Upon the completion of the Masters, naturally people are back to talking about Tiger Woods. He recently received harsh comments after Nike aired its latest online ad shown below. The ad, which was posted on Facebook and Twitter basically alludes to the scandal and career stumbles that Woods has faced to regain his world no. 1 ranking.
Woods has used the quote since 2009 and would commonly use it when reporters would ask him about his or other golfers' rankings.
The ad was put up at the end of March 2013, and since then it has gotten more than 8,000 likes and 2,000 shares on Facebook. Since there was such unpredictable responses, Nike was forced to comment.
"Tiger has always said he competes to win," Nike spokesman Beth Gast
said in a statement. "When asked about his goals such as getting back to
No. 1, he has said consistently winning is the way to get there. The
statement references that sentiment and is a salute to his athletic
performance."
A twitter poll by ESPN also revealed that others didn't seem to care either way. There were others who didn't seem bothered. In an unscientific poll
taken on Twitter by ESPN business reporter Darren Rovell, of 178
respondents, 84.1 percent said the ad was "no big deal," while 15.9
percent called it "offensive."
When you've seen countless numbers of "Got Milk?" ads over the years, you would think that selling milk would be cake right? Wrong. Despite almost 20 years of the famous milk mustache ads of athletes, musicians, and celebrities, milk sales are continuing to fall at a fast rate. According the the milk groups responsible for marketing the drink, the National Dairy Promotion & Research Program has down its job to advertise the calcium-fortified juices and vitamin-enhanced beverages that have supplanted milk’s healthy image; however, the public's preference for milk may just be changing altogether.
Athletes and health food advocates often reject cholesterol, fat, calories, and allergens. According to Health News, Dr. Benjamin Spock, whose pediatric advice shaped the entire Baby Boom
generation, recommended no milk for children after age two, in his later
years, to reduce their risks of heart disease, obesity, high blood
pressure, diabetes and diet-related cancers.
To reverse the decline of milk drinkers, marketers have tried just about everything. From campaigns such as "Milk: It Does a Body Good" to "Got Milk" to suggesting milk as a diet drink, none of the campaigns seem to increase milk sales. I guess it doesn't matter who is pictured in the ads, milk could be a thing of the past.
PETA (People for the Ehical Treatment of Animals) has a very noble goal that is against using animals in labratories, for fur, for entertainment practices (such as dogfighting), and the like. However, it seems that PETA has lost a lot of its credibility due to its controversial advertisements.
In one attempt to raise awareness, volunteers were packaged naked, similar to the way meat is found in the grocery store with the tagline "Meat Is Murder." The stunt garnered a lot of attention.
As well, PETA was heavily criticized for its insensitivity in its "To Animals, All People Are Nazis" ads, where holocaust victims are shown next to caged chickens.
Often, PETA is criticized for being sexist and simply exploiting women instead of animals in its "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign where celebrities pose naked.
This commercial was banned after airing in the Super Bowl in 2007.
This video contains women in lingerie rubbing themselves against vegetables with the tagline "Studies show vegetarians have better sex." I don't know what these unnamed studies are, but I can only assume they are not very credible ones, especially because how does one measure the "quality" of sex quantitatively?
All in all, it seems that PETA, who has a great goal of respecting animals, overshoots its target and promotes vegetarianism using fear and sex tactics. Vegetarianism, though widely practiced, has been argued as going against human's omnivorous nature. Sadly, PETA has become a bit of a joke amongst mainstream media and is not taken as seriously as it could be.
Roughly 450,000 students will face more difficult standardized tests coinciding with new national standards in math and reading on Tuesday, April 16th, 2013. To help families and students better understand the tests, city officials ran a $240,000 campaign of print advertisements used mainly in subway cars and on the Staten Island Ferry.
“This spring, state exams for students in grades 3-8 will be different
and more challenging,” one of the ads said. “And the test scores will
reflect that at first.”
Education officials didn't launch the splashy campaign until Monday, April 15th, 2013, just a day before the students sit down to take the exams.
While schools have been preparing for the new tests since September, parents of children say that their kids are scared and worried they'll do poorly. The majority of the time, high-stakes exams are used when making decisions to promote students, award bonuses, or close schools.
City schools won’t get a curriculum tailored to Common Core standards
until September, months after the first group of students will have
already taken the new exams, and education officials predict that students scores could drop roughly 30% because of the harder tests.
I understand the importance of warning parents of more difficult standardized tests; however, I do not think launching an ad campaign a day before the already nervous children take the standardized tests is very appropriate. Since the children have already been preparing since September, that would have been the most appropriate time to run an advertising campaign, not the night before to add to their worries and lack of sleep.
