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.