Ever think that your GPS is really out to get you?
This is one in a long line of commercials in Allstate’s newest ad campaign. I think they are very clever personifying mayhem, because sometimes we actually feel like there is someone out there deliberately wreaking havoc on our everyday day lives. In these commercials, this man of mayhem appears as a deer in the middle of the road, a hot chick running, a falling tree branch in the middle of a storm and many other objects that can wreck your car.
What this commercial gives is the unexpected. The first time is saw one of these commercials, I believe it was the one with the girl running, I laughed out loud. I was definitely not expected a thirty-something-year-old to be running around with pink dumbbells distracting driving. The things Allstate makes this actor do cracks me up, I think that is why these commercials are so successful. Funny seems to be the “it” factor in commercials these days. We have seen many examples of this so far in this blog – Zoosk, Burger King and Old Spice just to name a few.
Between all the laughing there is a point where the serious information has to get across though. In this GPS ad for example, the message is delivered right after the worst happens and the car crashes. At this point the advertisers have your attention. In fact, they use another technique that we have looked at which is comparison advertising. They don’t directly point out competitors but they allude to them with the “15 minute car insurance” comment. Here they are saying that when it comes down to things that have to have good coverage, you should choose quality over anything else. Quality and better coverage is what differentiates Allstate from the all the other guys. It is what “protects you from mayhem like me.”
When I first saw this commercial, I was very confused. I assumed that it was just another Mac vs. PC ad, but then slowly began to realize that the Apple product was on the left side of the screen and the usual characters were M.I.A. How could this be? The scene was completely the same as the Mac vs. PC ads with the familiar melancholy music playing in the background. Yet when the credits appeared it was for T-Mobile! “Borrowing” ides frequently occurs in the marketing industry and, for that matter, in life. It was Albert Einstein who said, “Creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” T-Mobile didn’t exactly do a great job at hiding their sources, but there can be several reasons for that.
Using the same marketing techniques (or the same commercial) as other companies can sometimes work for another company. It this case, I would say that it is somewhat effective, however not as effective as the original Mac vs. PC ads. By using the same ad as Apple, in a way, says to the viewers that they are on the same level as Apple with the products they provide. The one way they alter from the Apple iPhone 4 is in their services. It took me a while to actually realize they are not trying to prove their superiority over Apple, but over the AT&T network. Everything that T-Mobile compares is all about phone networks, not about the capabilities of the phones themselves. For example, this commercial only compares the speeds of the phone, something that their networks provide.
In another commercial, the range of the networks are compared:
It is very apparent that even the iPhone 4 is frustrated with the service provided by AT&T. With this ad, it is easier to see that iPhone 4 isn’t the “bad guy” but AT&T is. It easier to pick this out in this ad because of the background information the viewer has already received from the Mac vs. PC ads. The “bad guy” in those ads was an older man who dressed in an outdated suit, whereas the “good guy” was much more chic. This perception carries over into the T-Mobile ads, another benefit to going off of another company’s marketing. The “good guy” (T-Mobile) is still stylishly dressed and the “bad guy” (AT&T) is in his tacky suit, which leaves iPhone 4 who is somewhere in the middle.
I think it is important to point out that T-Mobile never directly bashes the iPhone 4, especially since they “stole” their commercials. Apple products are very reputable, these ads don’t deny that, but they do point out that the outstanding Apple products are inhibited by a bad network. This, I feel makes the ad more successful and credible.
Personally, I count on originality more than anything else when it comes to creating commercials. The first company to come up with a brilliant ad campaign will more than likely be the most successful, everything else is just a copycat.
In our society today, is this really “too violent?”
This commercial was recently set to debut in Europe but was banned for being too violent for ending the TV spot with a deadly dart hit. It has since been released in the US and has been a success. Personally, the first time I saw this advertisement I burst out laughing! It is just so unexpected and original. It definitely did its job in getting my attention. Furthermore, I feel this commercial is successful because it so greatly differs from all of the other online dating ads that are airing making Zoosk really stand out. All the other ads are lovey-dovey and serious which works only works for the people who are trying to find the “one” right now. Whereas Zoosk really focuses on the carefree aspects of dating and is meant for everyone, no matter what kind of relationship they are looking for. On Zoosk you can “date your way whether you want to browse, flirt or find your soul mate.”
