Apple is known for it’s advertising. Has been for awhile. Recently, mostly with the invention of the iPod, Apple has been responsible for helping to launch the careers of some once-unknown artists. I don’t think I actually know anyone that had heard of Feist, CSS, Yael Naim or The Ting Tings before their partnerships. And hey, as an up-and-coming artist, can you think of a better way to launch your career?

Now, while I’m excited that these talented artists are getting some of the attention they deserve, whenever I hear “New Soul,” by Yael Naim I want to throw my TV/radio/computer through a window. I don’t know if this is because the commercial was WAY overplayed or what. But this morning, while watching VH1, the song started playing, I immediately turned around to change the channel, thinking it was the ad and having zero desire to see that laptop in an envelope one more time. However, I found that it was actually VH1 doing a little news blurb on her. So I feel like I’m torn. I like the ad… but only for the first three times I see it, because next thing I know, I can’t stand hearing the song. Unlike other ads I could watch over and over without getting old. It got me thinking… does this happen to anyone else? Do you hate Apple commercials? Or do we just grow tired of the song, like being overplayed on the radio? Maybe a mini test you can try for yourself. MacBook Air commercial is below, followed by music video for the song. Can you make it through the whole thing? I can’t.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MacBook Air, iPod, music, Yael Naim, CSS, Feist, The Ting Tings, advertising, promotion, commercials, music videos

I’ve been staring at this ad for two days trying to figure out if I like it or I don’t.

I love the image on the right. I think it’s clever and pretty.

I don’t like the break in the middle of the page (it appears to be a corner?) because it distracts the text.

I find the usage of “bold” and “light” superfluous in the copy but most of all my nagging is over one word:

“soulmates”

I’m trying to decide if I’m being too tough or if, my initial reaction that it’s just a cookie and the melodrama of the word soulmate is reaching a little high.

I get what the writer is trying to say. I don’t necessarily mind the attributing of human qualities to inanimate objects, which is often death, but can be done well.

But my initial reaction was there are other ways to say what the image is conveying than the use of the word “soulmates”–”together forever,” “a perfect match,” “inseparable,” “love,” “perfection,” “perfect” etc.

To be honest I kind of scoffed at the use of the word when I first read it, even though I love the image on the right.

While searching for a picture of the ad, I found another take on it, one that not only takes the writer to task for making “soul mates” into “soulmates” but also claims the ad is racist compared to other ads that define chocolate as “the devil:”

Is the primary intent selling cookies or white supremacy?

…

When studying the racist idea of chocolate over white you clearly see it defined as a devil

When it is white over black it uses captions that are definitively described as Angel’s food. In the case of the ad with the white male image and the black female image it clearly reads soulmates.

Even the written grammar “soul mates” in the Pepperidge farm ad becomes a conjunction and is now one word thus you have soulmates. Angel’s food and Soulmates both quantify as a relative meaning. The further you go into this mindset the more disturbing this behavior gets (pathological).

Comedian and Writer Warren Hutcherson used to have a great bit on how is father could find racism in foods at the grocery store (green olives are in clear jars, black olives are in cans; white Frosted Flakes are “great” but black Cocoa Puffs make you go cuckoo, etc.)

After reading this guy’s take on the Milano advertising, ironically enough my reaction was the same as the first time I saw the word “soulmates.”

“Dude, it’s just a cookie”

Technorati Tags: Pepperidge Farms, Milano, cookies, racism, copywriting, Warren Hutcherson, reading too much into things

We are all aware that billboard advertising is a good way to get attention. For soap operas like Secret Diary of a Call Girl, added exposure to inform viewers of this TV series will really help them in terms of ratings and all.

But what is controversial about this billboard ad for this soap series is its changing design which has caused some drivers to stop to this unique style of design and change in billboard advertising approach today.

Apparently, the change is from decent to salacious and with that in mind, the public are sure to react towards this different advertising approach.

A spokeswoman for Prime Television, Lisa Franklin, said back-lighting on the boards came up after dark to reveal sexy lingerie on the “call girl”.

Franklin said she was not sure whether the changeover occurred before the “watershed” time of 8:30pm, when adult content is allowed to appear on television.

“That depends on what time it gets dark in Christchurch these days,” Franklin said.

Another billboard, on the corner of Christchurch’s Tuam and Madras streets, features a skirt that blows up in the wind to reveal the legs of a “call girl” clad in suspenders.

(Source) Stuff.co.nz

Technorati Tags: billboard, call girl, advertising, television, soap opera, lingerie, salacious

If you haven’t heard it yet, Facebook is the latest hit social networking site that has been the cause of all the commotion these days and a lot of the people endorsing this are the youth. Now with that said, this is a wide area of opportunity in getting ads across which apparently are being abused by some sectors, most notably the credit firms.

