TurboTax | Taxes Done Smarter

April 18th -- Tax day.  Where's your W-2? Did you correctly file your tax return? Nobody really likes doing their taxes, but fortunately it's 2016 and you have options.

TurboTax, by the developer Intuit Inc, has become an increasingly popular tax program in recent years. Aside from advances and developments within the program, the company's success can be attributed to an effective marketing strategy. Intuit spends a majority of its marketing efforts in the months leading up to tax day and regularly promotes the program's ease of use as well as the credibility of the company.

Their most recent TV advertising campaign features several world renowned mathematicians, engineers, and scientists explaining the step-by-step straightforwardness of the TurboTax experience to a dramatized consumer.

Michio Kaku: Absolute Zero

S. James Gates: W-2

Using celebrity endorsements is a great way to reach and persuade new audiences to try their product, and the comical narrative of the advertisements makes them thoroughly entertaining! After all, it doesn't take a genius to do your taxes.

Check out the whole campaign here!

DeVry University Sued For Deceptive Advertising

While watching television, many of the numerous advertisements that you come across are promoting colleges and universities. Whether the consumer recognizes it or not, universities are a business, they have a product (education) that they are trying to sell to consumers (students). Although the “product” that colleges and universities are selling is not tangible, that does not take away the fact that many tactics and techniques are used to persuade students to enroll. Despite universities and colleges possibly being overlooked as business organizations, the laws of advertising still apply to them.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against DeVry University for deceptive advertising. According to the lawsuit, the university misled consumers about the employment and earnings of its graduates in numerous radio, online, and print advertisements. DeVry University is one of the largest for-profit colleges in the United States and have claimed since 2008 that 90% of graduates seeking employment land jobs within six months of graduation. The FTC looked into this claim and realized the university counted numerous graduates as working in their field, when in fact they weren’t. For example, graduates of the business school were actually working as servers at a restaurant and engineers were mail carriers. In addition, DeVry claimed in their advertisements its graduates had 15% higher incomes one year after graduation than all other colleges and universities. No internal data showed meaningful evidence of this statement, leading the FTC to file the lawsuit.

How important is this case on DeVry? As a college student, I believe that the outcome will have a major impact on students and universities throughout the nation. When high school students are searching for colleges to attend and pursue careers, a main focus is placed on how graduates are succeeding in the field. Parents and students will undergo significant financial expense in order to improve employment opportunities; therefore, the truth of these numbers must be revealed prior to acceptance and enrollment. If these significant claims were made about a tangible product and the truth was revealed, consumers would think twice before purchasing it.  Currently there are no national standards for colleges to use in calculating employment statistics or information featuring post-graduate earnings on the revised College Scorecard (Washington Post). Why haven’t national standards for these essential facts been established? The risk level is higher when “purchasing” a university education; this is 4+ years of people’s lives, not simply buying a laundry detergent that claims to get all your stains out. So why hasn’t the government paid more attention to university advertising?

According to the Washington Post, the Department of Education is requiring DeVry to pull its advertisements containing these claims under investigation, as well as notify students of the university’s inability to validate the statements. In addition, DeVry students who feel they were deceived have the right to file a borrower defense to repayment claim to have their federal student loans dismissed. If these measures are not taken, the university will lose access to the federal financial aid programs (WashingtonPost). Is this enough action being taken though? Yes DeVry is being punished and students receive some of their expenses; however, I don’t know if this is enough to stop future universities from making deceptive advertisements. DeVry University ran these ads for nearly 8 years before they were speculated, during that time the university made a large amount of money, which was partially put into more advertising efforts. Students of the university still spent their time and effort learning, which may or may not pay off as much as they believed it would. The FTC first has to put national standards into place in regard to calculating graduate employment and salaries. Once standards are established, the government then will be able to investigate university graduate success claims and protect consumers.     

KISS, Not the Band

Keep it Simple Stupid

Take it from Wikipedia:

The KISS principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated; therefore simplicity should be a key goal in design and unnecessary complexity should be avoided. The phrase has been associated with aircraft engineer Kelly Johnson (1910–1990). The term "KISS principle" was in popular use by 1970. Variations on the phrase include "Keep it Simple, Silly", "keep it short and simple", "keep it simple and straightforward" and "keep it small and simple".


