The QR code a requirement to
any advertising campaign today seen on billboards, print ads and in
commercials. While now you can have QR codes on your cuff links which can
quickly link a person via their smartphone to your website.
Available at Etsy from two separate
e-retailers. First, better looking. Second, cheaper.
Moosejaw Mountaineering an American mountaineering retailer
has launched a very different type of Valentine’s Day campaign. No it’s not
about making you’re significant other aware of how much you love them, it’s
about convincing them to let you fool around with someone else. Please see
permission form below:
I want the bike more than the phone! So amazing! BlackBerry
needs some of this innovativeness! The bike looks amazing and being glow-in-the-dark means you aren't going to be hit by a car. Maybe that’s why the iPhone is winning the smartphone war “They are tools AND toys”. Which would you buy?
Side note: I googled it Krylon makes
glow in the dark spray paint. And its available at your local Wal-Mart. It only
comes in one colour though. (Disclaimer: I have never tried it, I don't know if
it will work)
I was watching Gossip Girl on the CW the other night and a TD
Bank advertisement came on. Now I know I’ve seen this ad before but I hadn’t
paid much attention, blah blah Regis and Kelly blah blah lower minimum balance…
And then I paused, where were my favourite cantankerous old men that scoff at
every innovation TD makes? I had only seen them in an advertisement two days
ago, and I had seen Regis a week ago…Usually marketers try to have relatively consistent
campaigns they want there to be some flow in the commercials, some similarities.
And Regis was old but he wasn’t cantankerous. The difference: One campaign was
for Americans the other Canadians.
Canadian Campaign:
This is a 2010 commercial but there are 2012 ones running right now.
I have commented on Chrysler's Halftime commercial back when
Adweek announced it as their number one ad of the Super Bowl. I thought it was
a brilliant follow up to the Eminem-Chrysler commercial featured during last year’s
Super Bowl. There was the patriotic element in both, but this year Chrysler
painted a picture of American perseverance. I thought the message in the commercial was
loud and clear: “Buy American, support American jobs,”.
Luckily I had FOX News to show me just how wrong I was. Karl
Rowe a Fox News commentator said, “It is a sign of what happens when ... the
president of the United States and his political minions are, in essence, using
our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising and the best wishes of the
management which is benefited by getting a bunch of money that they’ll never
pay back,”. Clint Eastwood claims the ad and his own political views are
not pro-Obama. In fact, the Huffingpost reported that Clint Eastwood is on
record for opposing the Chrysler bailout.
I have realized I have neglected print ads in this blog and
I have decided to remedy this. I’m the girl in the doctor’s office who
reads all the pamphlets. That’s how I know I may need to consider going to AA
because I answered yes to 3 out of the 12 questions. To be fair the one answer
was a “once” not a “yes”.
I even read a pamphlet on breast feeding. However, I am
never impressed with what I read, it’s always rather technical and the
visuals
are lacking. (Yes even in the breast feeding pamphlet, boys). But during
my
last visit I saw this pamphlet and loved the visual so I decided to
share. The
bigger polka dot on the bra jumped out at me and cut through my
perceptual barrier. This is an extremely clever visual when coupled with
the tagline communicates the point of the
entire 8 page pamphlet in one image. If you can't see under the image
the line that follows is "It's never this obvious".
This video is called: Sh*t Nobody Says About Advertising. Turns out, I say a lot of it.
1)“I’m thirsty, cause of all that great
product placement”, I paraphrased this line while watching American Idol, “All
the product placement makes me want a Coke”.
2)“That was a really great pun”. Check! Along with
“Wow, I love the metaphor” and “that character was really relatable I connected
with the ad”.
3)“I hate that beer ads don’t even try to
objectify women”. I haven't said this. However, one of the
people commenting on last nights commercials for Adweek said something along these
lines. Apparently they were disappointed Bud Light did not objectify women this
year. The approximately six advertisements that featured girls in bikinis were
not enough…
4)And really?! “Any of you guys want to start a
flash mob?”. I don’t care where your career or education has taken you, this
should be a question you ask at least twice in your life. I don’t know about
you, but after seeing that one news report I expect my proposal to have a flash
mob sequence. And a Tiffanys ring, but that was a given. (Sort of joking--It is important to have dreams).
5)“I wonder what’s new in my spam folder”…Yep I’m
guilty of that one.
The dust has settled and Adweek has announced their
Top 5 Super Bowl commercials. Being Canadian I was forced to
watch my commercials online and totally miss the Clint Eastwood Chrysler ad.
However, I conceded to its rank as number 1. This commercial takes off where
Eminem-Chrysler ad left off last year at this time, there is that patriotic vibe
but with an additional layer of brotherhood. Americans united in a common
struggle. The football metaphor of this being Halftime resonated with football
fans and tapped into the pre-existing ideals of what it means to be American.
(So I assume as I am neither an American nor a football fan. But Madonna killed
it at Halftime!). The underlying message is clear buy American, support
Americans. I think Chrysler’s demographic will especially relate to this. Plus with a voice
like Clint Eastwood’s how do you go wrong? Answer: You don’t.