I really like this fresh outlook to online dating, it seems to be more like another type of social media, such as Facebook rather, than an online dating site. Their commercials imply that you can take the risk out of blind dating, which is infamous for failure. Many people are interested in the fact that there is no harm in just browsing for people you might be interested in, especially when there is no risk to you like ending up on a absolutely terrible and awkward blind date like the one shown in the commercial. Their ads are saying that you can find true love and avoid these unfortunate situations.
In this world of computers there is one very important question you must ask yourself… Mac or PC?
Apple launched this set of promos in light of the competition that arose with all the other PCs that are out on the market. I personally love these commercials, but then again I am a Mac girl through and through. It always seems that you are either a Mac or a PC person, rarely are you both. These ads are actually very beneficial for consumers because it makes you aware of Mac’s offerings and the faults of most PCs. For this reason the FTC made it legal for companies to compare themselves with other brands in advertising.
It is called comparative advertising which “in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission decided to encourage comparative ads because it thought they would increase competition and provide consumers with more useful information.”2 Many companies have taken advantage of this type of advertising because it can reinforce their superiority over their competitor’s products. Although, this plan can also backfire by calling attention to other products that the consumer had not previously considered.
I find that this can also be done tactlessly and without much success. The prime example – political campaigns. How many commercials do we see each year when November starts drawing near? Too many. I frankly zone them out whenever one pops up on the TV. This tactic might be helpful for some voters because they can see issues they disagree with that otherwise probably would not have been pointed out by the candidate himself. However, we too often see commercials that are sponsored by one candidate that are just meant to roast the other candidates. In political context, I believe that comparative advertising is very tactless.
In product marketing context though, I find it mostly beneficial. An example that is used in the Essentials of Marketing is a print advertisement for cereal bars. In this advertisement, General Mills directly compares their Honey Nut Cheerios cereal bar with Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes bar stating that they are “50% larger, twice the calcium, and three times the iron of Kellogg’s bars.” Here nutritional information is very important to consumers and therefore makes it very important to compare products in order for the consumer to get exactly what the he or she wants. This goes the same for computers, it is a very high involvement purchase in which consumers will seek out a lot of information to inform and even to make their decisions when purchasing.
In many of the Mac vs. PC commercials, Mac points out exactly what they offer – fun, creative, easy-to-use packages that come with a fast, reliable computer – everything a PC is not. Bonus, they made these ads funny without being cruel and overly derogatory toward PCs, which just made me like the commercials and therefore Apple even more. However, PC manufacturers did not take these remarks without some sort of retaliation. They came out with their own line of comparative advertising…
What I find funny in this add is the girl says “I’m not cool enough to be a Mac.” This goes back to the idea that comparative advertising can backfire. To me this ad says PCs value a low price over high quality, encouraging consumers to buy a PC for their low price not because they are the better product. So it does depend on what you are looking for as a consumer when buying products such as a computer and whether or not ads like these are helpful for you. But the real question you must ask yourself is… Mac or PC?
“Does art reflect life, or does life reflect art?”
In many ways, the same question could be asked about marketing. Does marketing reflect life, or does life reflect marketing? This advertisement exposes that our lives are very much reflections of marketing. In today’s society, it is expected that an estimated 99.9% of all pictures in magazines have been refined using Photoshop. Meaning that most people featured in magazines are in fact not real, or at least realistic. This has become an industry standard in which publicists expect the public to know that most pictures have been altered, therefore they believe the doctored photos are not deceiving. But is the public aware of this fact?
Dove would like to argue no. This video launched Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty which is an ongoing “movement for self-esteem.” The movement is meant to reinforce to every girl that she is beautiful and not to look to magazines for the definition of beauty. Dove believes, as demonstrated through this video, that most advertisements falsely depict women leading to distorted perceptions about what people should look like and what beauty is. The idea of beauty reflects marketing, not life. Dove’s campaign aims to change people’s perception of beauty to make marketing reflect life.