To illustrate this principle, here is an interesting ad from a paint brush company -- Purdy

Adweek breaks it down:

This Paintbrush Brand Covered Everything Within a Billboard-Size Space in Fun NYC Ad

Like the Scandinavian design style that is trending these days, the ad uses a minimal approach to it's messaging. Scandinavian design is typically, cool, clean, and minimalist. Chances are, you probably are attracted to it's style without knowing what it is called. It's style is often used in interior decorating, but also in graphic design.

Want to learn more about Scandinavian Design?

- matt mcdermit

Product Placement in Music Videos - Yes or No?

Music videos are definitely not a thing from the past and people do love to watch the music videos to their favorite songs, sometimes more than once. Nowadays with YouTube it is so much easier to access all of our favorite artists music videos and the production for these videos are getting bigger and bigger everyday. Advertisers knew their next step. Why not use product placement in music videos and reshape the balance theory. It is also very common nowadays to even see big music artists rapping about luxury brands, such as Jay-Z in his song "Tom Ford" and Migos who featured Drake on their song "Versace".

Here we see Miley Cyrus on her music video for "We Can't Stop" using an EOS lip balm, which is endorsed by the singer.

In the photo below we can see Lady Gaga in her music video for "Telephone" using Diet Coke cans as hair curlers. The music video not only has Diet Coke feature as a product placement but throughout the video you can find heartbeats earphones, Virgin Mobile, HP, Plenty of Fish, Chevrolet, Polaroid, Wonder Bread and Miracle Whip. Phew... Talk about product placement on this one.

Also below we can see Selena Gomez in her new music video for her new song "Hands to Myself" where you can find as pictured below a product placement for Beats by Dre as well as a BMW motorcycle.

Do you agree with product placement in music videos or do you think it makes it for a "fake" or "polluted" music video? Does an artist endorsement on a music video make you more interested in the brand/product? Also... how much fun do you have trying to pick out all of the brands or products placed on today's music videos? Well.. here is one for you, have fun... Which brands could you spot, comment and let us know!

Warrior Hockey Takes Aim at Bauer on Social Media

For those unfamiliar with the hockey equipment industry Bauer Hockey has been leading the charge on the innovation of new forms of technology to be implemented into classic hockey equipment. Whether that is with the infusion of composite eyelets into the boot of their top of the line Vapor and Supreme skates, or the creation of three separate lines of equipment (Nexus, Vapor, Supreme) each designed to cater differently to a players needs. Bauer is a name unanimously associated with the sport of hockey, and generally their new product launches are held in very high regard in the hockey community; the likes of which could be compared to an Apple product launch.  With the release of the new Vapor 1X stick being hyped up so vigorously by the company which was promising new technology never before seen in a Bauer product. The big draw was the promise of the implementation of the new QRT technology being infused into the blade and shaft of the new stick. QRT stands for quick release technology, an aspect that Bauer had never used before on any of their previous models. As Bauer began to advertise and promote their "new" product a rival hockey stick manufacturer had a slight problem with their new design and technology.

Relative newcomer to the industry Warrior Hockey quickly took to their Instagram account to point out some facts about Bauers new upcoming release. The main point being that a year previously Warrior had released their new stick the Warrior QR1, the QR standing for quick release. Warrior's brand manager even went as far to suggest that Bauer had simply taken the QR1 idea and technology and simply put their own design and graphics over it.

Warrior was just getting started with their criticism of the upcoming Bauer release. Suggesting that the hockey giant was a little late to the game of implementing QRT technology into their sticks.

I found that Warrior Hockey's aggressive attack on the new Bauer launch to be a smart move to associate their brand with a certain aspect in hockey equipment culture. Until this point Warrior did not truly have an identity as a serious hockey manufacturer. They had recently switched into the hockey industry after having only sold lacrosse equipment since their creation and did not have a true identity as a hockey equipment manufacturer. By making it painfully obvious for Bauer that they were the first ones to begin to implement QRT technology into their sticks, they not only created an identity for themselves as the creator of the QRT, but also take a shot at the biggest hockey equipment supplier in the industry. 

