Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Bad Commercials




Bad commercial are the worst and it shows how the companies lack there Strategic planning.  When Companies are trying to show a promotion on their product they need not to always have a celebrity in the commercial. I chose these three commercials because in the Burger king commercials they are focusing too hard on the celebrities. Yes I know the food is there but they are not promoting it right. In both the burger king commercials they showed more of the celebrity then the food. Then when I came to the Old spice commercial all it advertised was how powerful it is. We all know that body spray can never be that powerful in life. They needed to focus more on the smell and the different types of fragrances they have. I thought that these commercials where really horrible and they really need some improvement. 

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Toyota and Nascar



Toyota is known as a quality car manufacturer around the world. One of their biggest challenges has been for a Toyota to be accepted as an American made car. Through the 1990’s NASCAR grew in popularity to be one of America most viewed sports. At the same time it is an all American sport; as only American Manufactured cars are allowed to compete. Toyota has been using motorsports as a marketing tool since this 1970’s to promote their quality and reliability. Starting in 2000 they convinced NASCAR to allow them to compete on a lower level, eventually finding success on the track, they also found success in sales.

 In 2004 while entering into the full size truck market in the US, Toyota entered into the Nascar truck series to gain Market Penetration and Brand Recognition. With success in the truck series Toyota moved on to NASCAR Nationwide and Cup series with the Toyota Camry with the same goals in mind: Market Penetration and Brand Recognition.  In both the car and truck markets Toyota has accomplished their goal of becoming a American Brand by gaining Market Penetration, Brand recognition, Brand Preference, and are now in to Brand insistence

            An innovative and comical commercial like the one I choose, which was originally aired in 2008, have helped Toyota establish their presence in the Nascar community and has established them as an American brand in many people’s eyes. I would call this successful and profitable marketing.


"Sinking" about strategy

Having studied linguistics and a foreign language in college, language-based humor never ceases to amuse me. The Berlitz Corporation uses comedy in most of its television advertising to reach a wide audience. My particular favorite is a 2006 Norwegian commercial that seems to claim that language barriers can be very detrimental--possibly deadly--in certain situations.

Since its release, the commercial has garnered millions of views and fans all over the world. The video begins with two men in a control room of the German coast guard. There's a new employee being shown around briefly, and then he's left to fend for himself. It becomes clear that his English skills may not be quite up to par with what the position requires when a voice comes over the radio asking for help. The voice tells the man that they are sinking, which to a German ear can sound like "thinking," and lo and behold the German man responds by asking the sinking ship what they are "sinking" about.

This video, like all ads like go viral for their creative humor, is effective because of the massive audience it won. Defining a target market for language courses is difficult; everybody has their own unique reason for wanting to learn a foreign language. There may be some broad categories of potential language learners Berlitz uses to plan its marketing strategy, such as people who want to improve their English skills for business reasons.

The advantages of the services the Berlitz corporation offers are slightly more abstract than many products and services we see advertised on a daily basis, so it's important that Berlitz stay creative and use situational humor to reach its target audience. In America there is especially little enthusiasm about foreign language learning, largely due to a lack of understanding about the ways foreign language skills can be beneficial to a particular individual. Berlitz uses humor to help get these benefits across in an effective manner.

There are other videos, like this one and this one, that highlight other reasons or benefits for improving skills in a foreign language. Berlitz also released an "ad" this year for their new Klingon services--to which they added an April Fool's Day disclaimer that was naturally missed by many people. Overall, I think Berlitz's marketing campaign is a successful one for the kind of industry and helps their name stick out among competitors'.



Monday, October 14, 2013

Samsung's "Next Big Thing"


When I first saw this commercial for the new Samsung Galaxy Gear me and my brother were talking, and right as I was talking the it popped up on the TV and I was immediately drawn into it.  It has such a clear message that this is the kind of thing people have only dreamed about.  The commercial also works well because everybody who grew up in America has seen one of these TV shows or movies, allowing it to be mass marketed to many different people.  However only the last fifteen seconds of the commercial even show the product which leaves you to ask what does it really even do.

This prompted me to do a little research on it and what I found out really gave me some doubts.  According to  review I read on cnet it doesn't actually have many features and won't be totally replacing your phone either, it is still linked to your Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (and only the Galaxy Note 3 for the time being) by Bluetooth but can be used to make calls, send texts and use a few apps but no email or social services are supported yet.

The Samsung Galaxy Gear is the first smart watch that I've heard of but I learned that there are others, so this is an industry that is still in the market introduction stage so it'll be interesting to see if it catches on
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The Marketing Magic of Disney

Disney Princesses. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White are almost household names. They are a central part of the Disney media franchise, and many would argue are also a central part of a girl's childhood. For many young girls, knowing all of the songs to your favorite princess movie is rite of passage. To these girls, if you didn't grow up dancing to "Under the Sea" and singing to "Beauty and the Beast", you never had a childhood. But today, there is actually a lot more to these princesses than classic movies with tales as old as time and songs as old as rhyme.
So much more. 

In the late 1990s, Walt's Disney's Director of Consumer Products Andy Mooney was at a Disney on Ice show. While there, he noticed several young girls dressed in princess clothes from generic costume stores. He saw a demand with no supply. "They weren't even Disney products. They were generic princess products. He addressed the company and suggested that they work on an authentic Disney Princess franchise. The original line-up consisted of Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle and Jasmine. Today it has expanded to include Mulan, Pocahontas, Tiana, Rapunzel, and Merida. Two new princesses are to be added with the soon-to-be released Frozen.The beauty of the marketing strategy is that Disney didn't even put a lot of effort into promotion. They had already reached their target markets, but now just needed products to give them.

Instead of working on promotion and advertising, Disney focused their marketing strategy on partnering with companies like Sephora to come up with clothing lines and cranking out a huge variety of products. Distribution is their biggest means of marketing. Disney was also clever enough to group the princesses together into a royalty-conglomerate, increasing the exposure of all the princesses. Disney had several decades to establish the princesses and already had a quite a following for the princesses themselves. The window of opportunity turned into a phenomenon.

The franchise has released apparel, home decor, toys, books, television specials, games, dolls, dance clothes, dinnerware and wedding dresses. All of the princesses are also featured at meet-and-greets at Disney's resorts and theme parks. In 2011, Forbes reported that the Disney Princess franchise made over $1.6 billion domestically, and $3 billion worldwide. It outperformed the franchises Star Wars, Sesame Street, and Batman. Overall, their marketing strategy is paying off. Recently, Disney "updated" the official artwork of the princesses, receiving mixed reactions from parents and feminazis alike. And in recent years, Disney has come under fire over what kind of influence the princesses have over young girls. It does not appear to have made a dent in their sales, however. The franchise continues to make over $4 billion a year, and it continues to grow and expand. It must be the magic of Disney.



Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Bored in a Board Meeting

 This Commercial is for the Moto X phone by Motorola. I believe that this commercial is aimed at Apple as the iPhone is the main phone that buzzes when you are receiving texts and other notifications. It brings into question good viewpoints of how and when the iPhone buzzes in awkward situations. I personally do not own a smartphone but I know plenty of people and have been in many classes where their phone has gone off making it awkward for everyone as they know they are not supposed to have it on.

I think that this commercial is highly effective at targeting a target market that would care about these kinds of things. In the ad, it seems like it is aimed at middle class people who wither have a job or are looking for one. Their target market seems to be about 22-30ish range. Before this ad, I did not know about this phone or even thought of Motorola as a contender in the smartphone field. But with this humorous ad, Motorola has become at least noticed in the area. With the new commercials, about 7 or 8 of them, the phone shows off its silent notification setting, along with its flashy voice activation, quick camera, and customization. The phone and website have not increased substantially since the commercials but they have racked up a lot of YouTube hits. One going viral with over 15 million hits already.

Although very few phones can compete with the iPhone, these commercials at least catch your eye with humor and introduce handy features in an appealing way. These commercials highlight a few of the iPhones problems, if this is enough for customers to switch from Apple to Motorola is, still to be seen. 


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Hey, It Happens



 

 
 
 
        On March 20, 2013, Liberty Mutual Insurance published the commercial- Amateur Athletes to YouTube. It only produced about 4,000 hits during March Madness, Year –to-date only 89,000 views. Its focus was being HUMAN, with that said we do things that doesn’t make sense. Liberty Mutual wants to come off as sympathetic and they understand that we’re not perfect.  In advertisement Liberty Mutual spent nearly $160 million in measured media last year, with nearly $70 million of that amount allocated to market auto insurance. According to Kantar Media, Liberty Mutual is among the big names signed on to buy time in NBC Universal's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics to be held in Sochi, Russia. NBC Universal is projecting an $800 million-plus advertising haul for the games.
        From my point of view, it was awesome! They used comedic and real life scenarios. The fact that Liberty Mutual Insurance marketing strategy is to sale you responsibility (insurance). They have many markets they can appeal to. Liberty Mutual Insurance has homeowner, car, and life insurance. But, in this case they want to use those who need car insurance as a target market. Car insurance with added benefits in a standard policy. They want you to understand that car insurance is more than a collision, theft, a tree falling during a storm or vandalism. The fact that we’re humans, things happened.  When things happen you should be responsible at having insurance and choosing the right insurance. Liberty Mutual Insurance sales they guarantee repairs or new car replacement. 
 
 
 
 
 






Thursday, October 3, 2013

Bioshock: Buried in Subtext

My favorite example of advertising lately has got to be the new trailer for Bioshock Infinite's downloadable content Burial At Sea, created by Irrational Games.  It's an expansion pack that adds to the game's narrative for $20. Irrational Games used the strengths of their storytelling medium to market their product in a unique way that I'm sure will be very successful for them.

But first, some background information: In the first Bioshock game that was released 5 years ago, your character explores the ruins of an art-deco city built under the ocean.  A man named Andrew Ryan  (read "Ayn Rand") built this place as a utopia for the exceptional, promising them freedom from the interference of government and "petty morality".  As you can imagine things do not go as planned, and war tears the city apart.  Back in 2007 Irrational games didn't have the technology to to show players the city in its prime, so they opted to tell their story through the dilapidated environment.  Gamers can piece together the story of how the city fell by studying corpses, analyzing the eerie propaganda posted around the city, and by listening to the voice recordings of former citizens.

Now in 2013 Irrational games is finally showing players what Rapture looked like pre-apocalypse, something players have been asking for for years (they really know their target market).  The first Bioshock's goal was to make the player want to know how the city fell apart.  It created a drive, not by telling consumers they desired more Rapture, but by showing them the city and letting their curiosity get the better of them. With the impending release of the DLC, the first game (which is considered by many to be one of the greatest games of all time, holding the title of "highest rated FPS " on Metacritic for 5 years) has become a 10 hour advertisement for this new installment.

A lot of game trailers show a lot of pre-rendered animation that isn't part of the game they're selling.  Consumers have become wary of this manipulatory tactic.  This trailer only shows actual gameplay footage, which wins the audience's trust.  What makes it even more convincing is the fact that every shot is shown from the player's perspective.  2K games is allowing players to preorder the two unreleased DLC's so it's important that gamers know what they're buying.  Very little information has been released about the new content, so this trailer essentially has to sell the product all by itself.  Judging by the buzz this trailer has caused (it has been given a lot of publicity through gaming news websites) I'm sure it'll be a huge success.  It doesn't hurt that Bioshock Infinite itself has already sold over 4 million copies.


Bioshock 1: Post New Year's Eve massacre



Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Before You Go...

On September 10, the "before-you-go toilet spray" called Poo-Pourri released an advertisement on youtube. It got over 4 million views the first morning. I happened to see the video on tumblr after it had gone viral. After just one week, the traffic on PooPourri.com increased over 13,000 percent. Putting the advertisement on youtube helped the company effectively reach the target market of younger people, generally girls 18-25. The ad would have been much less successful had it been shown on local television channels to middle aged or older people who would more likely find it offensive. The dirty jokes and catchy puns in this commercial were meant to attract younger people who would be more likely to buy the product.

So Poo-Pourri's marketing objective of gaining new potential customers definitely worked. It was also a smart idea to wait until the product was somewhat recognizable before paying for advertisements. Already 4 million bottles had been sold when the commercial was made, so it wasn't just a new product that blew all of its money on one chance. I had never previously heard of the product, but their website shows that they were already doing quite well. There are lots of different scents and even sprays for pets and kids. I also looked up where these products were sold other than online, and it turns out they are at specialty stores like hallmark and they're even sold in hospitals! So with an already well established business, the humorous commercial has attracted many new customers and it shows. A lot of the products on the website are currently sold out, and they had to add a note saying two weeks would be needed just to get a new order shipped.

Test in BMG155

I love the brain.



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