albania’s gorgeous mountain are the perfect backdrop that rivals any other Mediterranean country.

Antiqua & Barbuda

Antigua & Barbuda

Their tourism site screams, “Escape 2020 and visit Antigua and Barbuda, where we’ve got the sun, the sea and plenty of much needed space.”

Antigua’s ribbed coasts embrace dozens of picture-perfect coves splashed by mesmerizing powder-blue water, while the secluded bays provided sanctuary for everyone from pirates and yachters. If you can pull away from that plush beach towel, you’ll unearth divergent English overtones to this island including the humming capital of St John’s, in the splendid English Harbor, and in the bygone forts that pay homage to its colonial past. At the same time, you will discover that Antigua classic Caribbean, full of story-inspiring villages with a liquor-infused smoothness that make the wide-smiled locals even that much more appealing.

The flamingos of Aruba

Aruba

U.S. citizens who want to escape our bitter winters have catapulted Aruba into the most visited island in the Southern Caribbean. The inducements are apparent: abundant all-inclusive resorts, miles and miles of famous white-sand beaches, and the delightfully condensed capital of Oranjestad. Now it’s welcoming Americans who want to escape the coronavirus lockdowns. Here is all about fun in the sun.

Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

With magnificent mountain panoramas, desert backwoods, redolent colonial construction and beaches everywhere, The Dominican Republic is one of the most geographically diverse countries in the Caribbean. The coastline defines the DR and doubles down on its diversity with palm-lined white-sand beaches in some spots and rocky cliffs in others. You also get your fair share of dunes landscaped by the winds and placid mangrove bayous. With plenty of resorts that can deliver your every vacation need, the aquamarine waters showcase the temperature seas where migrating humpback whales play where pirates once ruled. Add unbeatable scuba diving and water sports and you have a grand vacation awaiting you.

Kosovo

Kosovo

Europe’s newest country, Kosovo is an enthralling destination at the heart of the Balkans. The country happily gives visitors implausible hospitality, delightful mountain towns, grand hiking expeditions, and Serbian monasteries awash in medieval art…and that’s only the beginning.

When Kosovo professed its independence from Serbia in 2008 only half of the world’s countries diplomatically accepted it with nearly 100 unaccepting. The past tragedies are hard to miss with their roads peppered with memorials to those killed in the 1990s and NATO forces present to guard the monasteries. For the naysayers who have never set foot in Kosovo will tell you otherwise, it’s entirely safe to travel here. Because of this reputation, Kosovo sits as one of the final off-the-beaten-path destinations in all of Europe.

The Maldives

The Maldives

Maldives has perhaps the finest beaches in the world. With an immaculate beach on nearly every one of the nation’s 1200 islands, you might be inclined to be bored with such perfection. To a person, most agree that you won’t find whiter-than-white powder sand and incandescent aqua-blue water like this anyplace else on earth. This truth alone easily produces one million plus visitors annually to this petite, secluded and otherwise little-known Indian Ocean utopia. Unparalleled luxury coupled with a remarkable underwater world makes the Maldives an understandable selection for a genuine vacation of a lifetime.

Chitzen Itza in Mexico

Mexico

Mexico’s pre-Hispanic peoples erected some of the world’s boundless archaeological shrines, including Teotihuacán’s soaring pyramids and the superb Maya temples of Palenque. The Spanish colonial era left stunning towns full of tree-shaded arcades and opulently-chiseled stone churches and homes, while the modern Mexico has seen a swell of abundant art from the likes of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. World-class museums and galleries detail the country’s intriguing history and its endless creative vitality. Popular culture is just as vibrant, from the visionary fusion cuisine and street art of Mexico City to the breathtaking handicrafts of the indigenous populace.

Serbia

Serbia

A landlocked country in the center of the Balkans, Serbia is pleasantly off the tourist track and offers a little something for everyone. The art nouveau town of Subotica revels in its Austro-Hungarian heritage; the unconventional Niš reverberates to the clip-clop of Roma horse carts, and minaret-dotted Novi Pazar prods the most blessed of Serbian Orthodox monasteries. Time-honored wine regions and thermal spas clasped in rolling hills date back to Roman times. On the slopes of Zlatibor, Kopaonik, and Stara Planina, ageless customs coexist with après-ski bling, while the scenic Tara and Đerdap National Parks overflow with the prospects of rafting, hiking, biking, and kayaking.

