Google+: another addition

Google recently began their campaign to break into the Social Media world. Google + is a sophisticated new social media platform created by Google that allows users to categorize people into circles, which makes it quick and easy to share links, videos and photos with the right people at the right time.

This commercial really displays what Google+ is all about. In my eyes, it is pretty brilliant. A strong emotional appeal accompanied by rational reasoning. Bravo Google.

Coca-Cola Polar Bear Campaign

At First Glance: What is this? Diet Coke? Or maybe it's some caffeine-free, or zero calorie specialty Coke. It definitely makes me thing of Diet Coke.

I recently posted about how well Coke has established their brand. Here we see that they are using this credibility to help Polar Bears. The Coca-Cola Arctic Home has partnered with The World Wildlife Fund to help save this endangered species.

This campaign is a great idea, and it really brings a self-actualization appeal into the picture, but I think Coke may have made a big mistake. The white cans really lack brand recognition. Now, obviously not completely. We still understand the classic red/white color scheme and the Coke typography, but we may not understand that this is Coca-Cola Classic "at first glance." This could be a major problem within the campaign. Ultimately,  I think Coke can afford to take this risk. I don't know if the polar bears can, though.

What do you think?

Susan G. Komen

I can go on and on about Susan G. Komen For the Cure and how well they utilize modern advertising and marketing technique. But let's face it, you'd be bored after the first three paragraphs. One thing they do extremely well and has caught many people's attention for the past two years is their unique use of social media, namely Facebook.

I recently was browsing through my Facebook news feed when I saw a status that my younger sister posted. It said "I am going to Colombia for 8 months!!!" I immediately started asking questions. Why would she be doing that? Is it a mission trip of sort? How is she affording this? I sent her a text to get to the bottom of it. She quickly replied telling me it was for breast cancer awareness. This reminded me about the breast cancer awareness Facebook statuses two years ago that corresponded with where a girl likes to put her purse when she gets home. "I like it in the closet" and "I like it on the table" were some of the popular ones. It forced people to ask questions and stuck in peoples heads. 

Social media is a great resource. It is so easy to get on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and more. On the contrary, it is not easy to do well because there is so much clutter to break through. Susan G. Komen cuts through this clutter every November.

Controversial Planet Fitness advertising

At First Glance: I can see how people would think this is funny, but this seems pretty controversial for an upcoming fitness center. I don't see the benefit in singling the body-builder type out.

Planet Fitness recently ran this "not his planet yours" campaign. It is an interesting and direct approach to reach their target market, but it also clearly singles out their non-target. As consumers we generally see advertisements that attempt to reach their target market by appealing to the type of people the target consists of. Planet Fitness decides to reverse this concept and poke fun at the people that are not in the target. This approach seems risky. I wonder how it has worked out for Planet Fitness.

Coca-Cola "smashes" its brand

Coca-Cola has been a super-power in the beverage industry and in the advertising field. One thing that Coke does is "smash" their brand. I recently read Brand Sense by Martin Lindstrom, a book about the benefits of sensory branding. A crucial concept in sensory branding is the idea of "smashing" the brand. In other words, can you cover up the logo of a brand and still easily identify what the brand is. Coke's done this throughout their entire brand, from their color scheme to their bottles, Coke is a "smashable" brand.

Other than the small logo at the bottom, this print ad for Coke is seemingly logo-less.

Nissan Leaf campaign

At First Glance: That's funny, the alarm clock was gas-powered. I think I see where this is going, what a cool idea- by who, though? Really shows how much we depend on electricity.

This is a great emotional campaign by Nissan to promote their new, fully electric Leaf. It shows how electricity plays a huge role in our lives by creating dramatized scenes with gas-powered computers, copy machines, hair dryers, alarm clocks, coffee machines and many more. This 60-second spot packs a big punch.

Nissan premiered this commercial during the 2011 Super Bowl. It displays the same mysterious quality as the first commercial, where the audience does not know the product until the end of the one minute commercial. It also gives the audience a feeling of suspense. What will this polar bear do? Where is it going? The brilliant hug from the polar bear tops it all off, and Nissan finds its way into millions of hearts around the world.

Rivalry or Tag-Team

American Idol stood proudly atop the hill of success for many years. It was one of the most-watched shows in the past decade, and it finally seems to be approaching its last days. With the recent explosion of The X Factor, American Idol has had a difficult time retaining their audience.

Although this may seem like an upsetting fact for American Idol, I think there is a method to the madness. Both programs are partly owned by Fox, and seems to have a strikingly similar strategy for both shows. Not only does The X Factor have the two most adored judges from American Idol, Simon and Paula, but they also have competing sponsors for both shows. American Idol is sponsored by Coca-Cola, At&t and Ford. This is all too familiar to The X factor's sponsors: Pepsi, Verizon Wireless, Sony, and Chevy. Even the websites have a near identical layout: American Idol vs. The X Factor . Their bright red and bright blue logos are just about the only differences in these programs.

There are too many similarities to point out in one blog post, but I will say this: Touche Fox, you've added yet another successful program to your list of giants- only this one, we've all seen.

Mitsubishi concept town

At First Glance: Hm, I wonder if they're talking about Normal, Illinois- it sure looks like it. Cool concept, almost like a concept car, but even bigger- a concept town. Oh, they are talking about Normal, Illinois. I wonder why? Cue Catchphrase: "Welcome to the new Normal." ...Perfection.




Mitsubishi's "Welcome to the new Normal" campaign/concept really hit home, literally and metaphorically. As I attend the Chicago Auto Show annually, I see many concept cars. Mitsubishi raises the bar with The New Normal concept town. Up until this commercial, I had never heard of "electric charging stations," but figured they were necessary for the electric car to survive. Mitsubishi takes initiative and starts the ball rolling in Normal, Illinois.

Tobacco Advertising

Winston Cigarettes was known for their famous slogan, "Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should." For Winston's advertising campaign in the '60s, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble take the main stage in this TV commercial.

This commercial is a little shocking to me, only because I did not grow up with tobacco being advertised. More importantly, I think it is interesting to analyse the target audience in the commercial. Clearly, The Flintstones is a children's show. Adults may have watched with their children from time to time, but Winston is targeting children in this commercial. This strategy seems somewhat relentless to me (give the kids a chance), but it also is pretty logical: get kids to think smoking is cool by using the Flintstones, and start them early because nicotine is a highly addictive drug. Logical, yet a tad unethical.

In the pictures below, Winston is reaching out the the working man. A different approach, but still looks like it would have been effective in the '60s. After all, it was the number one selling cigarette from '66-'72.

Buona Beef's social media campaign

At First Glance: Buona, like Buona Beef. How-Big-Is-Your-Buona? HOW BIG IS YOUR BUONA?! Hilarious

I saw this advertisement on a billboard on my way back up to Milwaukee this weekend. It took me a second to really comprehend what they were doing. At first, I recognized the "Buona" brand which is highlighted in orange. Then, I realized what they were doing: a play on words. I think it is especially clever for Buona Beef to do this because it really makes people stop and take a second look (At least for people that understand "Buona" is pronounced Boh-nah).

Not only did it make me laugh, it showed me that their brand has personality and ultimately led me to their website Buona Beef. The website is nicely laid out, with easy navigation, appealing design and a really cool social media campaign. By liking them on Facebook and following them on Twitter, you are entered for a chance to win free Buona Beef for a year!

Chipotle: shining in a positive light

At first glance: Chipotle advertising with cartoons? This is not cold play singing this, maybe it should be. I'm not really getting this, but I want to see where this is going.

This Chipotle "back to the start" advertisement really helps their brand image. At first, I was slightly confused as to where the commercial was going, but I think the advertisement was designed like that to capture the attention of the viewer until the end. It is especially difficult for Chipotle, being a large chain restaurant, to keep up with this trend of organic, natural food from local farmers and businesses. I think this advertisement really displays great job of keeping their brand fresh (pun intended).

Miami Ad School's creative app idea

At first glance: crazy, creative, utilizing social media and technology, Miami Ad School seems awesome, how will they launch this campaign? Who funds these rewards?

So, at first glace this ad looks pretty cool and interesting. I definitely applaud the effort and creativity put into creating this idea and video. However, I am not completely sold. First off, where does this funding come from? I can see if you would like to base the rewards off of donations from local businesses, that seems cool. It also gets the local businesses' name out. Who will design the website, heat sensitive bags and code? Also, What stops people from putting "other" items that will set off this code giving them the reward?

Although this could just be a hypothetical idea for the sake of a class project. I love the creativity!

Fabreze "experimental" commercial

I cannot start this blog post off with a free write because it would not be fair. I have seen this commercial before and have some bias towards it. In fact, I have had time to think about this commercial in some depth. Initially, I liked the commercial. I like the fact it is real, and I like that they use real people. I then started to look at this same advertisement from a different perspective. Yes, they probably do use real people, but are they using real places? I believe Febreze does a fantastic job of taking advantage of the common person's perceptions and stereotypes. Although the people are real, the places look staged. And even if the places are not staged, it is automatically assumed that somewhere looking like that smells bad when this is not always the case. Chalk one up for Febreze.

"Life's too short for the wrong job" campaign

At first glance: Wow! woman in a box making coffee? the quality of the posters are incredible, the depth and resolution looks close to real. very cool way to take advantage of environment and use ambient marketing strategy. 

So this is my first post experimenting with a "free write" style. I think ads have different effects on different people. Different things happen in each person's brain when they see an ad for the first time. I will start each post with a couple sentences or a short paragraph outlining my exact thoughts while viewing the ads for the first time. As you can see, this ad campaign appears to be in German. It utilizes the environment in unique and interesting ways. I really enjoy looking at ambient marketing because it really taps into a creative side of advertising we don't see every day. 

This commercial was produced by the same company. The video gives a different, more traditional perspective to this campaign.

What brand am I?

While thinking of brands I associate myself with, as well as remain loyal to, I came across the brand AriZona. Now, don't get me wrong, this was not an instant fit that appeared perfect in the heavy traffic of my brain. It took me a few minutes to reach this semi-permanent conclusion. I wasn't even sure it was the brand that best describes me. Not until I discovered their website. www.drinkarizona.com

This website is great. From the visual appeal to music/sound effects, this website scored close to perfect in my book. Some words that came to mind were artsy, fun, unique, personal.  I spent close to 20 minutes just looking through the website and discovering the details embedded. On top of that, I read about the company, what they stand for and the new products they are releasing. I soon realized these words reappearing in my head were qualities I find in myself as well. Our personalities were very similar.

AriZona business philosophy: keep it simple, keep it good and keep it real.

I love this philosophy because I love simplicity! I like simple clothing and simple tasks. With life often full of complications, you have to love a company that respects and supports the simple things in life. They know what they want, they know what their customers want.

AriZona was originally founded by two friends-John Ferolito and Don Vultaggio. Together, they owned a successful beer distribution company and were ready to emerge in the tea industry. In 1992 AriZona hit the shelves in Brooklyn, New York (irony). They based the company on creating a high quality product with all natural ingredients.

This also parallels with my personality because it represents individuality. AriZona decided to remain privately owned, as opposed to its competitors (coca-cola, pepsi co), because they had little interest in dealing with "wall street type people" and were very interested in dealing with crafting a product people will enjoy. I see myself as an individual rather than conformist, just like AriZona. I am a strange breed of choir-boy enthusiast and collegiate athlete. I believe this rounds my character and adds to my individualism, just as using all natural ingredients and staying privately owned rounds AriZona's character.

AriZona possesses a trademark of sorts. On every can, there is a "$.99" label printed directly on the can. It has been this way for as long as I can remember, but I have began to value that small symbol at the top the can more and more as I grow older. I don't have an overload of money, as many people do not, so it is nice to know that a company is looking out for people and their needs, rather than the company's profit. This mindset is one AriZona and myself share: take care of the little people, they are a loyal and strong foundation, but should not be neglected.

Non-traditional advertisement