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Ozzy Osbourne and Steve Van Zandt pop some culture in newest WoW commercials

by Kyle Horner on Nov 20th 2008 12:00PM

World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, Expansions, News items

Blizzard is apparently a marketing genius, because the most recent World of Warcraft commercials are new high watermarks. Of course the're all about Wrath of the Lich King, and of course they feature famous people pretending they play WoW. But they're also something else: completely awesome. We've got Ozzy Osbourne arguing with Arthas over who's the real Prince of Darkness and then we've got The Sopranos actor Steve Van Zandt opining about being pulled back into the game.

Love 'em or hate 'em, these commercials are pure brilliance for their humor and ability to convey the social acceptance -- or "coolness", if you will -- of tapping away at your mouse and keyboard all night long. Of course, if Blizzard really wants to impress us, they'd get Neil Patrick Harris. Nobody pimps a product like NPH. Find both videos after the break.

Tags: acitivision-blizzard, arthas, blizzard, breaking, neil-patrick-harris, nph, ozzy-osbourne, prince-of-darkness, steve-van-sandt, world-of-warcraft, wotlk, wow, wrath, wrath-of-the-lich-king

Reader Comments (20)

That is pure awsome sauce.

Rofl at the Sharoooon!

I loved the Ozzy Osbourne one.

The other was...meh.

Ozzy's tv spot is... brilliant.

Sorry, I thought they were both average at best. You would have to be a WoW-head already to like these commercials. If that's their target audience, then fine. But I don't think it is.

I'm very much not a WoW player, and I'd have to say that Ozzy one is a clever use of the celebrity and the game property. That commercial is going to resonate with both fan bases in a good way, which equals win for Blizz and Ozz.

I don't play WoW either (anymore) but, you have to admit, those TV spots were well-done and entertaining. Whether they hit their target market or not is another story. How many WoW-kids have heard "Crazy Train" or watch the "Sopranos"? But, then again, maybe that is not who Blizzard's target market for those ads is. . .

Ozzy! Brilliant. I hand it to Blizzard Marketing.. they do a great job.

Did that warlock yell Shire?

He yells for Sharon. This was one of the better commercials.

Heh, I never could understand anything Ozzy says.

Meh...I can see how someone like...MY DAD would think it was funny. Then again, I don't know how many 50 year old parents would want to play warcraft, even after watching one of these unfunny commercials.

Really my dad is like mid-50s and he would find the ozzy commercial hilarious.

Well, I can't speak to the male post-50 population, but my mother-in-law started asking me about the game after seeing the Ozzy commercial. (To my shame, I answered her questions rather than trying to explain that I play WAR now. I'm not sure she would have understood anyway.)

I never liked the other ones. And it takes a lot to make Shatner not full of win. These were worse to me.

Hey, it's better than the commercials Shatner does for that law firm lol.

Ozzy, from brain fried artist to marketable icon, good for you.

The real genius behind Ozzy's revived success is from not him but his wife, Shaaaaaron!

/sigh Some people just hate to hate...or to be different. I very rarely laugh out loud at commercials, but holy crap that Ozzy commercial is gold!

Wow - I wasn't impressed at ALL with the Ozzy commercial. Frankly, I thought it was rather pathetic.

At least the Steve Van Zandt spot made sense, although it wasn't particularly funny.

~Ripper

I like the Ozzy one... the other one is kinda lame also real bad acting.

Still think that WoW not really need the commercials. They may as well give the money to the poor guys of Age of Conan or Warhammer so they finally can hit 1m subs! Warhammer finally will have people to fill that many servers.

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Breaking News

EA reveals SWTOR subscription and sales numbers, beats financial predictions [Updated]

Ozzy Osbourne and Steve Van Zandt pop some culture in newest WoW commercials

Reader Comments (20)

Posted: Nov 20th 2008 11:16PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 20th 2008 12:25PM Zandareth said

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Posted: Nov 20th 2008 6:29PM Ripper McGee said

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