First Timer

In this video I chose the Pepsi Max commercial with Jeff Gordon. It starts out with the famous Nascar driver going undercover to test drive the new Chevy Camaro. The salesman has no idea what he is about to get himself into. Jeff Gordon starts out acting like he has never driven a fast car in his life then all of a sudden guns it and sends the guy on a ride he will never forget. During the whole ride a long there's a can of Pepsi Max with a hidden camera that catches everything. The L.A times reported that the comic video was produced by Gifted You, which is owned by Will Ferrell's funny or die company. The video got over 7 million views in less then two days on YouTube. The only major mistake that Pepsi made with this video is that it wasn't ready for the Superbowl. I really think Pepsi did a great job with this commercial because the linked up with a great partner and made a video that appeals to all types of the target market. From sports fans to kids searching funny videos on YouTube. this commercial was enjoyed by everyone.

"Isn't it nice when things just work?"

"Isn't it nice when things just work?"

(Honda UK Commercial - 2003)

Honda's "Cog" commercial that aired in the UK during the Spring of 2003 became an instant hit, and is responsible for changing the public's opinion on Honda from "dull but functional" to "cool and consumer friendly".  From 1998 Honda sales had steadily been declining in Britain, and much of Europe, and Honda had lost their #2 Japanese Automaker spot to Nissan.  Honda was in need of some serious re-branding to become more popular among the adult and young adult population.

This commercial produced by Wieden+Kennedy showed that Honda's are fun cars to own, and it reminded the viewer of Honda's legendary reliability.  Wieden+Kennedy is one of the largest independently owned advertising agencies in the world, their known famously for the Nike Just Do It tagline, the This Is SportsCenter campaign for ESPN, and more recently the Imported From Detroit Chrysler Campaign.

This commercial was released during the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, and was shown for the full 2 minutes.  This commercial was only aired for the full 120 seconds a limited amount of times after that, and was cut down to save money.  In total this commercial costed GBP 1m, and was apart of a GBP 6m, ad campaign.

After this ad was released, sales in the UK jumped by 28%, while Honda cut the amount spend on marketing.  Visits to Honda dealerships increased from 3,500 to about 3,700 each month, and 22% of all visits resulted in the purchase of a Honda.  Before the campaign only 19% of dealership visits resulted in a sale.

Overall, this advertisement was very successful for Honda, and perhaps helped turn the automaker's image in the UK around.  A GBP 400m revenue increase has been credited to the "Cog" commercial.  This ad has also gone down as one of the best and most successful car advertisements ever, due to its massive success.

Breandan Aslin 04/23/2013

A Bar Divided Cannot Stand

This 2012 commercial series “Chicago vs. Chicago” from New Era caps depicts Nick Offerman and Craig Robinson at the Dividing Line, a local Chicago sports bar, trading insults about their respective baseball teams and the baseball institutions, but it’s only when Craig insults their city (and its pizza) that he apologizes, and a truce of sorts is reached (until parts 2, 3, and 4 of the series).

Spatial racism that originally segregated Chicago during the Great Migration is seen here, where a white man (Nick Offerman) is a Cubs fan and a black man (Craig Robinson) is a south side of Chicago White Sox fan. The target markets (white Cubs fans and black White Sox fans) are clearly identified for New Era caps, and the camera positioning crops both men at the bar counter, so the New Era hats are always in the focus of the frame. These caps are how Nick and Craig construct their identities to engage in an age-old city baseball rivalry (despite an implication already given racially—this confirms it). This is evidenced particularly well when Nick draws attention to his New Era hat, by pointing and directing Craig’s (and the audience’s) gaze at his team hat: “See this ‘C’? It stands for Chicago. All you got on your hat is a stocking—something puppies like to chew on for recreation.” This kind of light antagonism is powerful both for Cubs fans (reaffirms their commitment to their city and their team) and White Sox fans (as it attacks their logo, team, and masculinity, so they would be more inclined to wear the stocking proudly as an act of resistance—which harkens historically to black pride/freedom struggles). Nick further demonstrates his masculinity and that of the Cubs when he quips, “Cubs are the strong foundation from which grows a mighty beast.”

This face off is in the same vein as 2011’s New Era hat commercial featuring another fantastic NBC Thursday night programming character feud: John Krasinski (The Office) and Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) displaying the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry. This commercial is great for fans of Parks & Recreation and The Office, as Nick and Craig stay true to their character constructions of Ron Swanson (mustache and deadpan) and Darryl Philbin (quick insults and in a part 3 of the Chicago vs. Chicago series, he sings), so there is crossover appeal, transitioning Nick and Craig almost into opinion leaders.

The commercials also have social media support, as displayed by the #NewEraRivals in the bottom right corner of the frame.

[lizz wilkinson.]

Brace Yourselves, Winters is Coming

Even if you haven't seen the show, I'm sure most, if not all, of you have heard of the HBO series "Game of Thrones."  The first episode of the first season is called "Winter is Coming," and it sets the tone for the whole series.  Just as the show has become an instant hit and has won 32 awards, including 1 Golden Globe, and has been nominated for 70 more, Allstate Insurance's commercial advertising character, Mayhem, played by actor Dean Winters, has gained a huge fanbase and won at least 80 advertising awards in its first year alone. The ad campaign won a Clio award in 2012.

Mayhem is the human personified unpredictable disaster that awaits you around every corner, and Dean Winters is just the man to play that role.  Winters himself dealt with an unexpected bacterial infection in the Summer of 2009, which caused his heart to stop for 2 1/2 minutes on the way to a hospital, led to three weeks spent in intensive care, and led to Winters developing gangrene and having to get two of his toes and half of one thumb amputated.  Winters recovered, however, and actually rose like a Phoenix, returning to television acting and signing on with Allstate in the Spring of 2010 to do the Mayhem commercials, which began airing in June, 2010.

The advertising agency, Leo Burnett North America, out of Chicago, has been Allstate's creative agency since 1957, and at least for this campaign, they chose not to copy test the ad, "ran with their gut," and just produced the commercials and sent them out.  Allstate Senior Vice President for Marketing, Lisa Cochrane, stated, "If you copy test, you will come to the lowest common denominator," meaning, "you'll get the most vanilla advertising," as creative director Mikal Pittman put it.

The ads are directed at the younger demographic, who tend to buy lower-priced, economy insurance, which the Mayhem ads suggest may not cover unpredictable situations in life that cause such destruction.  Nina Abnee, Leo Burnett's Executive Vice President, put it bluntly, "We wanted to kick Flo's ass," and I'm pretty sure they've done just that.

-Cory G. Smith

Are you "Zestfully Clean"?

Emily Kehrer

 Did you know that this was actually a jingle back in the ‘80’s?! In 2011, Proctor & Gamble (the ones that first used this marketing strategy) sold to High Ridge Brands Co. High Ridge wanted to bring back the catchy tone, but add modern day themes to it. Zest was known for being the first “soap” that did not leave a sticky film on the skin. It was not advertised as a “soap” because they did not want to get people thinking it was that days modern soap that did leave the film on the skin. It was also the first well known deodorant.

The promotion for this product is done rather well. They are making this specific soap look like it is the soap for each person. Personally, I am never this excited or happy to shower, but they look like they are having a blast. This advertisement is a commercial seen on many channels (I see if often on TLC, Style and Lifetime). Because this is advertised on numerous different networks on television, the company is using the mass selling approach. That catchy jingle throughout the song is also another sales idea. Advertisements have jingles and songs that get stuck in your head. And then you think about it over and over and over again. This tactic works well with children because children will sing it over and over and over again.

Nice going Melvin!

This commercial was made in 1983 just after a huge renovation took place at the Detroit Zoo. Its purpose was to create excitement and boost attendance. With this commercial they hoped to penetrate markets of the suburbs and surrounding areas. It worked the Zoo became one of Detroit’s crown jewels bringing visitors from all over Michigan and surrounding states. This promotion worked so well it was used all over the country to promote other Zoo’s. This commercial was produced by WB Doner & company and won multiple CLIO awards for the best TV spot in 1983. Wikipedia’s definition of The Clio Awards “ are the world's most recognizable international advertising awards, presented annually to reward innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design and communication. The categories include work in nearly all types of media, and the judges are advertising professionals from around the world.” Not only did it put Detroit and the zoo into the spotlight by winning multiple CLIO’s, it contributed to a long and lucrative reputation for Donor that still exists today. This spot was great for creating admiration for all the animals by giving them human traits. Everyone could relate to one or more of these characters. By adding voices to the everyday actions of the animals, as they prepared for the zoo opening, it gave the target market a pleasant and funny memory, and created a desire to go and “Meet” the animals. This promotion also created nostalgia. I know when growing up I repeatedly heard some of the lines from this commercial from friends. “Nice Going Melvin!” when someone pulled a “Melvin”. So the script stuck in peoples’ minds re-creating the commercial and created reminder advertising through word of mouth. We talked about using celebrities to promote a product. There were impersonated voices of Bing Crosby, and Jimmy Durante, and a few others. Again it created Nostalgia for the older crowd. If you grew up in Michigan in and around Detroit during the 80’s you have memories not only of your visits to the zoo, but also of this memorable commercial of the “Talking Animals”.

Pillsbury Doughboi meets Geico!!!

I recently came across this new commercial from Geico. It features the 

Pillsbury Doughboy going through the security at the airport. According to 

Jennifer Mills, writer for Fastcocreate.com, this is Geico's best commercial this 

year. "The first amazing thing about the spot, from The Martin Agency is that it 

happened, that Geico persuaded Pillsbury to play along. The second is the 

great execution (the spot was directed by Wayne McClammy with VFX from 

The Mill)--the doughboy’s signature laugh is adorable and not annoying (we 

even get something of a new chuckle sound, which was surely debated for days 

during the creative process)." So this commercial is getting a lot of positive 

feedback from its recent customers and their quotes for insurance have went 

up because of this commercial. General Mills, the owners of the Pillsbury 

Doughboy, sells have gone up from this commercial.So both companies have 

flourished from this commercial and have gotten the positive feedback they 

wanted. Viewers are hoping that the Geico Gecko and the Pillsbury Doughboy 

meet up someday for a commercial with Geico. Could be in the works!!! 

Pepsi is fine?

In Brazil Coca Cola has a larger market share than that of Pepsi.  Recent researches show that Coca has 51% while Pepsi has only 10%. Most of consumers never ask for Pepsi, instead, they ask for Coca Cola or one of other options available in the place.

In 2010 Pepsi started a new campaign targeting especially young consumers showing that Pepsi could be good and clever choice. Pepsi could be better than your first choice (Coca Cola).  There were made many commercials focusing on this idea, motivating people to try new things, which is easier to young consumers. I chose this commercial because it was elected in Brazil as the best commercial in 2010. Brazilian commercials are usually fun and Brazilians love that. I consider this commercial has good strategy and also good execution. It shows 3 different situations where there is only one option for something and people discover that it is a really good option. This specific commercial is seasonal and has been launched for spring/summer in whole Country. This commercial was really successful and after this campaign many Brazilians started to ask for Pepsi and they still have in their minds that Pepsi could be a good choice.

After this campaign Pepsi grow up 4% in market share which is huge number considering whole country. Moreover, more than 35% of people started to consider Pepsi as a choice because they remember this commercial.