Sunday, June 6, 2010

GoToMeeting


I assume everyone has seen one of those GoToMeeting commercials.  I mean everybody watches TLC on Friday nights from 8:00 - ll:00 p.m. and then goes to bed, am I right?  There was a time when this GoToMeeting ad aired during every commercial break.  Sometimes more than once per commercial break.  I'm not sure how the advertising execs settled on that time slot but I think it went something like this:

Ad Exec: 1  "Hey Joe, hypothetically speaking, say you're a businessman who's sent to a conference in Vegas.  It's Friday night, 10:00 p.m...what are you doing?" 

Ad Exec 2:  "Sinking into a 7 hour marathon of Say Yes to the Dress.

Ad Exec 1: "Excellent."

Anyway, these GoToMeetings commercials exist to inform us that attending meetings via your computer is way better than the utter turmoil encountered when one must pack a duffel bag and attend a meeting in person.  Because God knows, nobody likes to get out of the office.  Meetings are especially troublesome when your employees are as bland as this cast of characters.  The fact that they're supposed to represent office workers who we can relate to is fairly insulting.  Though I can appreciate their lack of enthusiasm.  One guy's sole purpose in the commercial is to slink out from the side of the screen in a pair of khakis and a blue denim shirt and stand next to a list of bullet points.  Then there's this woman who looks like President Taylor from 24 and Rosie O'Donnell had a baby together.  She says something about how GoToMeeting allows you to do things you never did before.  Apparently that means wearing a beige colored cardigan over a beige colored tank that comes up to your adam's apple.  I mean, wouldn't you at least try to look nice if you're going to be on television?  Maybe she didn't know that the ad would run 4,700 times per night, or maybe she did it as part of her community service for attacking a co-worker with a heavy duty stapler.  Who knows.  All I'm saying is that if you're going to be on t.v., whatever the reason, wear some color.  

And let's not forget the guy who tells us that with GoToMeeting he actually made money.  When he says "made money" he does this downward pointing hand motion that he practiced in the bathroom mirror, which is depressing enough in itself, but what I want to know is how did he make money?  I guess he could've sold a few more sets of encyclopedias while he was in the office instead of at his meeting in Tulsa, but in all likelihood he was on Facebook.  So don't lie to me man. 

In summary, with GoToMeeting you can save time and money by hiring unattractive actors and dressing them in waiter uniforms from Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse.