Deward's new advertisment

I saw this commercial and felt the need to post it, since we've discussed Deward's in class. I do not like this commercial and feel the company is getting away from their target audience and what they focused on in other advertsiemnts. Instead of targeting working men looking for a real drink, this ad feels like I'm watching a bad movie about an alcoholic. Even the way it's filmed, with the blackouts of the screen and the occasional shaky shots, it seems like this woman is drinking by herself and not doing too well. After watching it a second time I see they are still attempting to target men by letting this woman speak to them in the ads, but for me, I was totally lost by everything else going on with the cinematography. What do you think?

Samsung Galaxy's Ad Campaign: New benefits in New Channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SYMXxTNbUc

Have you noticed most Youtube videos now force people to watch a commercial before the actual clip starts?  Most of them allows you to click "skip this ad" after 5 seconds.  This means that if the ad successfully captures the viewer's attention within the first 5 seconds, they have the ability to provide a longer than usual advertisement.  In other words, the ad can be 15 seconds or an hour long if the viewer chooses to continue watching the ad.  This is great news to advertisers, because it is a new channel that provides the ability for promoters to advertise a product's functional benefit in detail.

This Samsung Galaxy camera ad is a perfect example of this.  I was browsing a 2 minute video on Youtube yesterday but instead spent over 10 minutes watching this ad.  As an amateur photographer I was drawn into the aesthetics and the cool functional benefits of this innovative product.  Samsung Galaxy camera combined the social sharing, instant uploading and traditional camera into one tool.  It is a first mover in this new category-although they might not have realized that they created a new category yet.  They are at the first phrase of educating their customers on the new functional aspects of the product, laddering up to capture the user's emotional aspect. Whether they can sustain their share in the new category will depends on how they react to future new entries of competition.

There is an intensive amount of advertisement from Samsung recently.  I am excited to see how their strategies unfold.

Nespresso. What Else?

From our class today, I wanted to share the new Nespresso commerical.  This commerical displays Penelope being the new spokesperson for Nespresso. She discusses Nespresso's attributes of how each expresso is made perfectly and it is easy to use. She makes a joke at the end about how the staff is exceptional friendly because it is a guy she knows.

Penelope is a good spokesperson because her other engagements don't conflict. She is also a spokesperson for L'oreal. She is a well-known actress and does not get into celebrity gossip that could ruin Nespresso's image.

Kmart Holiday Ads

Kmart's new holiday TV spots have been mentioned in class so I wanted to post a couple of them because they were being developed this summer while I was interning at Sears.  I actually had the opportunity to go to the office of Kmart's creative agency, DraftFCB, the day that this concept, along with two others, were first presented to the Kmart strategy team.  This was a really interesting experience because while the in-house marketing team and agency worked together pretty much everyday and had weekly meetings, this was a different, more formal meeting similar to a pitch that you would see on Mad Men.  The two creators of the campaigns walked the group through the concepts using narratives and storyboards similar to those that we created for the Green River Beer case.  They also had a few preliminary slow-motion videos to further illustrate this particular concept.  Here are a couple of the final commercials that have been airing recently (good luck getting the song out of your head):






The ads are pretty unique and Kmart has produced a number of them; however, it will be interesting to see what kind of effect, if any, they have on sales.  My main concern is the fact that they lack a strong holiday theme--although they may have more variations coming.  The wrapped gifts at the end are really the only ties to the holidays and the paper is not really holiday themed since it is just the Kmart logo--the inclusion of the logo in the wrapping paper was something the Sears higher-ups felt strongly about because they wanted to reinforce the branding of the commercial.  The holiday season is such a major time of year for retailers that it will be interesting to see how this concept competes against those like Target's new Big Dog commercial which is much more traditional. 

Ultimately, while Kmart's ads may create some buzz this holiday season, the in-store experience for holiday shoppers will remain largely unchanged which is perhaps the largest reason why Kmart continues to lag far behind Walmart and Target.

 

 

 

Smart Balance #HelpSanta

Warning: This is a commercial about Christmas!  If you're against Christmas before Thanksgiving, read this post on November 23rd =)

I just finished watching a new advertisement that struck me as pretty innovative.  Before I get into my discussion, take a second to watch the commercial.

A unique insight that I gathered from this commercial was that it leveraged the holiday season to create incremental sales.  For some products (like pumpkin, as we had discussed in class), seasonal demand is natural; however, for others (like smart balance), it is not.

