I remember finding these “Webisodes” online back when American Express launched this campaign in 2004. I love animation and I was a big Jerry Seinfeld fan, so it’s no surprise I’d like them.

The concept is simple, clever, and natural: Chronicle the friendship between the Man of Steel and the comedian with a plot that revolves around the American Express credit card. A simple idea, cleverly executed. The pairing is a natural because, according to the Superman Homepage, the superhero was “the only character apart from the regular cast who featured in every episode of Seinfeld, either by name or in pictures which featured on Jerry’s fridge, or a statue that sits on his shelf (next to the door to his bedroom/bathroom).”

The pairing of Superman and the comedian actually began in 1998 when American Express aired the following commercial in January, 1998 during the NFL playoffs. The TV show Seinfeld had ended on top of the charts just the year before, so the timing of the commercial was perfect.

As I said, in 2004 American Express launched their “Webisodes” campaign with a special Web site (defunct: jerry.americanexpress.com) featuring short animated/live action movies of the two promoting the credit card. Superman was played by Patrick Warburton, who played the David Puddy character on Seinfeld. The pieces were co-written by Seinfeld and Barry Levinson and directed by Levinson. The animation was done by the Canadian digital media firm, Unplugged Studio, using Flash technology.

The campaign was launched with an awareness campaign featuring two fifteen second teaser ads aired on television to promote the Web site. Both ads portrayed Superman trying to avoid answer phone calls from the Green Lantern, with Seinfeld covering for him. You can see them at Unplugged Studio’s site, in the animation section.

This was followed by an earned media campaign with the duo being “interviewed” on Comedy Central‘s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and NBC‘s The Today Show with Matt Lauer:

The first “Webisode,” “A Uniform Used To Mean Something…” aired on May 13, 2004 durin the finale of NBC’s Fraiser and was seen by 25.4 million people. The Web site recorded four million visits per week during the first three weeks.

A Uniform Used To Mean Something…

Hindsight Is 20/20

This is great. Dani California is from the Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ new albmum Stadium Arcadium. It lampoons pretty much all popular musical genres and many specific musicians, from Elvis and The Beatles, to Jimi Hendrix-era psychadelic rock, to 70s era glam bands and Sex Pistols punk rock, to 1980s hair bands and 90s speed metal, to Kurt Cobain. Found via Google Video from Twainer.com.

Red Hot Chili Peppers @ MySpace. Official Site.

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