Advertising
in today’s society has become very extensive, so much so that it has more or
less ingrained in our cultural identity. We can argue forever over whether or
not this is negative or harmful, but the truth of it cannot be disputed. We see
advertising everywhere. Anywhere companies can think to put their messages,
they will do so as long as they are permitted to. It is not something that we
can escape.
Inevitably,
advertisers would want to connect their messages to other parts of our cultural
identity, especially as people who enjoy and utilize media so often. This is
where pop culture comes into play. As consumers of media, we love pop culture;
we can’t get enough references, jokes, and quotes from the entertainment we
have grown to love.
A
commercial which aired during the 2012 Super Bowl is a proof of concept. Honda
incorporated Matthew Broderick, reprising his iconic role as Ferris Bueller, into
their bid for Super Bowl greatness. He stole the show in a call back to the
classic 80’s movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Honda understood that most people
would not find a commercial for their product to be very exciting, but by
associating it with a well-loved movie, people will go crazy over it. The Youtube
video alone has over 16.5 million views.
Another
very recent example comes from GE, in a commercial showcasing new technology
being put to work in modern hospitals. The ad features Hugo Weaving in his
character Agent Smith, from the well known Matrix movies. GE also manages to do
something with the commercial here that the Honda commercial didn’t do that
effectively. It connected the pop culture reference with the technology that
they were advertising for. Agent Smith, an evil computer program in the movie,
but in the ad he is actually a spokesperson for programs and technology that
help save people’s lives, and the irony is not lost on fans of the movie.
Experiential marketing is something exciting that is
happening in advertising now that gets the consumer completely involved in the
advertising process. Companies are no longer only flashing an advertisement to
a consumer, but taking their hand and giving them a lasting experience that
they’ll always remember.
Experiential marketing can take many forms, but basically
just means that you are providing the audience with a real-life experience of
the brand, product, or company in the hopes to create a lasting impression. But
what is an experience? It’s not really something I can write about, it’s
something you must see. So here are a few examples of this type of advertising
in action:
The following is the experiencial advertising promotion for Seat
Technology that saves gasoline when driving your vehicle. Whenever the vehicle
stops, the car will convert that unused energy into potential energy to be used
later – saving the driver money on gas. In order to show this in a personally
unique way, they created a campaign in which taxi fare in cars with this
technology reduces every time the driver brakes. The consumer can physically in
real time see that they are saving money and learn about the product in a fun
and personal way instead of hearing a string of facts.
Another example is a campaign that I had shown in a previous
post about Coca-Cola’s guerilla marketing techniques. In this example, they are
not attemption to sell the consumer on the details of a product, but rather
have them experience the brand character. In this segment you’ll see the coke “hug”
machine, in which you can only get a soda once you give the machine a big squeeze.
Hugging is a universal sign of friendship and love, which is a strong factor in
Coca-Cola’s brand identity.
The entire idea behind advertising is to create a lasting
positive impression on the consumer, and as Maya Angelou said, “People will
forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never
forget how you made them feel.”
This isn't the first or second time that McDonald's has been in hot water over legal issues. One of the largest fast food companies had to pull a Big Mac ad that was posted on Boston's public transportation last week after being mistaken as a service ad for mental healthy services. The ad posted below shows a helpless woman holding her head in her hands. The copy reads "You're not alone, millions of people love the Big Mac".
The advertisement clearly parodies typical PSAs. It basically makes fun of those who actually need mental health counseling. While it isn't shown in the above picture, there is a phone number on the lower part of the copy. If called, it leads to McDonald's corporate offices. The ad was first noticed by a law professor, but soon enough was all over social media.
After harsh critiques and complaints, news finally got back to the burger chain. McDonald's denies ever approving the ad and blames the mistake on a marketing process error. A spokesperson for the chain said that as soon as McDonald's had learned about it, it was taken down immediately. Nicole DiNoia also went onto say, "We have an approval process in place, with our marketing and advertising agencies, to ensure that all advertising content is consistent with our brand values. Regrettably, in this incident, that process was not followed". The company has since apologized for the error.
Despite admitting there was an error in marketing, it seems like a very big mistake to get through the many people that make up such a big company.
TransAmerica is an insurance company that offers life
insurance policies, retirement funds, and other services. A recent commercial
for their life insurance policy attempts to tug at the audience’s heart strings
and have a strong emotional reaction to the possibility of the death of a loved
one. This could cause a feeling of need to protect your family from the
possibility of this awful event, or maybe they took the “sappiness” too far,
making it seem a little bit ridiculous.