Tunisia

Tunisia

Although its place on the map is a slender wedge of North Africa’s massive horizontal expanse, Tunisia has plenty of history and varied environmental beauty that would envy many a larger nation. With a temperate, sand-fringed Mediterranean coast, fragranced with sea breezes and jasmine, Tunisia is an elite land for a forthright sun, sea, and sand experiences. Outside the beaches is an electrifying, unappreciated destination where divergent cultures and implausible extravagances of landscape—the Sahara and forested coastlines—can be explored in just a few days.

The Blue Mosque in Turkey

Turkey

Located in the Mediterranean and connecting Asia and Europe continents that are separated by famous Bosphorus, Turkey is a unique destination that welcomed last year about 40 million tourists. The country that has always been a hub for cultural interaction and home to varying climates inspires the visitors today with its history, nature and gastronomy that reflect the diversity of civilizations for centuries. Located at the crossroads of cultures, Turkey has a distinctive understanding of art and fashion, which is the synthesis of tradition and modernity.

Note: This article originally appeared in ALO magazine.

Try Turkish Spices to Cure Your Pandemic Woes

**Exclusive from ALO magazine.**

The pandemic and social justice are dominating the headlines—as they should—this summer. For me, the impact on my normal travel is starting to weigh on my being and I’ve been searching for solutions as I watch the growing list of countries that don’t want U.S. travelers potentially bringing Coronavirus into their lands.

I was excited to see a small list of countries open to U.S. citizens without restrictions: Albania, Dominican Republic, Kosovo, Maldives, Mexico, North Macedonia, Serbia, Tunisia and Turkey. The one that stood out the most is Turkey. With non-stop flights from multiple U.S. cities, including my home base of Los Angeles, I imagined Turkish Airlines incredible business class whisking me to Istanbul from gate to gate in around 13-and-a-half hours. What the worst that can happen up in the air for half a day, right?

In the middle of my fantasy, CNN and Dr. Anthony Fauci screamed across my television, talking about second and third waves and the meteoric surge in COVID-19 cases throughout the States. It made me think twice about jumping on a plane this summer.

But while my summer travel is still pending, I imagined a way to work out my travel bug at home. How? Turkish cuisine, that’s how.

A little backstory for you…

Turkey is located at the meeting point of the Middle East, Asia and Europe with its geographic serving as one of the most critical routes along the Silk Road. Spices were incredibly valuable in the global trade. It is said the salt was just as valuable as gold. Imagine that. With that kind of history, it’s no wonder that Turkey has remained as the center of the global spice trade for centuries.

In the inimitable and delightful dishes of the Turkish cuisine, spices are never used in excess, but rather judiciously curated, ensuring that spices are just as important as the key base ingredients in every meal. Considering how rich the Turkish cuisine is in terms of spices, it’s certainly not a shocker that İstanbul has one of the most revered spice markets in the world.

Hosting visitors since 1664, the Spice Bazaar is one of the oldest covered bazaars in İstanbul. Situated on the European side of the city, the Spice Bazaar is a historic landmark spread across a large area where various genuine items that belong to the Turkish culture as well as all kinds of spices are sold.

Let’s dive into some of the most popular spices of the Turkish culinary culture:

Bay Leaf—Grown in many regions across Turkey, the bay leaf is a spice that has long been used in the Turkish cuisine with its pleasant smell and distinct aroma. Consumed in main dishes and salads, bay leaf is dried before being used in various areas such as dishes, sweetened fruit juices, tomato pastes, pickles and soups. Bay leaf adds zest to meat and fish dishes with its aroma. Particularly added to sauces used for meat dishes, bay leaf is also used to marinate fish, in pilaf, fish soup as well as in the bottom of the pot while boiling turkey and chicken. When bay leaves are placed inside large fish during grilling, the fish meat will absorb the smell and taste of the leaf, gaining a very delicious aroma.

Cinnamon—The king of the sweets. Obtained from the bark of the cinnamon tree and known for its strong and sweet flavor, this spice is widely used in the Turkish cuisine in both desserts and salty dishes. It is used in all types stuffing including stuffed mussels, seasoned rice, dried fruits, and chicken dishes that create a special flavor unique to this cuisine. As a sweet spice, it’s also useful to cut down the sugar intake, becoming an indispensable part of Turkish desserts. It plays the lead role in cakes and traditional Turkish puddings such as sütlaç (rice pudding), kazandibi (white pudding with caramel base), and muhallebi (milk pudding). Add a stick of cinnamon while brewing tea to add extra flavor in place of a processed sugar cube.

