How companies talk to different demographics?

The first two weeks of march were all about partying in different parts of the world - Carnival in Latin America and the Caribbean and St. Patrick's Day in North America and some parts or Europe. It's safe to say people have fun in different ways and have different aesthetics for the parties, however, one thing sticks out for both: drinking a lot of beer. In this post we'll analyze two Facebook ads; one the brand Guinness did for St. Patrick's Day and one the brand Skol did for Brazilian Carnival.

This Guinness ad is very minimalistic and sticks to an image of sophistication, also remembering people to drink safely. The ad has a color palette that clearly refers to the party itself, using green and the lucky charms. It's simple and it's advertising for their regular stout beer. In addition to the green, the colors in the ad are very sober, and give you a sensation of a cozy place to refuge from the cold weather.

The Skol ad, on the other hand, uses a lot more color and image manipulation techniques instead of being just a beautiful picture. It's advertising a new product and using Carnival as an incentive for consumer to try it. They use a color palette that is a lot more related to the brand aesthetics itself, instead of the party. This ad has a lot more visual information and subliminal details to establish a strong brand image. The bright tropical colors talk a lot more to the young Brazilian who is probably enjoying the party in the streets, giving a more excited, euphoric sensation to the spectator.

Both ads are successful reaching their target audience and have a lot of interactions on their social media accounts. This shows how in different countries, people have different priorities regarding their visual identity and how they identify with the image a brand is trying to sell.

Aerie vs. Victoria's Secret

Both Aerie and Victoria's Secret sell the same clothing for women: lingerie, activewear, sleepwear, and underwear. These two companies have very similar target demographics but have chosen completely different paths when it comes to their brand image and can be clearly seen in their most recent advertisements. It has become increasingly noticeable how Aerie has tried to counter their competition's image and the company has chosen to take a stand on body positivity and inclusion. While Victoria’s Secret is known to have the idolized version of a woman on their advertisements, Aerie wants to use real people to model their clothing and leave the “imperfect” qualities of a woman, such as stretch marks, rolls, and skin discoloration, on full display. This advertisement campaign originally started out as a popular social media hashtag for the brand’s first unretouched photo campaign. Aerie encouraged women to join the conversation by posting pictures of themselves with the hashtag #AerieREAL on social media and the company used this content to advertise their brand. One way Aerie has differentiated the models chosen to market their clothing is by naming them "role models." These women have been specifically selected based on their careers and activism instead of their body type. Aerie introduced 7 new role models in 2019: actress and author Busy Philipps, actress and activist Jameela Jamil, artist and poet Cleo Wade, gold medal gymnast Aly Raisman, gay actress and activist Samira Wiley, blind Youtuber and motivational speaker Molly Burke, and Paralympic medalist Brenna Huckaby. The goal Aerie had originally to rid the company of Photoshopped images really resonated with women in their target demographic. Altered images are now considered a societal norm in advertising and researchers have found a connection between Photoshopped images and lowered self-esteem. Victoria's Secret has yet to comment on the #AerieREAL ad campaign but instead choose to promote their own brand image with women's empowerment and confidence in themselves while leaving out the idea of body positivity. 

Battle of the Music Services

While there are a lot of differences in the way that Apple Music and Spotify operate, I thought it would be interesting to see how these two competing music services decide to differentiate themselves. Both of these billboard ads were present in the December 2017 skyline of Los Angeles, giving us a perfect idea of how Spotify and Apple Music represent themselves to the same audience at the same time. The most apparent and contrasting difference between these two ads is their color choices. While Apple went for a sleek black that could contrast the white font and while app icon, Spotify chose to use colors significant to the artist they were featuring, in this case pink, and they contrasted it with the black font and logo thats iconic to their app. This color choice shows a clear difference in the way these apps think about themselves. While Apple Music is trying to sell the aesthetic and luxury that Apple products inherently have, Spotify is more interested in selling a personality and connecting to their users through the music on the app.

Apple is interested in reaching the Los Angeles residents that are already wearing AirPods, have an iPhone, and like the certain level of clout that comes with being involved in the Apple family. Spotify does not have an already integrated user base to reach, so instead they hope that users will be intrigued by the risqué nature of an ad that says "NSFW", or that users will already have an interest in Blackbear, and their appreciation for the artist will turn into appreciation for the app. While I think both of these ads definitely show brand personality, it also reinforces why I personally use Spotify.

McWendy's

   McDonald's and Wendy's.  Two companies we all grew up with.  Both armed with their Red Haired Mascots, they each offered their own experiences growing up.  Going to McDonalds meant getting a Happy Meal with a toy and getting to play on the playground.  Going to Wendy's meant getting a kid's toy with a lesser great toy, but you would usually get a frosty for desert and to dip your french fries in.  Both companies offer a similar product, but its the differentiating details that made you choose a favorite. Even their Ads show both their similarities and differences.  McDonalds focuses on the enjoyment aspect of their product  and the deals you can get.  Wendy's focuses on the quality of their burgers and uses very descriptive words.  Wendy's doesn't even include their name in their Ad while the golden arches of McDonald's take up almost a third of the ad space.  Both companies use three sandwiches in their ad and the color scheme of red.  Their ad's may make you come try a new product, but the two companies will always be interchangeable to a point.

Netflix vs. Hulu - Using celebrities

Netflix and Hulu are streaming services that allow customers to watch a variety of shows, movies, documentaries, and more. These two are the most used streaming services due to their variety of content. A person that doesn't know a lot about these two, wouldn't be able to notice all of the differences they have. Netflix has three memberships that are the most used. The basic is $7.99 per month which doesn't provide high definition and can only be used by one person at a time. Besides the basic, they have the standard and premium package and these vary because of the high definition and how many people can watch at the same time. Once you have a Netflix membership, there are no ad interruptions. Netflix adds and removes shows and movies every month and they have their own 'network' with their own shows, documentaries, and movies. On the other hand, Hulu has commercial and ads that depending on the show and the target of a company that is paying for the ads, they will show up every eight minutes, etc. There are a lot of different options for companies to buy ads on Hulu. This is one of the reasons why and how Hulu divides their membership. Hulu with limited commercials is $5.99 per month, Hulu with no commercials is $11.99 per month, etc. Another difference that Hulu has is that they have a combo with Spotify for Students and just for paying the $4.99 Spotify membership, you will get Hulu and Showtime. This is a very good option for Hulu to gain more customers. Also, Hulu differs from Netflix because it has the latest episodes for the shows they have rights for. Netflix will put the whole season at the same time, but Hulu will have the latest episode available for their customers. I have both streaming services, and I have to say that I use Hulu more often just for the fact that I like to be caught up on my shows and Hulu helps me watch the next day if I wasn't able to watch it live. Right now, both Hulu and Netflix have ad campaigns that involve celebrities. Hulu is trying to promote its new service letting the watcher know that "Hulu has live sports"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=277rHHI4diE

"Hulu decided to do something clever. It hired celebrity influencers--NBA stars Damian Lillard, Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo--and put them into a series of commercials it called "Hulu Sellouts." The whole point was to promote the streaming service while making it absolutely clear that the participation of the athletes was all about the money." (Inc.com, Erik Sherman)

https://www.fastcompany.com/90319394/do-you-want-to-live-in-netflixs-new-cinematic-universe-only-if-you-run-into-bojack-horseman

"Now Netflix is pulling a This is SportsCenter, with a new ad campaign that imagines a Netflix Cinematic Universe in which its show characters mix and mingle in what appears to be a glorified airport lounge, waiting until you hit the play button. BoJack Horseman chats with the Queer Eye guys, Hasan Minhaj, and Fuller House‘s Kimmy Gibbler. Nailed It!host Nicole Byer hangs with Red and Laverne Cox from Orange Is the New Black. And there are a few variations between all these characters." (FastCompany, Jeff Beer)

These two campaigns though similar, shows what their target market is. I don't know if these two can be compared, but it is obvious that Hulu is trying to target sports fans and Netflix is trying to gain more viewers, using their own characters. Let's see if there is any change in their businesses, but I don't feel great about any of these two campaigns. Again, they are not really targeting me. 

Marvel Vs. DC

As the last Avengers movie is about to hit theaters along with Captain Marvel making her debut on the big screen. I wanted to take a moment to look at the advertising approach between the two comic icons of the superhero universe.

I wanted to first look at Marvel which is interesting because even though they have been making these movies for years, they have only been more present and popular since Disney bought them. I remember growing up with the first Spiderman movie with Toby McGuire as the friendly neighborhood Spiderman. Then once Disney bought Marvel, they started to create a whole new image from what Toby McGuire's Spiderman was.

Since taking over the Marvel universe, Disney has been making superhero movies major blockbuster hits. To some critics, it is because they stick to what fans of Marvel comics loved initially been, but from my observation, I think Disney's plan of bringing all these superheroes together slowly to finish off this climatic need of The Avengers is something that is kind of on the same scale has the Harry Potter movies. When looking at the audience for a comic book themed some movies Disney is doing an excellent job at exciting their audience in building up to moments when certain Marvel superheroes will come face to face in the Avenger's movies. They make the origin stories of these heroes, then clash their personalities with other Marvel characters such as Doctor Strange and Iron Man. These two characters have very God-like figures that it was exciting to see how they would work together to save the world.
                                      

DC movies, on the other hand, create movies with really well-done storytelling but terrible character cross over. This I felt happened when they created Superman vs. Batman, which on the side note they cast Batman all wrong which I felt made the movie less exciting to watch. Another issue that DC comics have is the fact that their lead actors for Superman and Batman no longer want to continue with those characters, which messes with the flow of the universe. This is not something that Marvel has had a problem with because I think that Marvel had a plan in place of what the story arch was so the actors felt like they needed to stay on.