It has also set up a Facebook group, called ‘Debt can seriously cramp your style,’ to warn people of the dangers of getting into debt.

A spokesman for the charity said: “It is such a popular method because they can target young people, with whom the site is so popular.”

(Source) Telegraph.co.uk

Facebook has its share of aggressive advertising campaigns due to its immense exposure. But if it fails to double check the companies seeking ad spots, it may just hurt them in the end.

Technorati Tags: facebook, advertising, credit, opportunity, ads

You know when I think of troubled third world nations who need our help, I can only think of one celebrity who might be able to adequately convey the pain and suffering of living in a disaster ridden country ruled by a junta.

KIM KARDASHIAN!



Unfortunately, this ill-advised Public Service Announcement does less for the poor people of Burma and more for illiteracy. As. she. remembers. what. was. in. the. script.

I don’t watch their reality show, but I know Mom married Bruce Jenner, former awesome Wheaties spokesman and the man who spawned the “Princes of Malibu” (and “please make famous” Hills “star” Brody Jenner). So it’s like a perfect storm of fame-whoring suck.
. Dad on the other hand, was OJ Simpson’s lawyer. So in other words, everyone has a deal with the Devil

A sack of hammers could beat them all on Jeopardy.

I’m not against celebrity PSA’s per se, just ones where celebrities with no real higher education try to lecture me about stuff (looking at you DiCaprio) and to seem more caring than the common man just because they have more influence.

Here’s a good primer on what good PSA’s involve.

A good PSA, even if you don’t agree with the content.



Simple, straightforward, to the point, and fairly genuine, which I think is the key to a good PSA. Kim Kardashian couldn’t find Burma on a map with 3 guesses and an encyclopedia.

Technorati Tags: PSA’s, Burma, Kim Kardashian, Bad Spokespeople, Tom Hanks

First email spam, now cell phone spam.

The New York Times has your hook up:

The fees that customers pay to receive messages are a source of profit for the phone companies. It is hard to estimate how much they make. Many consumers pay for a monthly plan that allows them to send and receive large numbers of messages. But for those without a plan, getting as few as 10 unsolicited text messages a month at 20 cents each would cost an extra $24 a year.

Communications companies say they are not interested in spam as a profit center. They want to one day exploit the power of customized advertising on mobile phones, and tawdry spam pitches threaten to make their customers hostile toward all commercial messages. The companies are trying to head off the

That’s just b.s. If they weren’t interested in this spam as profit, they wouldn’t allow it in the first place. Anyone who has had an accidental internet pay-per-use charge can tell you how unsympathetic the cell phone industry is to your plight if you get a message that links to a video of some sort that ends up costing you 400 bucks (he speaks from personal experience). Plus, since regulators have had a tough time getting rid of email spam, I don’t suppose the vigilance for cell phone spam will be there. Phone companies already sell my information to interested parties, why should I take their word that *NOW* they’re not in it for profit but rather research purposes on the extent of customized advertising.

I love technology but all this meddling is making me want to find a cabin in Montana and start writing my manifesto. Preferably on a typewriter, which is immune to porn spam.

Spam spam sausage spam

Technorati Tags: mobile technology, cell phones, spam, stuff that sucks, Monty Python nerds

I have to put on my hater hat for a moment concerning the latest ads for Belvedere vodka

Apparently 20 million bucks won’t buy as much as it used to, or you get what you pay for:
I saw this ad over the weekend:


Further research led me to the news that Belvedere had hired Terry Richardson to do some high concept high fashion ads or something. I’m no fan of “fashion photographers” because much like “fashion designers” or “fashion models” their pretentiousness far outweighs their total value to any sort of culture, but I realize they’re good at being artsy and if you need a living mannequin, that’s the world you need to embrace.

But THANK GOD they got famed self-indulgent “filmmaker” Vincent Gallo (he of the Brown Bunny, a blowjob and a round of boos at Cannes) to look like a homeless guy to shill for their vodka.

Is that really luxury? Really?

Oh, but it gets classier:



You see, because she’s checking her lipstick at crotch level in a belt buckle. The crotch level of Vincent Gallo no less. Did we not learn anything from Chloe Sevigny? Were Quentin Tarantino and Michael Bay not in the mood to tell you they’d put you in their next movie?

Oh we’re sooooo naughty…

Like any douchebag in a room with attractive ladies, Gallo also breaks out a guitar at parties trying to convince them that he’s sensitive and a non-hacky version of John Mayer. Does this still work? I thought most women stopped being impressed after their first year of college.




Careful, if you get him wet he either melts or multiplies.