Unable to sleep I have decided to declare my top 3 favourite
Super Bowl ads before the dust clears and pollsters and more experienced critics
announce their picks. All my favourite ads had something in common they were
topical. There was some relevant twists that really made all three ads pop.
Number 3: Audi 2012
As much as I want Buffy to come in and stake all the
vampires and be done with it I have to give Audi props. The fact that these
weren’t just any vampires but Twilight vampires, as seen by the tree climbing, annoys
me more than words. I do question the effectiveness of the Twilight reference
as it’s a bit stale and does not translate to any one old enough to drive. (To
my knowledge and sincere hope). However, the reason I give this commercial the
third place is because all the theatrics actually lead to a point: Audi’s
headlights have LED lights. There were some ads where all sense of the product
and their unique selling proposition was lost. Though honorable mention has to
go to the Toyota Camry commercial, it almost got my vote for third. In fact, in
the light of day I may very well change my mind. I will resist making a vampire
joke…
You might have missed the Fiat 500 Abarth commercial among
all the other car commercials of the Super Bowl. And why should you remember it? I’m sure under
normal circumstances a sexy foreign chick dropping whip cream in her cleavage would
spark some memories. However, with two ads featuring Adrianna Lima and many ads
featuring scantily clad women it’s hard to remember one overly clothed (by
comparison) and way over sexualized woman out of many. Yet that’s all the Fiat commercial
seemed to offer.
I am a feminist I will warn you that up front. But I also
enjoy most the ads. where the women were objectified. Even the Toyota Camry commercial that featured a couch made of bikini clad women (it also comes in male). And one of my favourite commercial’s is
Method’s All Purpose cleaner commercial that got pulled after feminists complained
it promoted sexually harassing women. But I found the Fiat 500 Abarth commercial a little much. And it certainly didn’t help Barbie’s image. Like
the plastic doll Barbie. Because if you hadn’t heard Barbie drives a Fiat. And
while Fiat have never been in my consideration set, the fact that JLo and
Barbie were now driving Fiats made me
reconsider my oversight. I mean both JLo and Barbie are hot and successful. With
this ad. Fiat has lost all the headway they had gained. From a brand for
empowered-have-it-all women to a brand for…The nerdy guy?
And Barbie can’t be too happy either. I mean Barbie has had
her problems with feminists. She recently was reconstructed to have smaller
boobs and wider hips so not to create an unattainable body image. (Although
from what I can see, only Heidi Montag was ever negatively affected). I have
also seen Barbie’s semi-recent campaign where Matel is trying to make Barbie a good role model again. The commercials highlight all of Barbie's careers. Now her car of choice is being
associated with the objectification of women. Careful Fiat, we all know what
happened to Ken after something like 60 years—She replaced with a surfer named
Blain!
Update: Ken and Barbie got back together. But she made him work.
There is no question Apple is an amazing brand, but watch
the Business News Network for a day and someone will point out they used to be
David and are now Goliath. It used to be Apple was the struggle brand trying to
beat IBM with their campaign “Think Different” that slapped the Apple
logo on iconic people like John Lennon. Yet now it seems using Apple products isn't that different. Or at least that is what marketers are trying to tell us.
No one can forget the Mac vs. PC commercials---but just in
case. (I could only find the whole collection so hope you have some time to burn):
Now Samsung is using this strategy to fight back in their commercial
that links Apple to the Hipster. You know the loafer wearing, fedora toting,
scarf as an appendage, knitted hat as hair Hipster. (I actually kind of love the
look--minus the hats--- but it’s too hard not to mock). This commercial really questions if iPhones
are cool. Does it do enough to shake the strong brand associations Apple has
created? No. But as iPhones, iPods and Macs become more and more common place
how long will Apple items be cool? Like the Mac vs. PC ads Samsung plays on the
brand personalities their respective companies created and the result is
amazing. Check out the Samsung commercial:
Even people who live under rocks know that Old Spice’s
campaign with Isaiah Mustafa sky rocketed Old Spice sales and revitalized a
brand which has been linked with old men for a long time. But I was worried
their ad company Wieden + Kennedy had dropped the ball when I saw this disaster:
I recently joined a book online community for RazOrbilt (which is the teen lit part of Penguin Publishing). I have always been a big
reader but I did not understand the nuisances of the literary world. One of my
more shocking discoveries was something called a Book Trailer. Similar to a
movie trailer but for books. Just recently I have seen two spilt second book
trailer ads in Canada, but a month ago I had only seen these online. Now the
book bloggers will argue for the Book Trailers but I question the use of them. For
the most part, those who are already interested in the book will go looking for
these trailers. As most people type the author or book's name into youtube to
see the trailer. So the
commercial is taking the consumer from Interest even Desire to Action in the
AIDA cycle. Where most commercials start at the Attention stage. My point being
these people who watch these trailers are already way more likely to buy the
book as they have specifically sought out these trailers, as such I question
the real merit and return on investment. Essentially Book Trailers are preaching
to the choir. Plus in all the Young Adult Book Trailers is an epidemic of guy
liner! The video on the side is a montage of different books, check it out!