This commercial implements depressive music and dark visuals to try to bring about feelings of a dark and
gloomy time. This gets a little bit over-the-top in my opinion, but the moment
that seals the deal is the little girl expressing “this is just how mom used to
make it”. It was almost a moment that makes you roll your eyes. As a commercial
we all realize that the ad is attempting to evoke feelings to change our
behavior, that is a well-known fact, and being so incredibly transparent in its
attempt to do this can render it ineffective to the more educated audience. In
my opinion this commercial could have been good if they toned down the sadness
just a bit, but at this level, it creates such a transparent attempt at duping
the audience.
A new fad that is taking place in the advertising industry
is called “memeadvertising”. A meme is hard to define, it’s one of those things
where you know it when you see it. The dictionary defines it as “an idea,
behavior, style or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture”.
However today, it has mostly been used as a term for internet silliness. Bored
at work? Look at some funny memes and you’ll be lol-ing in no time. But a meme
is more than that, it’s the branding of an image or phrase within social
popular culture, and now advertisers are tapping into it.
Remember the Dos Equis guy? “The most interesting man in the
world”? He’s a meme now. People loved the idea and ran with it using spin-offs
and other images but always remaining true to the idea of the character. This
has done wonders for Dos Equis, everyone knows the name now and even feels the
need to do “the pose” when drinking the beer. Here are a few examples of how this
meme has been used: (even sometimes for OTHER brands!)
This however is not exactly Dos Equis using “memeadvertising”, this was a
character brand created by Dos Equis that eventually became a meme simply because it was a great brand – perhaps “the
most interesting in the world.” Memeadvertising however either existing memes
that have spread widely through our social culture and remakes them to serve
their own advertising purposes, or creates a new one entirely. Since these are
already enjoyed by the public, these ads can be integrated seamlessly into pop culture.
Here is an example of Maynards Granny Smith Sour Apple creating their own brand new meme, and Virgin using the already well-known "success kid" meme to advertise themselves.
We all know Justin Bieber as a teen pop icon. Unfortunately, as passionate as his fans are, his opposition is just (if not more) emphatic. Bieber, a 19-year old, is exposed to the same technologies as other 19-year old kids (Twitter, Facebook, etc.). Because of his fame, his occasional online missteps tends to get him in a lot more trouble on an international forum than typical 19-year olds.
Earlier this month, Bieber got backlash for writing a letter on Instagram where he defended himself against his negative press and the difficulties he faces everyday. At the end of the letter, he took a jab at Lindsay Lohan, who he has been compared to. This simple jab was all that was remembered of his sincere letter on growing up in the media's eye.
Recently, Bieber has been stomped by his opposition after visiting the historical Anne Frank House on his European tour and making the comment that he "hopes Anne Frank would have been a 'belieber'". "Beliebers", of course, are what his fans call themselves. Anti-beliebers came out in force, calling him cocky, insensitive, and many other negative things that I probably shouldn't vocalize on here. A rabbi came out in defense of Bieber, claiming that, as a modern ordinary teen, Anne Frank probably would have been a fan of Justin Bieber's music. Instead of taking offense to the comment, the rabbi claims that Bieber was marveling at her strength, kindness, and that is the embodiment of Bieber's musical message.
This made me wonder what Bieber's PR does, but, really, they have their work cut out for them. No matter what Bieber says, he is forever marketed on the internet as the embodiment of what is wrong with American music. Strangely, this makes me sad for him. He's really just a kid. He didn't ask for fame, and he is doing the best he can with what he's got.
In 2007 Pantene released a campaign endorsing their newest
shampoo and conditioner line for women. During this campaign, a commercial was
released. When watching the commercial, they’re nothing all that special, very
simple just a pretty woman whipping her shiny gorgeous hair around for everyone
to see with lots of smiling ridiculously happy people around her. But wait,
there’s something weird. There's another commercial just like it! The commercials are nearly identical, one for white women, one for black.
Strange? I’d say so. Racist? Maybe a little, but that’s up
to the viewer to decide. The lines are different, which is why there's the two separate commercials, but come on. If you're going to make two separate commercials, then make two separate commercials. We don't need to see a woman in the exact same dress with the exact same hair style doing the exact same thing - with a different skin color.
This was actually brought to my attention by a friend
of mine who had noticed this commercial and remembers it 6 years later. “I
couldn’t believe it, it was just the most insane thing,” she says, “I mean they
don’t even talk about it like it’s a different product, at least make two
different commercials!” While the commercial did have staying power and is
remembered many years later by those who witnessed it, the impact was less than
ideal and left a negative impression on the audience.
It
AMAZES me how social media channels can be used to spread awareness about the
latest trends or events. The hype surrounding Kmart’s “Ship My Pants” ad
is unbelievable. After only 5 days since its release on YouTube, the ad has generated
7.8 million views.
