Toyota's 2018 Olympic Campaign

Toyota sponsored both the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and the 2018 Paralympics as part of their first ever global campaign, 'Freedom of Movement'. During the 52nd Superbowl, Toyota kick-started this campaign with their first three commercials in a series of ten, one of which is linked below. All of their commercials call upon viewers to check out the website for the campaign, www.mobilityforall.com , which elaborates on their efforts to 'improve movement for everyone'.

This commercial, entitled "Good Odds" features Paralympic gold medalist Lauren Woolstencroft, a disabled skier. Though odds may have been against her from birth, she never stopped working hard and went on to win eight gold Paralympic medals. Despite having to work harder than most, she kept going, and seizes her freedom to move. An inspiring, feel-good first step into the campaign, Toyota immediately captured audiences' attention and inspired them to pursue their messages further. 

Like any good advertising campaign, this one also includes social media efforts, highlighting the hashtags '#teamtoyota', '#startyourimpossible', and '#letsgoplaces' across Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. They also recruited and sponsored several of the world's top athletes, including Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim and figure skater Ashley Wagner to be brand ambassadors at the actual games. Wagner came to extreme popularity this year after her reaction to just barely not making the US Olympic team this year. The ultimate message behind the campaign is that everyone has the 'freedom of movement'. Wagner's commercial touches upon her struggle and relates to audience members who may not have experienced such successes, but have experienced extreme disappointments. They can be encouraged knowing that some of the world's most talented people still fail sometimes, but they never give up. The slogan featured at the end of the commercial, "start your impossible" echos this sentiment. 

Other commercials from this campaign feature more inspiring stories, such as the 'mobility anthem' which features a vast array of people from different cultures, ages and gender identities and how they move through their lives, as well as technological advances meant to aid mobility and garner more accessibility for disabled people, such as artificial intelligence driving. 

As this is Toyota's first global campaign, it comes as no surprise that it is so content heavy. The messaging of this campaign is overall 'movement', which is logical for a transportation, specifically car company. Even the 'start your impossible' slogan is reminiscent of a car, as you start cars, as well. While this messaging relates to cars which audiences familiarize Toyota with, this campaign also aims to raise awareness of Toyota's expansion as a mobility brand, more than just automobiles. 

The real key feature of this campaign, however, appears to be the inclusion and acknowledgement of a such a wide target audiences. With a global campaign, it is extremely difficult to narrow your message down to encompass and relate to everyone in meaningful ways that can cross cultural boundaries. However, Toyota has surpassed those boundaries by focusing on such a basic human experience and by having such a diverse range of representation throughout their commercials. Families can relate, hard workers can relate, disabled people can relate, even though most of us are not professional athletes, let alone the 'best of the best' at whatever particular thing it is we may do. Despite that though, we are all inspired by the potential we all have as human beings, all created equal. We all have that same freedom to move, and Toyota has really built a solid campaign based around that core message of motion. 

It will be interesting to see the results once this campaign has finished its run, because it is anticipated to be highly successful, particularly if their goals were to improve brand attitudes towards Toyota, as not just an automobile producer, but a mobility company. This campaign is clearly geared more towards awareness and PR, rather than directly increasing sales or profits, however, with major success, Toyota should expect to see higher sales numbers as a result of this strongly resonating with so much of their wide consumer base. 

Is Snapchat on the outs?

Since Snapchat started in 2012, it has easily been one of the most used social media sites. However, their most recent update was by far their least popular. Earlier this year, Snapchat's latest update had users outraged with an entirely new layout.

It started with users taking to other sites to complain, such as Twitter and Facebook. People were mainly trying to get information on how to use the new layout. Then, once it became a general consensus, it turned into a joke. People were creating memes and funny tweets about the Snapchat news. Users even began petitions to send Snapchat back to its old looks, which did not eventually lead to anything. 

Even with all of the complaints and bad publicity for Snapchat, they still wanted to keep their look as they had it. They knew that even if people do not love their app at first, they'll come around because in the end, it is still one of the most used social media platform. However, they were unexpectedly incorrect. Kylie Jenner, one of the most famous celebrities on social media, declared she did not even open the Snapchat app anymore on Twitter. 

sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me... ugh this is so sad.

— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) February 21, 2018

As soon as she tweeted this, Snapchat's stock dropped 6% and their market value dropped $1.3 billion. With no signs of a rewind update for Snapchat, are people done with it completely? Or will the app save itself?

