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