Clove—When combined with cinnamon, clove offers decadent flavor and because of that it is widely used in cakes and desserts, tarts and fruit. In many Turkish restaurants, and in meat and kebab restaurants in particular, it is served after meals with onions and garlic to eliminate bad breath. If you have a toothache, you can bite down on a clove and it will lessen the pain (it works, trust me!).

Cumin—A member of the parsley family, it’s used to spice stuffing, meatballs, and soups, and it is an indispensable ingredient agent in meat sauces and foul beans (breakfast dish). Used as a medicinal herb since the ancient times, the black cumin seeds contain approximately 100 different essential elements including carbohydrates, minerals, proteins and fatty acids.

Mint—The dried version is widely used in soups, mantı (Turkish dumplings), and on cacık (a yogurt side dish), while fresh mint is added to salads and served as a calming tea steeped in water.

Red Pepper Flakes—Grown in the Southeastern Anatolia region, this spice is added when you want to add heat to recipes. Most restaurants serve it in tableside next to the salt and pepper. It can be added while cooking meat sauces, soups, legumes (beans and chickpeas), and stews.

Rosemary—A versatile spice used fresh or dried in red meat dishes, poultry and stews thanks to its pleasant taste and aroma. It’s sometimes added to omelets and soups or to the raw dough of breads and pastries. Most home chefs add a teaspoon of dried rosemary to their potato puree for a distinctive Turkish taste.

Saffron—Cultivated in Safranbolu saffron usage originated in Ottoman cuisine. Saffron is typically diluted in rose water or vinegar for pilafs and meat dishes. It is also the critical element of milk pudding recipes due to its pungent aroma and hay-like taste.

Sumac—One of the most widely consumed spices in the Turkish cuisine, sumac gives the dishes a sour and piquant taste together with a pleasant aroma. The spice comes from the crimson part of the sumac plant before grinding it together with table salt. It is popular when mixed with red onions or regular onions and parsley to be eaten as salad or mixed into yogurt as a dip.

Thyme—As a species that naturally grows in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions, classic thyme is produced by drying and crumbling the leaves. It can be used poultry or lamb marinades. A simple pinch of pinch of thyme in a bowl of olive oil as a dip for fresh bread is also very popular. Fresh thyme is preferred especially in salads for both its taste and aroma. Many choose to place a small twig of fresh thyme in olive oil dispensers to add zest with the aroma of thyme.

Cinnamon

Cumin

Mint

Rosemary

Saffron

Sumac

Thyme

Sports Are Back to Save the Ad World

In case you missed this memo while watching CNN bash President Trump in every story or opting for Fox News' overt love for the President in every story, let me remind you that SPORTS MATTER.

They mater because they generate revenue.
They generate jobs.
They generate passion.

Now with the return of the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball—all at once it seems—sports will generate billions in advertising revenue. This is exactly what the country needs. And right now.

At the four-month mark where every major professional sports league went on hiatus due to COVID-19, the return of live sports is just what we all need. Live sports signals an important return to normal for the country and spark a television advertising sales marketplace that was left in a disparate place. During the last full season, each sport played, the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL produced nearly $7 billion in ad revenue for networks across the United States. That’s not to mention the billions produced overseas and the remaining parts of North America.

Don’t think that sports matter? Here is exactly how much national ad revenue the big four sports leagues added to the networks’ gross sales during their last full seasons (*according to Kantar Media):

• NFL—Regular Season: $3.3 billion, Playoffs: $1.3 billion
• NBA—Regular Season: $528.2 million, Playoffs: $877.5 million
• MLB—Regular Season: $144.7 million, Playoffs: $338.5 million
• NHL—Regular Season: $35.9 million, Playoffs: $102.2 million

Seth Winter, EVP of sports sales for Fox Sports says that “the reopening of live sports is “a very symbolic and real indicator of the move forward to whatever the TV ad industry’s new normal will be post-pandemic.”

Jo Ann Ross, president and chief advertising revenue officer, ViacomCBS domestic advertising sales says that, “There is a thirst and a hunger for live sports.”