So why does Dove want to do this? It is what differentiates them from all of the other beauty product brands, and believe me there are a lot. They are using cultural strategy which takes present ideologies of today’s society and turns them into marketing tactics. In other words, real beauty is one of Dove’s ideologies which rebels against the recent orthodoxy of photoshopped women in advertising. Many women, especially mothers, feel uneasy about this new social norm of unrealistic expectations and look for ways to calm this unease. They find find peace with Dove’s new ideology and embrace their products as a result. Because most people are more likely to buy a product for its ideologies, rather than just the product benefits. So when you buy a Dove product, you are buying more than just shampoo – you are supporting the ideology of real beauty.
Everyone has seen this new sensation! When this commercial first aired it was an instant hit, taking the brand of Old Spice to a new and exciting level. Old Spice has completely revamped their brand to target to a much younger demographic compared to what it was – your grandpa’s aftershave. The marketing team for Old Spice set up this promo to be appealing first of all to women – I mean having the star be a fine lookin’ man without his shirt on, it has to be for women (who have huge influences over what their man buys). Not to mention, he is directly telling women that your man should “smell like a man, man.” Ladies, you want your man to be as amazing as this man, so make him buy the product. This campaign also targets men, although I believe this is more effective through the humor that is applied throughout all of the advertisements. Men want to be as suave and funny as this man.
Here the marketers are using the concept of the ideal self. This is who you want to be, compared to your actual self which is what you are now. It focuses on the viewers self-concept which is the thoughts and feeling they have toward themselves as an individual. Self-concept is measured by self-esteem which can either be a positive or negative measure of who you are. Furthermore, the marketers focus on your ideal social self, which is how you want others to see you. Ultimately, this ad is saying that if you use Old Spice: men can reach their ideal self and others would see them as this awesome “man you could smell like” who rides horses backwards and is the ultimate man and lady’s man.
Motivation is a huge part of this, if we aren’t motivated to fulfill our ideal self then we will never seek out products like Old Spice to try to achieve it. This is why this campaign works so well. It gives men a clear definition of who their ideal self should be and exactly how to achieve it – by using Old Spice (so you don’t smell like a lady).
Of course we all love the ridiculousness of what Isaiah Mustafa (the man you could smell like has a name!) is doing and saying, making the commercials that much more appealing and enjoyable. This sense of playfulness has trickled down through their whole brand, just take a look at their website. It is all about being a man but is absolutely not taken seriously. I can’t help but read all the information with Isaiah Mustafa’s voice playing in the background. For example, their navigation…
These are two of my favorite examples of what happens when you roll over the navigation. Imagine this, but on a whole website! You should definitely check out the website, it is one of the best examples I have seen of a consistent marketing campaign that is flushed throughout the entire brand. This brand even has their own “Swag,” which includes “smell like a man, man” t-shirts, flasks (sold out at the moment ), an “Ahoy” belt buckle, and much more for you your viewing pleasure. On top of that, you have their products with scents that include Matterhorn and Swagger. As I said before, it is no longer your grandpa’s aftershave. And oh yeah…
Offensive or funny? Post Super Bowl, many people are talking about this questionable commercial.
This was Groupon’s first television debut, and oh the attention it got. It initially grabbed many peoples’ attention by opening with very serious and very real problems that Tibet is going through. Then the ball dropped. Many people took this sudden “comedic” shift to be utterly offensive and tactless. People who were already subscribers to the website unsubscribed after this aired.
The message Groupon was trying to give, according to a Chicago Tribune article, was to create awareness of a philanthropic campaign called “Save the Money.” This campaign is a group of partner organizations that raise money for foundations such as the Tibet Fund. This message was completely lost in the ad leading to a nightmare of retribution.
The most important job of a marketer is to clearly convey your message to your audience, the last thing you want to do is piss them off. The ad and your message need to be synonymous, preferably with little chance of misinterpretation. This is why using comedy can be tricky sometimes, everyone has a different sense of humor. This commercial, for example, the Groupon Chief Executive defends the ad saying they just made light of a serious issue. There is a line to be draw when comedic relief is appropriate and when it is not, however everyone draws their own line. For some, their line had been crossed spurring this uprising.