The commercial is effective because it communicates the value proposition effectively to those that are decisional.  The concept of being 'good for your health' is easy to recognize within the commercial, and it is equally easy to determine what products Smart Balance can be substituted for.  However, this commercial goes one step further by creating a message that will resonate with youngsters.  A beloved figure is stated to "need your help", and young children will likely interpret this as fact and communicate the need to help Santa to their parents.  And while these children are not decisional, their power to influence their parents' purchasing decisions is greatly increased because if they don't buy Smart Balance they are risking letting their children know that Santa isn't real.And just to help out my point, here's a recent #HelpSanta tweet:

My 7yo is so excited that the @Smartbalance Santa Claus is on twitter! Eat healthy @SantasCookies #helpsanta

Let me know what you all think!

IKEA Global

IKEA Middle East brushed women out of the catalog.

http://earlystart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/02/branding-strategist-peter-shankman-on-ikea-catalogue-airbrushing-women-out-of-its-saudi-arabian-version-what-flies-in-america-might-not-fly-in-saudi-arabia/?iref=allsearch

Engaging through the Moment

When I saw the Liquid Plumber example during our engagement through the moment discussion today, I was reminded of a new, and slightly ridiculous liquid plumber commercial I saw while watching E!. I hate to say it, but I was probably watching the Kardashians when this ad popped up during a commercial break. The ad seems to be targeting female buyers, and from the looks of the actress in the commercial, I can infer that the company is targeting single female buyers. It's a little over the top, but it was strategically placed on this network since it is predominately viewed by females.

It's very entertaining for a drain unclogging product commercial, and it might be brilliant it it's attempt to engage through the Kardashian moment, it got my attention after all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7fz0jpuLkM

Target and Neiman Marcus Partner for Unique Ad Campaign During ABC's Revenge

Whether or not you have been sucked into the soap-like drama, Revenge, on ABC, an interesting new ad campaign and partnership debuted last night.  Target and Neiman Marcus partnered together and purchased all of the advertising for the show.  During the ad slots throughout the show, Target and Neiman Marcus featured actors from the show in a "story within the show story".  If you were just tuning in, you might have been confused at times determining whether you were watching the show or these mini-story advertisements.  Although unclear at times how two very different retailers like Target and Neiman Marcus could partner and what it would consist of, the big reveal here is its joint Holiday Collection debut.  The collection features a variety of gifts that will be available in both stores beginning December 1st. 

The logic between buying an entire show's advertising is to find a way to really reach consumers through advertising.  ABC even jumped through hoops to ensure Target and Neiman Marcus that their ad segments would be tied into their digital viewing alliances with Hulu and through their own website.  From a brand perspective, I think it is a  fascinating move.  Target obviously finds value in aligning its brand with a high-end retailer like Neiman Marcus to reinforce a big piece of its value prop-give its consumers the impression that they really are getting the best fashion at an unbeatable price. The brand logic for Neiman Marcus is a bit more complex and risky in my opinion.  I support the reason for this partnership for the fact that it may likely draw in aspirational consumers who may feel extremely excited about being able to purchase something at Neiman that they can afford.  This can eventually make Neiman the quintessential aspirational store for those individuals who have a great experience.  On the other hand, I think you can argue that by aligning the brand with a low price retailer like Target and by selling lower priced items as a result of this partnership, you could risk diluting your brand. 

Either way, I think such advertising moves may be something to look for in the future.

Here is a link to a teaser, that gives you an idea of what the segments were like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qolNjaACV9E

Women's Degree UltraClear

Along with our deodorant theme, below is a Degree commerical. It competes with Dove and Secret by going on ultra clear leading to fewer white marks. It is using a laddering down approach by showcasing the brand feature. It also shows the consumer the functional benefit. This commerical was clever because it used someone else to show how the product worked before the woman decided which product to use. There was "proof" from the guys shirt that degree went on clear.

Seasonal Consumer Rituals

Here is my take on the consumer love of seasonal flavors, such as Pumpkin Spice Late

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2012/11/06/craving-pumpkin-flavors-the-marketing-is-working/

ReFRESHing Our Memories: Understanding Those Classic Mentos Commercials

Do you suffer from the inability to forget one of those nonsense commercials from your childhood? I do and the culprit is Mentos. Mentos ran an ad campaign in the '90s in which the antagonist would experience an unexpected problem and Mentos helped the person keep their cool and come up with an unconventional solution. I never quite understood what it was about those classic Mentos commercial that caught my attention: the quirky jingle that I can recite fifteen years later, the ridiculously poor acting, or the uncanny storyboard.

In my new role as an advertising analyst, I thought it would be fun to return to the childhood commercials that will be ingrained in my memory forever and shine some light on these thirty second clips. It is obvious Perfetti Van Melle, the conglomerate that owns Mentos, was implementing a point-of-entry strategy to target youth that were looking for a different type of mint. Viewers were directed to purchase Mentos because of their "cool factor" - they helped you maintain your cool and innovate a playful solution to your problems. Mentos was the mint of choice for only one of my friends, but he consumed them all the time. This leads me to believe that the company had a gated community of loyal youth that frequently purchased their product and were looking to grow their brand with new entrants into the category.