Oddballs in the Workplace

In a five-point memo written by David Ogilvy, the characteristics suggesting potential promotion in a person are listed. Ambition, enjoys working harder, an unorthodox or brilliant brain, engaging personality, and respect for the creative field. This article, “Want to Produce Craft Beyond the Norm? Hire Confident Oddballs,” proposes that another characteristic be added to the list; “the person is confidently peculiar.” This trait makes perfect since in the world of advertising, because what completely “normal” creative person do you actually know. If your school/work environment is in a creative field, take a look around and think to yourself if your co-workers are on the dry, boring side, or if they’re on the eccentric and quirky side of the spectrum. Being creative is a skill many lack.  Many of my friends beat to their own drum, and I think that’s why I’m friends with them. They aren’t afraid to be unique.

“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” I find this quote by Apple founder Steve Jobs to be extremely inspiring. In advertising it’s hard to make your campaign or message stand out from the clutter of all the others being thrown in our faces each day. You have to have a great deal of confidence in your work. It’s important to look at the world differently in order to come up with out of the box ideas. These “confident oddballs” are usually open to breaking the rules, which is when the real work gets done. Being around interesting people is what forms creativity in the work place.

The article can be found here.

Who Wouldn't Want Unlimited Vacation Time?

About 2% of U.S. companies have opted for flexible time off policies as opposed to the traditional policy of accruing vacation days for personal time off. With flexible time off there is no limit to how many days you decide to take off work. Project: WorldWide is an example of one company that has moved from PTO to FTO. “Everybody’s got a job to do, deadlines and targets are set, and you’re still expected to meet them,” says CEO Robert Vallee Jr. Similarly; college students have their fair share of work and play. On their own they must manage when they need to set time aside to complete homework assignments, and of course when they have time to socialize. Everything must still be completed and turned in by expected due dates. This policy makes employees focus on what needs to get done rather than on how many days they are working. Performance standards need to be clearly identified by employers when adopting such a policy. Interestingly enough, most FTO employees don’t take more or less time than they usually would under traditional policies. FTO might not fit every business. A lot of questions arise when considering implementing this new policy. If you were a team member, how would you feel seeing some people take off more time than you? Would you feel as though you’re working harder?

Argonaut is another company implementing the FTO policy. They feel as though you have to find the things that inspire you when working in a creative field such as marketing. Enjoying out of office time allows employees to pursue the things that enrich their creativity and thinking. “We trust you. We know you’re going to come in, get the work done and be responsible.” Giving employees this kind of freedom might even motivate them to do better with their work. So the question at hand is whether or not this policy is fully adaptable for our culture?

To learn more about companies implementing unlimited vacation time read the article on AdWeek.

Google Challenges Twitter with "Real-time Ads"

When social media users think of “real-time” engagement, they automatically think of Twitter. In recent years, Twitter has dominated the market of real-time advertising. A major partner of Twitter is the National Football League, which allows Twitter to sell video ads against highlights from games that are posted on the site. With all the success Twitter has had, other social media companies want a piece of the profits and have begun to implement their own user live engagement solutions.

Google announced last week that it is launching “real-time ads.” This would allow advertisers to serve video advertisements across YouTube, thousands of apps, and millions of partner websites during special events. Google plans to create ways to “time” mobile, video and display ads in conjunction with live events such as sports, political rallies, and award shows. Beta testing of this new platform has been conducted with companies such as EA Games and American Express, showing positive results. In addition, YouTube AdBlitz will once again combine all Super Bowl ads into a central location to allow consumers to watch and vote on. Google’s more aggressive actions for ad dollars during major events have stepped up the competition with Twitter, leaving advertisers with a more difficult choice when it comes to choosing a media outlet.

Check out Google’s “Madden Giferator” real-time ad

Does Twitter still have the advantage? With an already established user-base attracted to its real-time ads and major partnerships with companies, Twitter has a leg up on the competition. In addition, Twitter recently bought Periscope in order to increase its real-time service with live streaming videos added to the Twitter stream. The details and technicality of Google’s new live engagement still remain slightly unknown and confusing. Twitter on the other hand allows companies to specifically target users specifically interested in an event such as the Super Bowl. The use of hashtags identifies these individuals more precisely, adding to the effectiveness of real-time ads. Research has shown that users click on Twitter ads 20% of the time during special events, in contrast to 3% on regular days (Sloane). These numbers prove that live events are when Twitter advertisers best perform on the social media platform. Although Twitter has made efforts to expand its reach to consumers, Google has a massive footprint when it comes to Internet advertising. Google is an extremely powerful company, with a large reach and scale, especially with ad platforms. In saying this, could Google’s “real-time ads” stand a chance in the live engagement market?