Personally, I think people can sometimes take things too seriously. Take home point, marketers need to be aware that everyone has different perceptions of what is funny and what is offensive.
Perception – as defined by my 1marketing book is “a consumer’s awareness and interpretation of reality.”
So who is to say that one person’s perception of reality is right and another person’s is wrong? Our own perception is our true reality, and that perception greatly influences our behavior in the world. Since people do have different perceptions, our behaviors can immensely vary from one person to the next. For this reason, marketers use advertising to try to change an individual’s perspective about an single product or about the world in general.
RECESSION PERCEPTION
This video is obviously meant to change your perception of the recession. Just by transposing the words: “the great recession or the recession that made us great” creates a completely alternative aspect. This is a message of hope, that yes the economy is doing very poorly however, this is our time to shine. This is the time you pull yourself up by your bootstraps and show what you are truly made of.
LOST GENERATION?
When I was first watching this video, before it got shifted into reverse, I was getting pretty upset by the blatantly derogatory statements she was making about my generation. My perception is completely different. It made me wonder, do people really believe that about my generation? In some arguments, many people probably do have this belief that there is a lost generation that is growing up with no family values and adding to the destruction of the world. The narrator even concedes that this is what will happen if we don’t do something to change it. She is telling us that we have to be active in our own lives to reverse this reality, in other words, to change our perception.
MAKING THE CHANGE
Perception is difficult to change. It is something we learn and that develops over a long period of time through intentional learning (seeking out knowledge) and unintentional learning (reacting to the environment). The elements of perception are:
The preceding advertisements are good applications of this diagram. Consumers are exposed to the commercials, in addition, inspiring narratives (such as these) are usually effective in gathering our attention. After that, it is left up to the consumer to interpret the information for himself and decide whether his personal perceptions should change at all.
Looking more specifically at these two ads, I felt my perception change a little. I felt a little more hopeful for the future and a little more reassured about the world I will raise my kids in one day. However, perception is learned over time. These perspectives that Allstate and AARP are trying to instill on viewers must continue to be positively reinforced not just through commercials, but through the environment/culture as well. If people don’t actually see a change in the world around them, they are more likely to continue on the way they always have. Advertisements can and do shape perceptions and therefore people’s realities, but they are only seed that can lead to change. To allow the seed to grow, people must cognitively permit the transformation of their own perceptions. It is by this way that one positive advertisement about the recession can flourish into an actual change of reality.
This commercial is a perfect example of a homogeneous shopping product. Homogeneous products are products where consumers see very little differences in a product between brands, the only difference being price. Therefore, consumers seek out the lowest price available. Most of us do this on a day-to-day basis without even realizing it. When we are at the grocery store do we buy the generic brand that is cheaper compared to the name brand? This is especially apparent when we get gas, which gas station do you choose in a city full of them? Of course the one that is the least expensive.
For Burger King to have this commercial they are directly facing the competition of McDonald’s and saying they know that breakfast sandwich is just a breakfast sandwich. What is different about their breakfast sandwich though, is that theirs is only a dollar. They are recognizing that this is a homogeneous good, and the biggest deciding factor for many people is the price.
Furthermore, the Burger “King” is a wonderful figure that has become a beloved TV character. Personally, I like him exceptionally more than Ronald McDonald, who actually kind of creeps me out. The Burger “King” is much more contemporary who is able to reach an older audience. Which I think is a great target market because the only way that kids are going to get fast food is if their parents take them. So it makes sense to cater to the parents needs because when you get the parents to come in, you also get the kids.
It’s that time of year again – Super Bowl time!! It is about the only time of the year when people actually watch TV for the commercials. A fitting way to kick off this blog.