Technorati Tags: Alcohol, advertising, Vincent Gallo, bad ads, Terry Richardson, Belvedere, vodka, snark

A few days ago I wrote about the Subway commercials advertising $5 foot-long subs with the annoying yet catchy jingle. Well, what do you know. Today, just now, I got home from work, find an excellent rerun of Top Chef and the firs thing I see is an ad from Quiznos for $5 foot-long subs. However, this one is lacking a little jingle. Instead I find myself in a laundromat where the lady behind the counter peels a five off the wall and eats it. The payoff? There is a better way to “eat five dollars.” They also boast more meat than Subway, which is why you are getting more bang for your buck. When it comes down to it and the battle of the $5 foot-long, Subway did it better. Quiznos strikes me as overdone and obvious (and what seems to be done in a crunch to compete with Subway’s offer). But take a look for yourself. I’ve even posted the Subway spot again.

Technorati Tags: Subways, Quiznos, sandwiches, commercials, food, offers, specials, fast food

As far as advertising is concerned, getting the message across is one thing but considering the logical intelligence of the viewing market to which it is aimed at penetrating is another. In short, there are some advertisements that really do not care if their ad campaigns make sense or not. A simple word or two is all that matters for endorsing companies, normally terms that associate their brand to the consumer’s mind.

But while imagery is one thing, it is apparent that there are a lot of ads that do not make sense at all. Some call them wasted money and opportunity while others look at simply creating an image towards placing brand awareness for products and services.

With these tactics in mind, many people will agree, is it really for strategic management or plainly for conning people into intellectual proportions on the whole advertising paradigm.

 

We all have our personal advertising bugbears. I am frequently dumbstruck by the portrayal of young men as henpecked morons, perennially outmanoeuvred by their vastly superior girlfriends. And I can’t be the only person bothered by the ambulance-chasing personal injury adverts - the “no win, no fee” propaganda packs of the compensation culture.

(Source) theblog

Technorati Tags: advertising, brand, paradigm, imagery, money, brand awareness, smoking, fish hook

A couple of commercials on rotation currently strike me as incredibly similar. In fact, I know people who didn’t even realize (at first) that the commercials were for two completely different products. Enter the AT&T Go Phone spot with Meatloaf and Tiffany and a handful of Comcast spots, including the “Lady Marmalade” ad. Notably I find them similar since each uses singing as the main means of conversing. Personally, I find AT&T’s spot much more interesting to watch as it is more of a mini-musical - including the song being edited to fit the product. As far as Comcast goes, their spots showcase one of the actors singing the song back as part of conversation, in a weird dubbed-over way, that I find, well, creepy. After much debate, I have found that most prefer the Meatloaf spot to Comcast’s. What are your thoughts? Do you find them similar? Maybe not? 

Technorati Tags: Go Phone, AT&T, Meatloaf, Tiffany, Comcast, Lady Marmalade, Patti LaBelle, tv, commercials, cell phone, singing

I find most companies asking for user generated content want one of two things:

1)Other people to do their work for them on the cheap and/or
2)Don’t want to pay an advertising agency

Sometimes it works (Doritos and the Super Bowl) and rubs advertising creatives the wrong way and we all get in a tizzy and think of ways to criticize the work as “unprofessional” when really we’re thinking “we should have thought of that.”

Sorry, this new campaign from Century 21 doesn’t sell me on wanting to create a wacky video of me doing wacky things for “exposure”

I’m personally of the opinion that payoff doesn’t match the efforts, but then again, closing costs are a pain

Being that I hang out with people who do these things, I’m sure I’m going to get a lot of emails asking for my vote…but that teaser ad. Yikes

Technorati Tags: Century 21, user generated content, marketing, things that rub me wrong

As far as advertising is concerned, you would be surprised at the things that most companies would come up with to get attention and this one is really something that is similar to them. This new print-ad gimmick is for readers to take camera phone pictures of icons and ads and send them to a certain number. They will in turn get more information from the advertiser concerned.

If you think of it, it is quite a long shot and seeing people wasting their time taking pictures and then getting information of these products does seem strange at this point.

Wait a second. Haven’t we seen something like this before?

Ah yes, the CueCat, a handheld device that scanned special barcodes to save you the trouble of typing in a web address, which was introduced in the year 2000, pretty much failed that same year, and are now as hacked as Roombas.

(Source) Jossip

Technorati Tags: advertising, cuecat, print-ad gimmick, camer phones

 

To draw attention, controversial practices such as injecting sexual images will be condemned by most but it is relevant to the product or service being advertised, chances are they will be allowed to do so. Apparently, there are a lot of advertising and promotional practices used today that have had their share of being hit for their uncanny means of attracting attention.

It cannot be discounted that a lot of people have used these techniques to use controversy as an added value as far as attention grabbing is concerned. Some may not like it and even deem it as a dirty tactic. But in the world of business today, you just have to pull out all the stops even if it may be pointing towards risking morality issues we know of today.