"Cavemen can do it!"

Geico’s most notable commercials, next to the Geico gecko, are the Cavemen. This advertisement was first aired in 2004 and contained the slogan, “So easy, a caveman could do it”. This would lead the company to making over twenty separate commercials over the decade. Some were about bowling, while others were about cavemen being on the jumbotron at a basket ball game. But in all of them, the slogan and characters have remained the same. This illustrates the use of repetition constantly by having the same slogan used throughout the years. 

Now there are few people who cannot remember the Geico Cavemen. This also uses humor to keep the viewers entertained. I personally have always been very entertained by these commercials. They were simple, funny, and very creative. It even spawned a short-lived sitcom on ABC. So short-lived, in fact, as it became the shortest lived sitcom in ABC history. 

A History of Apple Advertising Styles

Apple Inc. got started as a company, back in 1976, but they weren't really known for having memorable, signature ads until a couple years after they first released their iPods, back in 2001. Along with the release of the popularization of the iPod came their 'Silhouette' campaign, which lasted from 2003 to 2011. 

The campaign featured commercials, print ads, and billboards alike, featured below. Apple even used this imagery on their gift cards for several years as well. 

http://www.pophistorydig.com/topics/ipod-silhouettes-2000-2011/

The ads are fairly simple, consisting of only a black silhouette, a white iPod, and various colored backgrounds. In the print advertisements, they intentionally lacked copy for a number of years, though the slogan for the campaign, as well as the iPod in general, was '1,000 songs in your pocket'. Despite the simplicity, the ads spoke volumes and created an iconic imagery that when now used in popular culture, people associate with iPods. The commercials for this campaign were upbeat, indie pop hits, generally, new releases from the year the commercials aired during, which captured the attention of their core demographic -- young, trendy, fun-loving adults who love music -- which is exactly who were buying iPods at the time, to replace their beloved CD players and Walkmans. These advertisements almost serve as a demonstration, a reflection of Apple's core users, speaking to the right side of the brain, more so than listing off features, pricing details, or where it's available. None of those details are ever really important for Apple to list, because more than anything, Apple has always sold users a lifestyle and sort of status, rather than the latest and greatest in technology, even when they were the latest and greatest innovators. 

By 2011, everyone was familiar with the silhouetted iPod advertisements, and they started to ad more copy to change up the messaging of the advertisements. Rather than building awareness of the iPod, the silhouette could then stand for itself, along with the easily recognizable Apple apple logo, and the copy exists to make note of the lifestyle of iPod users. "It's only rock and roll, but we like it" is a simple phrase, consistent with the Apple style, but also makes a casual statement all music lovers can understand. Maybe it's just music, but maybe just music is a lifestyle. When you have over 1,000 songs in your pocket, music certainly is important enough to keep that close to you, at all times, no matter where you are, which is precisely what the beauty of the iPod is. These ads are quintessentially Apple and will be remembered for years to come. 

With the dominance of iPhones declining iPod sales, Apple took the advertising focus off the iPods and made all of their later advertising imagery match their existing style for Macbooks, iPads, and iPhones alike. Similar to the silhouette style, the styling is still minimalistic, consistent to speak to the lifestyles of their trendy, younger, technologically advanced demographic (see the 'maximum funness' copy below). Even the colors of the later iPods still reflect those original advertisements, the bright colors having become such a core part of the iPod branding. Though some of the more modern advertisements featured below appear stylistically different from those iPod ads, a distinct pattern can still be picked out -- as previously noted, not just the minimalism, but the cute, fun one liner of copy, the pop of color are all reminiscent. Featuring only actual product itself and the product name, in addition to showing specifically the side of a product to represent how thin it is appears to be their latest course of advertising style. 

Source: Apple

Source: Apple

Source: Apple

At this point, it almost doesn't matter what style changes Apple makes. As previously stated, Apple has always been about selling status and a lifestyle, and now, they have an extremely loyal almost cult-like customer base that will buy the products no matter what messaging strategy Apple employs. The products always speak for themselves and that is why Apple's current strategy centers around just a picture of the new release. They always sell, even when they lack favorable features, like headphone ports or universal charging cables. All Apple has to do is remind customers that hey, they're Apple, and they have a new product you will buy to keep up with your Apple lifestyle, because everyone uses Apple, you've always used Apple, your old iPhone was getting old anyway, wasn't it? 