We will start with some marketing details about the Super Bowl that some of you may not know. First of all, why is having a Super Bowl commercial so attractive to marketers? As I mentioned before, it is probably the only time of the year when people mute the TV program, and unmute the commercials. Not only do people watch the commercials, but a LOT of people watch the commercials! According to Yahoo Sports, this year’s Super Bowl set a record for American television viewing with an unbelievable 111 million viewers. This beat last year’s number of viewers by 4.5 million people. Demonstrating that there is definitely a huge, consistent amount of people who tune in to watch every year. With the guarantee of a large amount of traffic being exposed to your company’s advertising, a marketer would be mistaken not to take up this once a year opportunity. However, for a company to get a timeslot during this prime viewing spot, they must dish out a whopping $3 million. So advertisements better live up to the prestigious expectations.
I am going to take a closer look at what I think are some of the more memorable commercials – the top three being car commercials. This doesn’t surprise me too much due to the fact the automotive industry was hit hard by the recession. With slight signs of the economy picking back up, automakers are pushing their products more and more which is apparent through these super bowl advertisements:
AUDI
I just had to laugh when I saw this commercial. Personally my parents love Kenny G and who wouldn’t? His music is just so relaxing, comforting, and… old. It fits perfectly with the persona that the commercial is trying to portray: old luxury. That is this advertisements tagline in fact: “Escape the confines of old luxury.” If you didn’t pay attention, like I did the first time I watched it, you would be particularly confused about what escaping from a posh prison had to do with the new Audi A8. The whole point they aim to make is that “Luxury has progressed.”
This commercial I feel is targeted to the young at heart, like the main character of the ad. If you hadn’t noticed, he is different from the rest not only because he is the only one who gets away but because of his physical attributes. He seems to be the James Bond type – ruggedly handsome, classy, and physically fit (I mean who else could jump through the window above a door like that?). This is subliminally telling the consumer that if you bought an Audi A8, you too could be as cool as James Bond and not like the stuffy other sods that are shown trapped by the enchanting Kenny G. This type of marketing tactic is called classical conditioning. It uses our natural responses and pairs it to a product to get a conditioned response from consumers. Let me graph this example out for you:
This illustration is portraying that people generally have good connotations toward James Bond type characters… we all want to be him or at least be as suave as him. Therefore, when marketers pair someone like him (especially breaking out of the confines of old luxury) with a new and exciting car, the good connotations become associated with that car as well. So further down the road, when you take away the suave character and are just left with the image of the car, the consumers will still have a young, thriving feeling. Hence, you should buy the new Audi A8 so you can be young, thriving, and a part of the new luxury standard.
CHRYSLER
“Imported from Detroit.” The word imported usually makes you think about high quality, luxury and expensive. So what is the Chrysler marketing team saying if something is imported from Detroit?
In this commercial, I believe that they are using Detroit as a symbol for the Chrysler Company. Both, in recent years have struggled, mainly due to the recession. After all, the government did bail out Chrysler. Through this ad, Chrysler is showing that, like Detroit, there are still hard working people running generations deep. It presents a very emotional argument that they have been in the trenches and survived, pulling at the heartstrings of the viewers. Furthermore, Eminem is the spokesperson. A person whose story is well known: he is from Detroit, a hard worker, who came from the trenches to really made something of himself.
In many ways this commercial is just as much of an advertisement for the city of Detroit as it is for Chrysler, showing that yes Chrysler cars are imported from Detroit, something that consumers and the people of Detroit should be proud of. That the cars do have the high quality, and the luxury that we would expect from any other imported car. This is a commercial that you can feel and most people can relate to.
VOLKSWAGEN
Yes this commercial makes you laugh, but does it get the point across? That is the trouble with Super Bowl commercials, they get your attention, but do they actually advertise their product? For the most part, I would say no. Most people watching are just in it for a good laugh. For example when people talk about this commercial they refer to it as the cute little Darth Vader commercial, not the “Volkswagen Commercial: The Force.” Heck, I didn’t know what car it was advertising! I was just so excited to hear the Imperial March and see mini-Vader strolling down a suburban hallway that all the other particulars flew out the window.
However, that is why this commercial is so talked about because of the nostalgic feeling so many people get from any reference to Star Wars. It immediately grabs people’s attention and pulls them into a deep rooted feeling that automatically puts them in a good mood. It is a very entertaining commercial because people are able to get very connected to it, but it isn’t a good advertisement for the all-new 2012 Passat – oh yeah, that was the car it was advertising!