All you have to do is look at the few live sports that aired recently to demonstrate how thirsty advertisers and audiences are for any sort of live sports:

• UFC 251—1.3 million people purchased the event on pay-per-view That’s among the highest in the sport’s history. UFC has generated this many buys only four times previously with the the most recent coming in 2018, when Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated Conor McGregor at UFC 229. That event generated a record 2.4 million buys.
• The Match: Champions for Charity golf tournament, which aired on May 24 and featured Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning vs. Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady drew 5.8 million viewers across TNT, TBS, truTV and HLN. WarnerMedia reported that this telecast was the most-watched golf match in cable TV history. The WarnerMedia’s ad sales team sold every spot a month in advance with the expectation of this type of outcome. 
• When NASCAR races resumed on Fox one May 17th, over six million viewers made it the most-watched NASCAR Cup race on any network (outside of the Daytona 500) in 2018.

All of this comes of devastating news that U.S. advertising revenue plummeted 31% in May due to only those few events take place due to the pandemic. What makes this worse is that the Standard Media Index reports that majority of major ad categories reduced their media spends drastically—by 10%-20% or more. Only pharmaceutical manufacturers spent more in May than they did in the same 2019 period.

Two media companies saw ad revenues deteriorate as a direct result of the absence of NBA games when the playoffs take place in May, broadcast by Walt Disney’s ABC and ESPN and WarnerMedia’s TNT. WarnerMedia saw ad revenue decline by 45.5%, while Disney saw it tumble by 39.6% for the month of May.

First up is MLB on July 25th followed by the NHL on August 1st. I can wait to see what advertisers have in store for us...

Michael Jordan: The gold standard of sports advertising.

Making Turkish Pita: The Ramadan Way

I’ve spent parts of Ramadan all over the Middle East including Lebanon, the Sultanate of Oman, and Syria. Without creating serious debate, one of the best places for anyone to be during the holy month of Ramadan is in Turkey. Here, the solidarity of the holiday reaches its peak while honoring many of centuries-old traditions across all parts of the society.

For many outside of Islam, it would be easy to put Ramadan into a bucket of religious holidays, but truthfully it is much more than praying multiple times a day and fasting from before dawn until night. It’s also as much about bringing people together as much as any other kind of biased opinion you may have heard other the years.

In Turkey, Iftar is a daily celebration of the breaking of the fast. Tables are elaborately set where families, friends and neighbors gather around the same table to feast on dishes that are prepared throughout the day. When I recall Ramadan traditions, the first to come to mind are crowded Iftar dinners, delicious treats, and home chefs revealing their culinary skills.

These rich dinner tables, extraordinarily adorned with a large variety of dishes, are an indicator of the hospitality and family values—with very few countries more adept at it that the Turkey people. Iftar is also where you discover that the centuries-old tradition of helping the poor and those in need shine bright. It’s a place where you can invite the needy over for Iftar, or prepare a special dinner for them for a greater sense of community. Even better is the incredible amount of hot food distributed to thousands of people by institutions, organizations, and of course, the locals.

Foods most frequently served on the tables include regional and traditional varieties of lamb and beef dishes, vegetable and legume dishes, soups, pilafs, dates, olives and cheese varieties, soujouk (fermented halal sausages), fattoush salads, various pastries and pies made of thin sheets of dough.

One these long summer days, there isn’t time for more than formal meal, but in the true underlying meaning of unity, Sahur is prepared and consumed in the wee hours of the morning. Only members of the household attend this meal, proceeding the upcoming 12-15 hours fast of the coming day.

Sahur comes from one of the oldest traditions of the month of Ramadan, the mesaharati (or the Ramadan drummer) wandered from one street and neighborhood to another, informing those who fast about the approaching Sahur time. This tradition, which started to make sure that nobody would miss Sahur in an era when not every household had a clock, may have lost its functionality today but symbolically, it continues across the entire country. The drummers are rewarded for their month-long effort to wake up the people by collecting tips on the last night of Ramadan. Sahur tables are highlighted by lighter dishes like yogurt parfait, dates, fruits, toast with lebne dips and cheeses, and the all-important freshly-brewed chai.

An essential part of Ramadan centers on the “Ramadan pita.” In Turkey, it is a traditional delicacy of the cuisine. In pre-COVID days, pita queues in front of bakeries start hours before iftar. These days, takeaway isn’t as readily available, so breakout your chefs hats and baking sheets and let’s make some delicious Turkish pita.