“Naked people are wonderful, of course, but they have to be relevant to the product. You could have a naked person advertising shower gel or a cream, but not a woman in a bikini draped across a car.”

(Source) BBC News

Technorati Tags: advertising, promotional, naked, controversy, sexual images, business, techniques

After the ABC series about Geico’s Cavemen, well, bombed, I was sort of hoping it would be the end of the cavemen altogether. My wish has yet to be granted and now the cavemen have entered the disco world. The new commercials show off their sweet dance moves, think “The Hustle,” and “Jazz Hands.” The purpose of the ads are to direct you to not one but two new viral sites from Geico - CavemansCrib.com and DancingCaveman.com. Visit the latter and you can even download your very own dancing caveman to put on your desktop. Hours of entertainment… or maybe just seconds. 

Technorati Tags: tv, commercials, Geico, cavemen, sitcoms, websites, viral, dancing, disco

Maybe I spoke too soon. After the amazement that was the Jordan spots, I came across W+K’s newest Heineken spot, “Share the Good,” for the Heineken Light product. The ad directs you to a website where you learn all about the movement to Share the Good. The site is FAR more impressive (at least in my opinion) than the rather corny commercial. Just watch the opening animation of the hands/backgrounds changing. After learning about the movement, there is of course, info on the beer, sweepstakes, the commercials and more. But I must say, personally, I do enjoy the thought of encouraging people to share beers. Thoughts?

Technorati Tags: beer, Heineken, bars, TV, commercials

 

Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of Danica Patrick

But unfortunately this pun from airTran makes me think they’re shooting for a different demographic than race fans, or telling us something about their spokesperson that’s none of our business.

Seinfeld disclosure: Not that there’s anything wrong with either

Technorati Tags: Danica Patrick, airTran, celebrity endorsements

As far as advertising is concerned, you can expect some of them to exaggerate some stuff and even get to the point of misleading the consumer market with their practices. This is common and some people just fail to realize it. The exposure of ads are becoming aggressive and rather than analyzing and reading them closely, people are too involved in observing the images and scenes rather than what an ad is all about.

Consumers only get to realize a product once they have purchased one. While many are using the psychological warfare to sell their product, consumers don’t even have a clue that they are buying goods that may not even have all the necessities that were injected into the ad that they saw. And I guess you know who becomes the loser and the winner in the end right?

Just look at this example of misleading advertising:

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) criticized easyJet for its Easter promotional campaign, when the no-frills airline claimed that if was offering 25 percent discounts on nearly all tickets, including just about all routes.

(Source) Carrentals.co.uk

Food consumption has really taken quite a bit of attention these days and apparently, most ads we see are calling for us to junk the usual junk food that we often love to munch down at times. While most of us love them, we just have to stress that today, health is an important concern when it comes to living healthier lives.

We can see astronomical costs invested in these ads by the junk food manufacturers today and just like anyone else, if you can get away with a business that doesn’t censor you, then why not?

But the bottom-line is if you want to throw away the trash, it all starts from living wisely and junking the toxins. This includes condemning ads through our own little way. Make a stand!

(Source) BBC News

 

As far as banning tobacco from making further aggressive advertisements, there are still some sectors all over the world that find a way to plug in their tobacco products on varied means of advertising mediums. But while many people are concerned about how the tobacco manufacturers get away with it, perhaps the truth behind tobacco which is nicotine should be emphasized as well.

Overall, it is nicotine that is the drug that makes people smoke a lot. To some smokers, it may not matter since they are still up and about. But give it a couple of years and you will see varied illnesses that will take its toll from continued abuse.

As far as advertising is concerned, the least they can do is emphasize more on the harmful effects of nicotine intake. They are doing it anyway. How else can they earn big bucks?

You can read more about it here at the Bangkok Post.

 

One thing you have to consider in the world of advertising and promotions today, you better be open to the consumer acceptance and reaction of the ads you are going to release. This involved consideration towards the areas of cultural, legal, political and social factors which are normally considered in doing business.

 

Apparently, releasing an ad is one thing but to be forced to pull it out due to bad corporate image and controversies will entirely hurt the brand image. Apparently, this is the issue that hit the company distillers of Sweden’s Absolut Vodka when they released a controversial ad that drew the ire of many Americans who caught up with the ad shown in Mexico.

 

The billboard ad has the slogan “In an Absolut World” slapped over a pre-1848 map showing California, Arizona and other U.S. states as Mexican territory. Those states were carved out of what had been Mexican lands until that year. 

Although it was not shown in the United States, U.S. media outlets picked up on the ad, and after a barrage of complaints, Absolut’s maker said on Sunday the ad campaign would cease.

(Source) Yahoo News