Knowing Your Product

One of the most important parts of branding and running a successful advertising campaign is knowing your product or intellectual property. If you don't know all of the details about what your selling to the public, then one small error can be the difference between a hit or a miss. When a product is branded correctly, it can wildly successful.

No one knew this more than Fox Entertainment, when they were creating the hit Deadpool in 2016. Taking a chance and producing a movie with this character was a major risk at the time. the only other time the character Deadpool was featured in a film was in 2009 when he was severely missed in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. For of you that don't know, Deadpool is a wise cracking, explicit comic book character that is aware that he's not real, and that he exist inside a comic book/movie. Deadpool is also a mercenary trained in weapons combat, has super healing and strength, and depending on who you talk to, teleportation.

When Fox began to produce this movie, they decided to take a major risk and run the marketing campaign like deadpan would. Most of the produced material consists of viral videos of Deadpool talking about different things such as Australia Day and Halloween.

This major risk that the studio took in choosing to market this content, paid off in spades when Deadpool grossed over 783 million dollars in its run in theaters, making over thirteen times its budget for the film. Having faith in your properties and knowing exactly what your selling proves that risks can pay off when hey are excited correctly

Here are some of the promotion videos Fox put out ahead of Deadpool's release:

Hockey in the South?

When you think of hockey, you don't necessarily think of the beach, barbecue, or the desert. Logistically hockey does not make sense in southern markets such as Dallas, Arizona, or Florida, but the NHL has found some success in those cities. This is due to the teams marketing and advertising themselves well enough to generate real interest in the teams. In fact St. Louis, Dallas, San Jose, and Tampa Bay all operate between 98%-100% capacity throughout the 41 games each team plays at home.

The Dallas Stars are one of those teams that have worked hard to increase interest in their city. Dallas is such a big city, and if people want to go to sporting events, they have just about as many options as New York or Los Angeles. Dallas currently has the Dallas Stars, Texas Rangers, Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Wings, FC Dallas, and the Dallas Cowboys. Thats a lot of competition that the Stars have to face. Not all teams run games dousing the same time of year, but the Dallas Mavericks run their season directly parallel with the Stars. The Stars are still able to bring in a large crowd and thats due to the advertising campaigns they run. 

These two billboards although may not be large television commercials or expensive campaigns, but they work because the Stars know their demographic and what they enjoy. People enjoy the sport of hockey because it goes fast, their aren't many stops in the middle of a game, and it has a heightened yet mature level of violence. 

The Stars know this well and they execute it perfectly. They also know that the youth movement in this country will eventually drive their sales, which is why they utilize comedy in their ads taking playful shots altho he other sports in town. Dallas did an amazing job building the groundwork for their financial success throughout their future. 

The 2016 Stadium Series

The Pittsburgh Penguins have always done a fantastic job marketing their team to the city of Pittsburgh. There was no exception when the National Hockey League announced that the Penguins would host a Stadium Series game on February 18th, 2017. They would host the Philadelphia Flyers, and would play the game at Heinz Field on a rink built on the turf.

The Penguins then went to work to market their outdoor game, selling it to fans of both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. From that point on, every piece of promotional material or advertisement that went out, related to the city of Pittsburgh and the rivalry between the two cities. Their logo for the event was designed to look the the bridges all over the city of Pittsburgh, while the details show metalworking inside the"Series" and "Pittsburgh" banner.

Philadelphia and Pittsburgh then began working on their conjoined marketing plan, with the NHL. The teams were both pushing the rivalry aspect of the game, and how it was "The Battle for Pennsylvania". of course in professional sports everything is sponsored so Coors Light would present the Stadium Series. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia then came up with new uniform designs that were created for this event in particular. Pittsburgh's gold uniforms were meant to contrast directly with Philadelphia's new orange jerseys.

When game finally came of a below freezing night in February, (trust me, I was there) Even the arena was built to resemble the city of Pittsburgh, and the Penguins had actual live penguins brought in from the PPG Aquarium. The teams walked out on the yellow "beams" to enter into the arena, and their was a performance during the 2nd intermission from Train. The NHL succeeded in putting on a great show in Pittsburgh. the found that it was so successful, they planned a rematch to take place in 2019, where this time Philadelphia will play the host in Lincoln Financial Field.

"Dilly Dilly!"