The ads typically starred Anglo professionals in their mid-20s. Youth tend to want to act older than they are, and Mentos played on this desire by mixing professionalism and humor. The simple story board was used so that viewers could easily follow along and retain the song. According to our text book, "young children show an uncanny ability to play back advertising word for word. This is especially the case when information has a problem-episode outcome structure." This rings true with me, so everyone chime in with me:

"It doesn't matter what comes, fresh goes better in life, and Mentos is fresh and full of life. Nothing gets to you, staying fresh staying cool, with Mentos, fresh and full of life. Fresh goes better, Mentos freshness, fresh goes better with Mentos, fresh and full of life! Mentos, the freshmaker!

Please share with me a childhood commercial that you still remember today.

Lincoln Financial's Recent Ad Campaign

Lincoln Financial Group recently launched an integrated marketing campaign, which completely changed their target audience from their traditional sales channel or middlemen to their end-users.  To do so, they created a series of advertisements that all came back to identifying the end-user, as the "Chief Life Officer."  The intent was to make people realize that there are a lot of important decisions they make in their life and research revealed that the more people take control of the decisions in their life, the better they feel about the direction of their lives.  With this in mind, the goal for creative was to communicate the end-user is the chief executive of their own life, so you should take charge.  This tactic was implemented through the use of promoting the empowering aspect of taking control of your finances rather than a prevention or fear tactic.  The success of these ads can largely be attributed to:

1. Changing the target audience from B2B middlemen, to the end-user (which is somewhat unconventional in B2B.
2.  Having the campaign be research-based and drawing on customer insights to shape the content
3.  Using emotional appeal to really strike a chord with the end-users
4. Using an integrated ad campaign that used digital, social, and traditional media channels

Johnnie Walker

The following is an ad by Johnnie Walker. It's the longest tracking shot in advertising history and the whole thing had to be done in one take. In fact, one might call it a short film instead of an ad.

Per our conversation about Scotland and its frontier-like image, this ad really drives it home. It's also a great "brand story", and condenses over 200 years of history into a 6 minute monologue.

Samsung vs. Apple

This advertisement of Samsung goes along with our discussion on Wednesday. Samsung decided to take the approach of going after non-users and using the tactic of category build. Samsung is trying to direct customers to their brand. In the commerical, it highlights Apple customers didn't get features in their previous release where Samsung users already had them . I think it is interesting to look at the faces of the people waiting in line because they are making excuses of why the Apple is so "cool" and worth the wait. Then it moves to showcase features that iPhone doesn't have which makes Apple customers want that product. Samsung goes after the competition in order to demonstrate the differences in their product and how Apple is lacking.  This commerical reminded me of when Apple went after Windows users. Samsung is using a similar approach.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf5-Prx19ZM&feature=youtu.be

Swagger Wagon...

I thought about this video during all of our car talks on Wednesday. Toyota seems to be targeting young parents who still want to feel cool and may not necessarily want succumb to the purchase of a mini-van. The only problem with the advertisement is that it's memorable in itself, but I couldn't recall the brand associated with it. Now that I watch it again, I see it's Toyota. Perhaps they could have included "Toyota" throughout the words in the rap or supplemented the ad with billboards that further showed that Toyota was associated with the Swagger Wagon.

Check it out, it's a pretty entertaining video.

Groupon has more problems than demand...

The class discussion on "when not to advertise" on Tuesday was fairly interesting - specifically regarding Groupon and how the salon was unable to meet the resulting demand.  Interestingly enough, advertising doesn't appear to be a strong point for Groupon in the first place.  In my intercultural communications course, we focused on the following Super Bowl commercial by Groupon (2011):

My gut instinct was to be offended at the apparent insensitivity of Groupon to the plight of Tibetans.  In evaluating the advertisement using the "AD PLAN" framework, it seems as though Groupon generates negative amplification, thereby hurting it's brand equity.

In actuality, Groupon's commercials were intended to be 'funny' through their call to action (Save the Money) while hiring a well-known actor.  Furthermore, each of the three Save the Money commercials failed to highlight their altruistic component; that is, Groupon was matching users' contributions to three different charities (up to $100,000 each).

What's your take on the commercial?  And do you think that, if executed differently, these commercials could have been successful?

World of Warcraft and Gaming

After our World of Warcraft discussion Tuesday, I recalled this song from 2009 (it was a viral hit) and thought I should post. If you're familiar with the Guild, a web comedy, you will recognize the characters but even if not, it's a fun insight into MMORPG. It's a bit suggestive but hilarious--pay attention to the lyrics.
Obviously, this was meant to promote the show (The Guild) but I think it also works in a greater space that advertises for role playing games like WOW by simultaneously poking fun of players of the game while also celebrating being a "nerd" aka, an individual or nonconformist.