From an advertising perspective, even though DC makes their superheroes stories more exciting and with depth, their marketing strategy of showing superhero fans an endpoint to the character arcs within the universe is somewhat why Marvel does better in the theaters than DC does.

Battle of the Theme Parks

When it comes to going on vacation, families have limited time and money to spend on a trip. This means that the advertising for possible vacation destinations have to be able to be able to hook a person’s attention in 30 seconds and convince them to spend a sizable amount of cash at their location. This competition is most prevalent when it comes to the theme parks in Orlando, Florida. With a number of sizable theme parks only miles away from each other, these parks need to be able to convince customers that their park is the one to visit.

Two of the top players in the battle of the theme parks are Disney World and Universal Studios. Both parks have something unique to offer customers and try to present their competitive advantage over the other in some of their most recent commercials.

Disney World hones nostalgia in their new spots, using the lyrics from some of their most popular musicals to describe the park. In this particular spot the lyrics to “A Whole New World” convey a seance of wonder and adventure that can be had at their parks. The spot also focuses on that fact that not only children are going to have a “magical” time at their park, but families are going to have a good time making memories together.

Universal Studios presents a different message in their spot. Universal is using persuasion to try and get people into their park. The main message of the ad is that customers should come back to the parks because so much has changed over the past years and they should, 'Come See What You've Been Missing'. The spot also features a family but focuses more on the children in the group.  

       

Clownin' Around with Taco Bell

The "breakfast wars" of 2015 saw the introduction of McDonald's all-day breakfast menu and Taco Bell's breakfast offerings. The two massive franchises fought to secure their positions as "the" fast food breakfast. While McDonald's did heavily advertise their new all-day menu, their ads were nowhere near as direct and adversarial as Taco Bell's, who put out a short film and 1984 propaganda-style posters suggesting that McDonald's was some sort of mandatory, "routine" breakfast, encouraging consumers to rebel by switching to a Taco Bell breakfast.

This particular ad features an approximation of McDonald's famous Ronald McDonald mascot, and depicts what is presumably the Egg McMuffin as a bland, cylindrical food.

McDonald's opted to respond with a facebook post, a photo of a small, frightened chihuahua, Taco Bell's famous mascot. The caption read "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." This response was incredibly simple, relied solely on the established and familiar iconography of these brands, and, in my opinion, sent an effective message about how McDonald's viewed the Taco Bell campaign in the most straightforward and hilarious way possible.

Apple and Samsung's advertising art

    Since Apple introduced the new iphone xs and iphone xs max, Samsung has also put effort into releasing a new smart phone which can compete to Apple. In last month, Samsung finally introduced the new Galaxy S10. I found an official introduction advertisement of Samsung and also an advertisement of Apple to compare both of them. These two ads will be displayed as below.
     In Apple’s ad, the first impression it gave me is simple and luxury. This ad just uses simple way to show us what’s the new iphone looks like and what kind of screen size they will release. It also comes with enjoyable background music which can attract audience to go to retail store to see the real phone. Apple used just 30 seconds to show us their products and even their creative imagination.
     In Samsung’s ad, it is just an introduction ad. In this 4-minute video, audience can gather all information they need to know the new Galaxy S10. All new functions and new cameras are introduced in this ad. This kind of ad can make audience know if this phone and its functions are real their need. Samsung also used this ad to show some new technology which can compete with Apple.
     In short, Apple’s ad is much simple and easy to get information from. Some audience would like this kind of ad. Maybe they don’t like the kind of ad which is too long such like Samsung’s. However, this kind of ad is good for those audiences who want to know the details of the new product.

Round One: "Nike vs. Adidas" *Ding Ding*

Since March is Women’s Month, there are many ads that have aired recently that are sure to represent women. Two brands that have successfully captured the purpose of the celebration of women everywhere and ran with it are Adidas and Nike. Not only do both brands have commercials that are extremely talked about and well known, even after they’ve only been airing for a short time, they also both have series on their YouTube channels that highlight extraordinary women and their athleticism. So, not only are the brands very similar, as they both serve practically the same function of distributing athletic apparel, they also share the same common interests of where we are as a society currently and the politics of sports and athletes.

One specific ad from both brands that is for Women’s Month are the commercials titled “Nike – Dream Crazier” and “She Breaks Barriers: MoreVisibility. Bigger Dreams”. Both ads are for women, showing only women. The Nike commercial actually launched February 24, 2019, beating Adidas to the punch by two weeks (March 7^th , one day before International Women’s Day). One might assume that the closeness of launch dates could be specific as to say Nike aired their commercial before March for the intention that March is Women’s Month, and Adidas launched their commercial the day before International Women’s Day in celebration for that day. Needless to say, though, both of the brands took two different approaches with their commercials. Overall, they both effectively represent women’s rights movement and its impact on women of all backgrounds who continue to strive for change. (Watch the commercials below)