It really is a must watch!
“The
pun-heavy spot in which Kmart shoppers are strongly encouraged to ‘ship their
pants’ is quickly heading toward 10 million views on YouTube,” wrote Tim Nudd
for Adweek.com.
According
to viral experts from Unruly Media, one out of every nine viewers is sharing
the ad. Currently, it was been shared 800,000 times and it is the
second-most-shared ad of the last 30 days. I believe they are having great
success by using social media channels to spread their commercial.
The
article “Kmart’s ‘ship my pants’ ad causes shockwaves and smiles”
reports that some social media users have criticized the ad and labeled it
“gross” and vulgar” while others enjoyed its edgy sense of humor. According to
the critics, “they are using a vulgar word that sounds very much like ship,”
wrote Laura Petrecca for USAtoday.com
Whether
or not the ad is vulgar or gross, it has still been a sensation on YouTube. I
admire Kmart for taking this risk and transforming what some call a vulgar and gross phrase into a funny ad.
Although the spot has only been released on YouTube, Kmart officials are
seriously considering media payments to show it on TV. And honestly, why wouldn’t
they?
Each of
us who have seen ET remember the classic scene where Elliot uses his Reese’s
Pieces to befriend his extraterrestrial visitor. Since that moment in film
history, product placement has rapidly expanded and embedded itself into today’s
movies and entertainment media. This corporate tactic ranges from subtle to
painfully obvious, from clever to completely distracting.
Of
course, it is helpful for today’s movie makers, as they get to expand their
budget in exchange for sharing some screen-time with a few brand images. It is
also a great option for companies as well, since movie audiences potentially
number well into the tens of millions, generating huge numbers of brand
exposures in the audience.
There
are some excellent forms of product placement in movies. Some choose to hang a
lampshade on it so that the audience is well aware of what is going on and make
a joke out of it. The fantastic example of this comes from Wayne’s World when the
characters argue against selling out while simultaneously being extremely
obvious in their endorsements for the products they are using.
Another example of an interesting
use of product placement comes from the movie Fight Club, where companies such
as BMW are used to communicate the anti-consumerism sentiment. In fact, much of
the movie deals with this type of thinking, as none of the companies are
portrayed in a positive light. To quote the narrator, “When deep space
exploration ramps up, it'll be the corporations that name everything, the IBM
Stellar Sphere, the Microsoft Galaxy, Planet Starbucks.“ And according to the
director himself, there is a Starbucks cup in every scene of the movie in one
form or another. It is very interesting to me, because the products are actually part of the movie's message.
However, product placement also
exists at the opposite end of the spectrum, where the audience is assaulted
with a constant stream of corporate images. The most egregious examples come
from Michael Bay’s Transformer movies, which have been record-braking in their
use of product placement. In the clip, we can clearly see the contrast between
the different approaches to product placement.
Personally, I think all product
placement should be less subversive. The audience is watching the movie for a
few hours of entertainment. For their money, they should be free of the assault
of brands and products, or at least be made aware that they are being that they
are being sold something.
Traditionally, focus groups and
other forms of product evaluation have been strictly for internal research.
They were meant to provide valuable feedback for a company’s product or
service, and are useful for getting detailed information on consumer opinions.
However, in the last few years companies have been finding other uses for them
as well. Advertisers understand that consumers are likely to listen to the
opinions of other consumers. It is a great antithesis to the standard celebrity
endorsement, who the audience knows is a paid spokesperson.
Dominos’s has used the focus group
as a form of advertising when they decided that they needed to reshape their
brand’s identity. They felt that their customers believed their pizzas used low
quality ingredients and that Domino’s was even deceiving them about what
ingredients they used. Rather than trying to hide these consumer opinions, they
chose to put them on display and confront them directly. One example of the commercials regarding the quality of the cheese they use for Domino’s
pizza can be watched on Youtube.
Perhaps it was to be expected, but variations of
this formula have begun to pop up in the world of advertising. Companies
started including humor in these focus group scenarios rather than genuine
consumer opinions. Snickers new Peanut Butter Squares candy exchanged humans
for sharks in a humorous, and perhaps a little dark, focus group setup.
Finally, some of the latest examples
of the focus group advertisement come from AT&T in a series of highly
entertaining ads. These ads feature an adult male leading a group of young kids
in a focus group asking very simple questions. Children, who often provide some
of the most entertaining quotes, are the perfect foil for the focus group
leader, who maintains the same personality through each commercial. The overall purpose of this campaign is to show how the choice between AT&T and the competition should be a simple one. Take a look
at an example of these commercials below:
