Advertising for Our Advertising

Everyone knows the Super Bowl is the biggest advertising day of the year. Advertisers are paying nearly 4 million dollars for thirty second spots during this Sunday's matchup and to make sure they're getting the most from their money some companies are making commercials for their commercials.

This spot featuring Arnold Schwarzenneger is just one of many being run by Bud Light to build up hype for their super bowl commercial. But isn't this approach kind of counter intuitive to why companies pay the big bucks in the first place? 

The super bowl is supposed to be a guaranteed audience for your advertisement and an instant way to get people talking about an ad and a product, yet companies are spending even more money to start the conversation early. Other companies are also releasing their super bowl advertisements early. 

Super Bowl ads you can watch before the Super Bowl

Are these really effective strategies for advertising?

Also I apologize if youtube plays an advertisement before the advertisement for an advertisement.

Dollar Shave Club Taking Sales from Bigger Named Brands Through Viral Videos

We have all seen how handheld razors have changed over the years. I remember when the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th blades were added to razors. Companies tout their added benefits, like aloe strips and even a vibration mode to get the closest possible shave, to sway buyers. Using big name actors in advertising and naming razors like “Mach-3” and “Fusion ProGlide” are tactics used to entice men to think their razor is the best. But what happens when men like the look of not shaving? This is a big trend for young men in developed countries. Gillette and Schick’s handheld razor sales have nose-dived in this last year. Bloomberg BusinessWeek credits hipsters — whom thrive off of the unshaven, just rolled-out-of-bed look — with starting this trend.

Dollar Shave Club has started to carve out a little piece of the market with their witty ad campaigns, explaining how their service works and what you’ll receive. The idea is that you spend as little as a single dollar a month plus shipping and receive quality, sharp razor blades on your doorstep. With the price difference, it seems hard not to give it a try. So while big name brands are struggling to sell product, this company is actually gaining market share.

This company sells exclusively to men, showcasing three kinds of razors, shaving butter and personal wipes. That’s it! Three possible products shipped to your door. This small company is using viral videos to reach their market — men college age to probably late 30s — whom already spend a lot of time online looking at humorous videos. This ad actually markets to the audience that Gillette and Schick are losing. Also this audience is used to buying online and enjoying the convenience of receiving products at their doorstep. By having a monthly subscription, the Dollar Shave Club keeps their customer base.  I think this is a smart way to advertising, while keeping production costs low for a start up company.

Resources:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-08-01/are-hirsute-hipsters-killing-the-razor-business#r=hpt-fs

http://elitedaily.com/news/business/hipsters-are-causing-razor-sales-to-plummet-gillette-and-schick-panic/

http://www.dollarshaveclub.com/

Women to play an important role in this Sunday's Super Bowl

With the Super Bowl right around the corner, one might expect beer, pizza, wings and guy-time to be rampant in the near future. A common stereotype of all the Super Bowl festivities is that the events are strictly limited to male entertainment. Typically you'd think the Super Bowl was only a man's "holiday" if you will, but recent reports are showing just the opposite. Women are actually going to be extremely influential to the February 2nd Super Bowl XLVIII.  According to AdWeek, women have a much stronger presence on social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook and voice their opinions about things more often than men. More specifically, women account for 59% of Twitter users and tweet 60% more than men.  With these statistics in mind, advertisers have been gearing up for Super Bowl XLVIII with the intent to focus on women a little more than in past efforts. The ads released this Super Bowl season are expected to be tweeted about at outstanding rates. Advertisers have mentioned that they were going to try to go in directions different from the usual "sex sells" images plastered on ads. The debut of these ads will appear in just 5 days. It will be interesting to see just how far ad producers will go to shake things up.

-Sherie


Source: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/women-are-dominant-media-voice-during-super-bowl-155227

Apple's shift from comedy to emotion

The growing success of Apple has led to a shift in personality for the brand as a whole. You probably remember the classic iPod campaign that featured energetic silhouettes against vivid backgrounds dancing to popular music.

It was eye-catching and memorable. I consider this campaign one of the most important factors in Apple dominating the MP3 market.

Shortly after, Apple started their "Mac vs. PC" campaign, which spanned over 3 years and featured 66 different TV spots. They all had a recurring style and theme: an uptight, middle-aged business man (the "PC") and a laid-back young adult (the "Mac") disagreeing about who was superior. Apple aimed to be funny yet informative. They wanted their target audience (young adults) to relate to the "Mac" character. They shouldn't be the nerdy "PC" guy, they should get a Mac so they can be more like the character. The lengthy campaign was popular and was successful and memorable overall. You can check out all 66 TV spots here.

In the past few years, Apple seems to have matured past the PC vs. Mac debate and gone its own route. With new successful products, Apple has branched out in themes for both the iPad and iPhone. The iPhone campaign is focused on connecting with one another, and features people of all ages video chatting.

The newest iPad ads have people discovering the world on their iPads set to a Walt Whitman quote, meant to inspire people to scuba dive and explore space for themselves (but get an iPad first).

Apple's transition of themes has showed the evolution of the brand as a whole. They no longer aim to be memorable through comedy, but now show their products as a vehicle to connect with each other in new ways and find new ways to be innovative.

McDonald's Releases Another Funny but Cost Efficient Advertisement

McDonald's is a name that everyone is familiar with and is a company that is constantly advertising. Whether it be for their dollar menu or new items McDonald's is looking to take the upper hand in the fast food world and what better way to do so than by catchy advertising? Last year McDonald's aired this commercial, starring a few familiar faces:

This commercial in particular was to help advertise for their new menu item "mighty wings." This commercial does a great job of grabbing the audiences attention by using familiar faces from the National Football League. Not only does it use celebrity appeal, it also incorporates a good bit of humor. Audiences are drawn in by the fact that players in the NFL are talking about McDonald's, even though they realize that's not actually what happens on the sidelines at games. Recently McDonald's begun airing this similar commercial promoting the dollar menu: 

Similar, but also a funny commercial. These advertisements are clearly fun and humorous but from McDonald's standpoint, its safe to say they are also relatively inexpensive. By using footage that has already been filmed, all McDonald's has to do (assuming they can obtain rights to this footage) is work on a voice over clip that seems to match. This advertisement is both entertaining and effective in this sense.

Smellcome to Manhood: An Old Spice Campaign

Wieden + Kennedy, the independent advertising agency that represents Old Spice and many other reputable companies, has released its brand new 2014 campaign for Old Spice titled: “Smellcome to Manhood.” A past campaign called “Smell Like a Man, Man,” was a recipient of the 2010 Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Commercial. The breakthrough advertising campaign has been adored by millions worldwide and has made Old Spice the leading male body wash and deodorant brand in the United States. Unlike the 2010 campaign featuring former NFL wide receiver Isaiah Mustafa, this new campaign has no celebrity endorsers, but instead presents a choir of mothers serenading their sons while they interact with young women. To the dismay of the mothers, the new line of Old Spice Re-fresh Body Sprays has transformed their sweet sons into sexy men who misbehave with women. As the tagline says: “Spray goodbye to boyhood. Smellcome to Manhood.”

When I was first about to watch Old Spice’s new commercials, I knew what I was getting into. Old Spice commercials are known for being completely random and ridiculous, yet completely genius. The first time I watched the “Mom Song” commercial, I was confused and creeped out by all the singing moms, yet the song was already stuck in my head. This campaign exceeded my expectations in being strange. In my opinion, these Old Spice commercials may be the most mesmerizing and bizarre ones yet. They are so bizarre that they actually make me, a female, want to buy Old Spice products for no apparent reason. Wieden + Kennedy create strong and provocative advertising ideas that capture viewers’ attention and make the audience come back for more. This campaign is not an exception to this notion. The campaign they crafted is creative, unique, entertaining and just flat out weird, but that's what makes it so fantastic. 

The “Mom Song” has received over 7.6 million views on Old Spice’s YouTube page, which will continue to grow. With the Superbowl right around the corner, I look forward to more installments to this campaign and will keep an eye out for more Wieden + Kennedy genius in the future of advertising. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEbpbNTkIdk&list=PLoF_PWSjd6xXQJwRtYvwM4qrT_Lwx9Quy

Newcastle Beer Can Attract Without Money

Newcastle Beer has released a spoof advertisement video of what they would have entered into the Super Bowl ad pool if they had the money to sponsor such ads. The video is quite simple and plays upon the fact that they, like most marketing/advertising departments do not have the monetary funds to pay for a Super Bowl ad, but still want to find a way to be heard. By using suspenseful music, Newcastle is able to create a tone of pure epic-ness to describe how amazing their Super Bowl Ad would have been if it was able to be created. Humor also plays a role in the ad as they use dry copy in one version of the ad and have a sarcastic speaker voicing the copy in another version.

Newcastle didn't stop at the teaser video though, in fact they have basically launched an entire campaign around a fictional advertisement that they "never made." The company released a second quick video that gives viewers a quick rundown of what their ad would have had to make it so outrageous. According to Newcastle, skateboarding cats, partying with sharks on the beach, and dance offs featuring girls in bikinis would have sky rocketed this ad into advertising history while launching beer sales to an all time high.

Although the videos from Newcastle were made for fun, they are generating quite a buzz. Along with the media, the campaign has its own website, ifwemadeit.com, that allows fans to watch all versions of the "super awesome ad" that could have been. It just goes to show that money doesn't have to be the only factor in producing a great ad that catches people's attention. Newcastle has done well with the resources they have and provided a lesson for future ad firms and innovators to just always continue to think outside of the box.

-Sherie Key

Source: http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/newcastle-brown-ales-super-bowl-ad-teaser-best-youll-see-year-155146

Duracell ad Featuring NFL's First Deaf Player Hits the Right Note

This commercial from Duracell features Deaf Seattle Seahawks fullback Derrick Coleman. Coleman is the first legally deaf person to ever play in the NFL.

The advertisement goes through Coleman's struggle as a deaf football player and makes the audience feel like they're a part of his success and his story before the product is even introduced in the ad.

The ad also features great copy such as the line "I've been deaf since I was 3, so I didn't listen." Many of Duracell's recent ad campaigns have tried to connect the use of their batteries with emotional stories like firefighters and sick kids. None of those campaigns have resonated quite as personally as this one.

This video has more than 9 million views currently and with Coleman joining his team in the Super Bowl next week, the ads popularity will likely continue to skyrocket.

"This New Photoshop-Free Ad Campaign Will Blow Your Mind"

Familiarizing "Football"

Arguably one of the less popular sports in the United States is European Football or as we know it, soccer. However, over the past decade, soccer has increased its popularity in the United States with the domestic league, Major League Soccer (MLS) and also foreign leagues in Germany, Spain, and Italy. One of the more popular and commercialized European leagues is the English Premier League (EPL). Clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea (both are EPL teams) are known for making tours of the United States playing exhibition matches during their off season and even playing against the MLS All Star team. The presence of these English teams has created a demand for fans who want to watch quality European Football. The NBC network penned a deal in the summer of 2013 that allowed them to carry all English Premier League games and broadcast them nation wide. In an attempt to promote these broadcasts, NBC came out with the following advertisement:

This advertisement aims to familiarize the foreign concept of European Football for people who have grown up watching American Football. For people whose interest in Football has not grown over the last decade, this advertisement gives them a welcome opportunity to adjust to the change. Jason Sudeikis plays the funny, stereotypical American who has very little knowledge of European Football. The audience can connect with some of the feelings and presumptions Jason is having. More importantly the commercial acts as comedic relief, by answering some serious questions the audience might have in regards to European Football. By doing this the advertisement gives viewers a non threatening opportunity for new audiences to become fans of European Football by watching on NBC.

Return of the Evian Babies

In 2009, Evian water released an ad that became ridiculously popular both domestically and overseas. The Evian Roller Babies were introduced to the world with vibrant music from the seventies while dancing and swaying around on tiny little roller skates. Now, five years later, the original Evian baby commercial has gained more than 72 million views. When this commercial first aired it was so outrageously funny and original that I watched it several times online. The ad was so successful because it was pure entertainment and didn't appear to be misleading consumers or outwardly trying to convince them to buy now.

Now, the company has chosen to make a come back with another baby commercial to emphasize their slogan, "Live Young." Their new campaign called, "Baby & Me" aired in 2013 and is still growing in the minds of consumers. The babies are back, this time, mirroring their adult selves in the reflection of a building in a busy city setting. The idea of the ad is that Evian water brings out a youth in people and allows them to live pure and natural. The babies and their adult versions of themselves are dancing and enjoying life, although the brand is really never seen with the actors. Evian had a good idea trying to recreate the same wildly popular success that was generated after their first ad, however it doesn't seem as though this sequel will be as well received. This could be proof that in the world of advertising, things are ever changing and ideas often become stale after the first go-around.

Watch the sequel here: