Bittersweet Candy Bowl

I honestly can’t see any of those on my computer, just red Xs, but I have to say that from my personal experience, colourful ads catch my eye much more than monochrome ones, even if the comic itself isn’t as colourful.

Edit: nevermind I can see them now

Edit 2: It was actually the FF cat one that brought me in, I didn’t remember that because I haven’t seen it since.

I think making a parody of another ad is a good idea, especially for an attention grabber. the only thing i could suggest for that, though, is copying the poses of popular Project Wonderful ads (like I see Red String a lot) and add in dialogue?

or perhaps make a some pin-ups of a scene that symbolizes a part of the comic, like lucy in the bg while mike talks to sandy or something.

I’d be interested to see how making small comics for an ad would go, I can see that going really well, since it lets the viewer in on a tiny snippet of storytelling ability. I’ve always thought that a specific page from the archive would be really good as an ad - I can’t remember from where or even if I’m making it up entirely - but it had a few panels of Lucy walking alone, reflectively, either talking/thinking/singing (in Spanish?) about her situation with Mike.

I hope something I mentioned helped in some way! Good luck.

I agree that small comics would be more effective, since it gives the reader an idea as to what the comic is about or it’s “mood” for that matter…Personally I found the sims ad on another webcomic and that caught my eye over all the other ads on there…… In the end it comes down to how much you are willing to spend on exposure.

To tell you the truth I was also brought in by the Final Fantasy cat ad, and what really catches my attention is things like comedy and something that makes me laugh. I also think that making a parody of another ad is a good idea.

The dating sim advertisement is awesome. Never change it. ^_^

Although I like the FFCat of doom banner, it can be misleading…
I like the Dating Sims one.

I think the dating sim one is awesome, and had I seen it I’d certainly have clicked. Keep that one rolling as long as possible.

I like the idea of the mini-comics. It’d be amusing if you did a slightly more generic version of the Ashworth Fortune Ad - have Mike suggesting “Another webcomic we hope you’d enjoy…” before being slugged off-screen by Lucy, declaring BCB’s brilliance. You could do it in a single tower ad if you were careful with sizing or wording. Or have some short animation of the two of them trying to seize control of the advert.

Parodies of other ads will only work if viewers have seen them, so while recurring-ad sites like TWC could take it, (Blue Milk?) putting it on PW might be a riskier strategy. But that’s just my uneducated feeling.

Steal stuff from the Edit thread. The authors would be flattered anyway.

Most likely, the ads should be related to the comic’s main tread: dramedy. In my opinion, you should keep the dating sim one and make some morbid humor joke out of the character’s amorous conditions, like build a love net or something.

Well, there IS a chart about the Love Dodecahedron over at DA.

Maybe the an ad could show Mike and Lucy facing back each other, frowning, and thinking on their “loves” (being Lucy the most noticiable in Mike’s thoughts and Mike the most noticiable in Lucy’s thoughts).

I really liked the Dating Sim ad. It’s what led me here anyway And that Augustus ad isn’t bad either, though yeah it can be misleading.

I think that drawing Taeshi did in the Sweet Thread would do very nicely as an ad IMO. This one in particular: http://img.soaringrabbit.com/ forthesweetthread.png

^completely agree that that would make a kick-ass ad, but its a little big.

Put up the TessxPaulo one in particular so they can have their souls crushed when they finally catch up with the comic.

Put that one edit where Lucy confesses her undying love for Mike and then they kiss so they can have their souls crushed when they finally catch up with the comic.

BCB: We Have a Gigantic Thread Full of Porn.

im pretty sure an ad with gay furries snuggling would attract lots of quality readers

Well, it has Carson at the end of it, but he’s sorta just a recurring character more than anything.

A parody of personal ads for certain characters. Paulo with a rose in his teeth and blatant lies underneath, a viciously glaring Lucy with a list of likes / dislikes / hospital bills incurred on others, David and something completely retarded underneath (possibly written in crayon), etc.

a parody of those damn election ads that always pop up might be efective, Vote mike! or something along those line, hell just have the ads becomeing progressively more insulting between the charecter trying to slam each other like in real life.

Well, how about a two-themed ad? Like this one side has a dark and edgy feel to it while the other side has a light-hearted and happy side. It’ll look sorta like that part wherein Abbey was daydreaming(?) in the New Beginnings chapter. I mean, the title of the comic has “Bittersweet” after all so it’ll be showing two sides of the comic.

That’s why you openly mock them for even considering the possibility. Doing one with Lucy, you put parentheses at the bottom: (Chris Hansen would like to speak with you.)

Parodying that middle one, it could read something like: “Read X pages and if you’re not 100% satisfied, no one cares.”

The middle one could be used, but I agree that the True ads could be a bit weird.

