In the fight for eyeballs (on TV, that is, not in, say, some zombie kinda way) the Recording Academy decided this year to hire an ad agency for the first time to promote the Grammy telecast on Feb. 10. That job in the past was always handled by CBS, whose marketers might be a little tied up these days hyping the arrival of mass murdering "Dexter." Get it? Sure you do.
Since it's the 50th anniversary and all, the folks behind the Grammys wanted to give it that extra bit of juice. They might be in for a windfall, billboards and print ads notwithstanding, because of the dearth of star-laden extravaganzas so far this awards season.
The striking, black-and-white work is from ad agency TBWA/Chiat/Day. Will it make you watch the show? You know you want to see Amy Winehouse do whatever it is she might do (if she even makes it to the Kodak), and ditto for Kanye. Controversy -- please!
See more of the ads on the jump.