Bud Lite at its Finest

Bud lite has recently made an enormous success with their latest ad campaign featuring a medival kingdom that is obsessed with the alcoholic beverage. These ads first began with a king being given Bud lite by his subjects, and when one gives him a whine, that man is sent to the pit of misery. This illustrates how Bud Lite is both popular, and that other people won’t be happy with anything else. The next few are just as humorous as the others, but the best begin close to Super Bowl time. 

The first is a “pep talk” where the king’s forces are terribly outmatched. He goes on to say how the enemy has all these advantages, but then explains they’re out of Bud Lite, and the enemy has some! The army then charges into battle because they want the Bud Lite that badly. This then leads to a second commercial where the kingdom is losing badly, and things look bleak. However, the “Bud knight” shows up, and after going through the battle he gets some bud light from the store on the other side. The people then ask if he’s going to help, and after a bit of discussing, he saves them all. This leads to the catchline, “to the friends that always have your back”, which enforces the idea that bud light is what friends drink.

The ad campaign also made videos for each of the teams playing in the super bowl. Which was where the king gives pep talks to each of the teams. In fact, the Eagle’s video was where they got the term “Phily Phily” which was a play on “Dilly Dilly”, the ad campaign’s catch phrase. This campaign had such a large following, that the Eagle’s named one of the play’s that won the game “Philly Philly”. The fact that this campaign reached such a high level like that shows it's effectiveness. Overall, these advertisements used Bandwagon and Repetition the most. For instance, the commercials emphasize everyone and their friends are drinking Bud Lite. While it also repeats the phrase "Dilly Dilly” in each of it’s commercials, which is how the campaign has become so well known and familiar with people. In all, this ad campaign was tremendously successful, and hopefully it it will continue for a long time to come.

YouTube reacts to Logan Paul

Over the past few years, Logan Paul has been quite the internet sensation. He began on the Vine app originally, but has recently been more of a YouTube star. For most of his internet career, he was known for his light-heartedness and comedic content. In January of 2018, Paul posted a controversial video dealing with a suicide victim. This video was eventually removed by YouTube and Paul released a public apology and was given "one strike". Soon after this was forgotten about, Paul put out yet another controversial video post involving dead animals.  This time around, YouTube was fed up with the use of his platform.

This raises a tricky situation for the company. YouTube prides themselves in being a place for anyone to express themselves with the freedom of speech. However, once one reaches the level of subscriptions and audience members that Paul has, YouTube realizes that these influencers reflect on them as a company just as much as on themselves. 

YouTube saw fit that they temporarily suspend the advertisements on Paul's videos. His content was not seen as appropriate for brands. Though this seems like a good option for YouTube, is it really punishing the source of the problem? The question that lies is does removing the ads on Logan Paul's YouTube channel punish him as a vlogger or the companies of the ads? Should YouTube have taken a different approach?

http://variety.com/2018/digital/news/logan-paul-youtube-advertising-suspended-1202693482/

http://www.businessinsider.com/youtubers-react-to-logan-paul-ad-suspension-2018-2

Miami Heat unveil their new City Jersey.

The NBA's Miami Heat have recently showcased and produced their new alternative jerseys. Named the "Vice" City edition jerseys, the uniforms are meant to be a celebration of the city of Miami playing off of the successful late 20th century TV show, Miami Vice. Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the Heat, Michael McCullough, said that the uniforms are an "ode to the City of Miami, its distinctive history, [and] its iconic place in the annuals of pop culture."

 By using the same copy for the "Miami" as the original text used in the classic 1988 lettering only reinforces the team's idea of showcasing the history of Miami. Instead of ignoring a drug filled decade within the 1980s of Miami, the team has decided to focus on the positive aspects that arose from that time period such as the distinct Miami fashion that grew to define the city of Miami. Since the team unveiled the new uniforms, it has gotten massive amounts of praise from the online community. After recently acquiring back Miami Heat legend, Dwayne Wade, the sales for his "Vice" City jersey increased the Miami Heat's store sales by eight thousand percent.

One can see how using Pop culture references within marketing can be extremely effective. Being able to recognize the appeal of the Miami Vice color scheme and the unique visuals, along with the history of the city was a great way to create an attachment between the customer, the team, and the city. The Miami Heat have done a great job in capturing a distinct aspect of Miami and picked colors that will attract customers from the Miami area as well as customers from around the world.