Yeah…I didn’t mean to put it up like a dating site ad. I meant more like the kind of personal ads you see in the papers. I think either one could work really.

Yes, that’s exactly what I’m talking about.

You could also have something along the lines of a Craigslist post, describing an irate Lucy or some such character as an object you’re trying to get rid of.

I’d also put a lot of emphasis on sheer bromance, like that scene in the one ad with Paulo and Tess laughing with each other. That’s one of my favorites.

Eh. I’m just brainstorming here.

Well, the humour’s good. ^_^

I would’ve liked to have a David only-advert. (No, not like that.)

Actually, before I keep going I’d kind of like to know what demographics we’re shooting for here. So far it seems we aim at the generic webcomic reader. If you think they’re familiar enough with that landscape, you could parody other webcomics as part of the ads, or familiar YouTube memes if you don’t think that’s too cliche.

One of the things Tae has done several times is to run with a deep, soppy or just generic conversation, wait until everyone recognises it, then suddenly write exactly what YOU would REALLY say. Generally spoils the moment, but great for humour purposes. I’m wondering if you could play with that.

[Abbey holding Daisy lovingly. Bishie sparkle, bubbles, fluffy background etc.]
Abbey: You needn’t worry about me.

[Close up]
Abbey:I’ve got all I need right here.
Daisy: Abbey…

[Rapid zoom to long]
Daisy: …Can we leave the dinner queue first?


Eh. That was pretty lame, but you get the idea. Something along those lines - picking up both the romance and the humour which together make BCB what it is.

How I would have ended Yappy’s scene:
Daisy: …Is there anything we can say to stop you guys from burying us alive?
Lucy and Mike, both shoveling dirt on top of the couple: NO.
(David is in the background moaning for insulin).

^_^

…Is it the “FRESH SINGLES” one?

Looking at it, I can’t help but think of David’s exclamation (“FRESH MEN&rdquo in page 20 of the current chapter. ^_^

Conversely, you could have the other characters trying to force pairings. Lucy and Daisy locked inside a cage over a shark tank or something, Lucy actually bending the steel bars fueled by her rage at Paulo who is laughing hysterically. Mike bound and gagged by Carson who whistles happily as he drags his prey off to parts and fates unknown.

Sorry to bump, but there are times when Taeshi draws something so darn cute that I can’t help but think it’d work well in adverts. Like this:



That’s just such a great image. Admittedly, someone like me with no talent for writing advertising text would make it into something like this:



…but it still strikes me that some poses from the comic itself are just to good to waste. Thoughts?

An ad, with lucy and paulo. Paulo does the oh so sexual comment, then next panel he gets owned with an uppercut, then in text at the bottom:

Paulo uses Flirt!
Lucy Resists!
Lucy counters with an Uppercut!
Suppereffective!

or, some sort of pokemon refrence. Like the four options, but maybe FLIRT, ITEM, SWITCH TOPICS, RUN- in which paulo chooses flirt with a big arrow pointin to it

Wrong demographic, you think?

I disagree…

Hmm. I’ll have a hunt round and get back to you with images, but memories that spring to mind include Paulo being bishie to freshers, Daisy going into flashback over Abbey’s past, and Paulo’s I’m-not-leaving-you-crying moment with Lucy. I’ll double-check those to see if they’re as awesome as I remember, but I’ll bet there’s a ton more I’ve merely forgotten.

Heh, I like that newspaper ad

1. The leaderboard version doesn’t have the same quality as the first one. It’s beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but it just doesn’t work as well.

2. I would wear a pin of Courage Lucy. Taysh has no reason to be embarrassed about that one whatsoever. I’m not a furry and I would wear that. I am humiliated by furries and I would wear that.

3. The Daisy-speech is probably the most perfectly appropriate ad possible. That was Daisy’s Crowning Moment of Awesome, and I think it captures the comic in a nutshell.

4. The personal ad works the best as a leaderboard. Part of the reason I joined in the first place was your ability to make fun of your characters.

5. Ads like the bottom ones deceived me into shipping Mike and Lucy. That said, they are the most adorable of the lot and it will be funny to have MikexLucy shippers come in here just to have their hearts broken. HAHAHAHAAAA!

Please keep the old ones though. The RPG one that suggests punching Lucy in the face and the “Happy Couples Three Times a Week” ones in particular. Even though there’s no more TessxPaulo romance/bromance/anything. An ad involving Molly and Justin on adventure might be a pretty good idea too. I’m just throwing that out there.

Thank you for giving me credit. I am…honored. *blush*

The newspaper ad is clearly the best of the lot, but I had to aww at the Mike x Lucy button.

Too bad everyone who clicks on it will want to cut themselves by the time they catch up to the present in the archives!