I have seen many a
Priceline ad, and generally find them more annoying than intriguing (and I have never actually
used Priceline for anything, nor do I suspect I'll have cause to). But this latest bit is by far the best that I've seen in terms of sheer
amusement and salesmanship.
So it begins:
William Shatner, the "Priceline
Negotiator," approaches a
hotel counter, manned by a short, mostly
balding,
middle-aged
Asian man; the hotel is obviously not one of the big chain types, dimly lit and with the clerk backgrounded by a wall of little
cubbyholes. Shatner informs this hotel employee that he's got someone who wishes to book a room for the night, and to pay $65 for it. The hotelier insists that they won't go lower than 130 -- prompting Shatner to intone with
ominous portent: "Big Deal,
persuade him."
And so the
camera pans right and we are introduced to "Big Deal" -- a towering behemoth of a man, also Asian but seemingly stepped straight from a particularly
pimped out
Mongolian
steppe, or perhaps a
Samoan
wrestling match. This guy runs about 6'5", and he is
big....
round, in a
beefy quarter-ton of ass-kicking kind of way. His
hair is long and falls about his shoulders, draping the white
fur coat that he wears (told you, pimpin', yo); he is topped by a black
bowler hat like the kind
Oddjob wore in
Goldfinger. His movements are
marked by puffs of low
brass instruments --
trombones?
trumpets? Who is to say, but he cracks his thick
knuckles and leans forward,
tatooed
ham hock fists (the tats read "dollars" and "sense") with a thud eliciting the slightest creak from the counter.... now he is looking all set to kick some serious ass (and it is impossible at this point not to be reminded of the earlier Priceline commercial where Shatner's preternaturally tall companion No Fee drops and breaks random low value objects to make the point that those prices are worth saving through negotiating).
And then, Big Deal speaks, and in a low but surprisingly
erudite voice intones: "
Is it wise to allow a perishable item to spoil?" Shatner chimes in, "why leave a room empty?" Big Deal continues: "
The additional revenue easily covers operating costs." And you can't help thinking, yeah it will, I mean how much does it cost to let someone use a hotel room? $20 for
maid-service time, stem to stern? A few dollars more for administrating check-in/check-out? A bar of
soap? Tag in Shatner for the
killing blow: "65 Dollars is better than no dollars."
And the clerk is persuaded -- $65, he agrees, for the night. Prompting Shatner's closing observation: "You can't argue with a Big Deal." And so the commercial succeeds (as entertainment, if not in compelling my business) -- why? Because it first throws you for a loop; and then it strikes true.
Available
on YouTube here.