Ingredients
• A pack of yeast (25g)
• 2 water glasses of warm milk
• ½ dessertspoon of sugar
• ½ water glass of warm water
• ½ tea glass of oil
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 5 ½ water glasses of flour (more if necessary)

To be used while shaping the dough:
• 1 tablespoon of flour
• 5-6 tablespoons of water
• (Mix the flour and water well; it must be a fluid mix so add more water if necessary)

To apply on the pita:
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 1 tablespoon of milk
• 1 dessertspoon of yoghurt
• Plenty of sesame
• Black sesame

Preparation

Put the yeast, milk and sugar in a deep bowl and keep for 10 minutes (until the yeast melts). Add the remaining ingredients in order, knead the flour, and after it thickens, wait for 40 minutes after it thickens (ensure it is a soft dough that does not stick to your hand). Divide the dough into 2 or 3 pieces.

Sprinkle some flour on the surface and take some flour on your hands before spreading the dough. Give it a circular or oval shape. Place the spread out dough on a tray that is either previously oiled or lined with a baking paper. Also sprinkle some corn flour on the tray so it won’t stick. Immerse your hands in the water-flour mixture and give it a square or lozenge shape by first pressing on the edges and then on the middle. The trick is to keep on immersing your hands in the water-flour mixture so that the shapes won’t disappear during baking. The dough is left for half an hour to leaven and the same procedure is repeated on the shaped parts to make sure that they will last. Finish off by applying the sauce on and sprinkling a lot of sesame and black sesame.

Bake in an oven pre-heated to 200°C until golden brown.

Note: This article originally appeared in ALO magazine.

An Uncommon Cure for the COVID-19 (Boredom)

Photo credit: Instagram/heinz

Okay, so where am I?

Well, I'm working. More than ever it seems. The COVID-19 lockdown has pinned most to our homes and according to Ladders we are working three more hours a day on average. Nonetheless, I am thankful for the continued employment and remaining safe during this unprecedented pandemic. I carry a heavy heart for those lost and the 20+ million who had to file for first time unemployment benefits. Amidst all of this I must say that I am quite fortunate that my decades of work has paid off for the stakeholders I serve. All of my advertising and marketing numbers show double digit growth as we have shifted every campaign to virtual. The results have empowered other programs that will remain evergreen as we move into a new normal of conducting business.

All of this work hasn't staved off the need to cure boredom, however. Nights that were spent going to hockey games, writing subsequent columns, and seeing family and friends need to be filled somehow right? You can only clean the house, or rearrange your man cave, or work on your great American novel so much. You need an outlet. My daughter suggested jigsaw puzzles and what a novel idea I thought. The last one I did was at a museum in Helsinki and it soaked up a lot of time and not as mind numbing as I remember.

So imagine my glee when scrolling through Instagram I saw this among all of the cooking displays, Stay-At-Home memes, and throwback sports posts:

View this post on Instagram

This might be the slowest puzzle on earth. 570 pieces. All Heinz red. Tell us who you wish you could finish this with. #heinzketchuppuzzle

A post shared by Heinz Ketchup (@heinz) on May 5, 2020 at 1:15pm PDT

Heinz has really nailed the branding and capitalized on it as of late. Everything from the Oscars Snub Campaign to the real placement of the Don Draper ads that were imagined in Mad Men to this 570-piece all red puzzle. Brilliance quite simply.

Yeah, yeah, I am sure you are thinking, "A puzzle? Brilliant?" Consider this...

Helsinki puzzle completion.

This all-red Heinz puzzle is truly limited edition. You can't go down to your local Target and buy one along with your shaving cream and shampoo. Heinz has only made this one available through an online giveaway only. What's more, there are only 57 puzzles to be had. Fifty-seven in honor of the 57 varieties of Heinz that’s labeled on every bottle.

To have a chance to own one of these beauties, you need to comment on the Heinz Instagram puzzle post, telling them who you want finish the puzzle with. From what I can see, some have already won, but there are some of the 57 are still available.

Brian Neumann, senior brand manager at Kraft Heinz Canada, told Clio Muse that, "Heinz is known for its iconic slow-pouring ketchup. In a period when everyone has a little more time on their hands and puzzle popularity has skyrocketed, we wanted to help pass the time by connecting the two. We're always looking to deliver fun, contextually relevant ways to give our consumers a smile, and this ridiculously slow, all-red Heinz ketchup puzzle seemed like the perfect fit."

Brilliant.

Even better (for Heinz), those who do get the puzzle will engage with Heinz for hours outside of a meal, because, well, this isn't your typical COVID-19 afternoon activity. With all 570 pieces the identical red pantone of the famous Heinz ketchup, assembling this one will take quite a while without lines to guide you or an image for reference.

Anticipation...it's making me wait!