New technologies in advertisement

The topic discussion this week was new technologies in media. I think that most advertisment is moving towards phone aps. Before the big thing was web advertisement but due to smart phones advertising has shifted. People are always on their phones non-stop because ya so conveiniant to have all this technology and power in one hand. 

For example qr codes are a big thing. It's a square fragmented 1 to 2 inch box that people can scan and it opens up a webepage or a coupon. Companies are really utilizing smart phones technology because it's instant and saves paper cost. 

I would like to see more advertisments related to gaming. If companies could find a way to make consumers interact with a game it could be cool. For example if you get high scores you get

Coupons to try new products and encourage consumers to write a review about it. Companies could also get a test group audience and even a consumer group or discover their market. 

Nostaligia pros and cons

Last week we discussed how brands use nostalgic advertising to sell products. In my opinion, some of the advantages of this form of advertisment are that they make you feel comforted, remenace about the past, and could even inspire people to do things. Brands like Coke-A-Cola and Disney do a good job in providing a innocent sense of nostaligia. 

However, every thing can have its pros and cons. A couple disadvantages could be that if misused consumers could be turned off by it. For example if may only be used for a specific audience with a older age group. Kids don't pay to much attention to it. Another con could be that misused it could mislead peeple Into buying unhealthy products. For example underaged kids buying cigarettes because they saw a nostalgic image of marburo man riding a horse and smoking one of their cigarettes. 

Things that appear manly or cool could be misinterpreted by a younger audience. 

Consumer behavior for Playstation

The new advertisement for the sony PS4 has been generation quite a buzz for excited play station gamers. The new console is scheduled to release next month. The commerical has a catchy tune and is marketed towards players who like to share the gaming experience with their friends. This is an interesting approach because lately most of the PS3 games have started to become more anti social. Many of the new games on the PS3 are 1 player with the option to play with others online but you can't play 2 player on the same console. I think Sony has begun to realize that people want to enjoy playing games with 1 or more other players right next to them instead of online. I think it takes the whole personal interaction away from the product. Microsoft has caught onto this a long time ago, with most of their games for the Xbox 360 being 2-4 players. It appears Sony is just catching on, better late then never. I'm interested to see if Microsoft will be raising the bar as they have been with their konnect technology and intense online gaming. The Xbox one will be release a month after the PS4 and so it will be exciting which brand takes the win. 

Here is the URL for the PS4 commercial 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s0d9d-cdxhk

Harley Davidson answers

Yes I do believe brand communities like Harley  Davidson result in greater involment in the brand. By creating this club or lifestyle for consumers, Harley is able to connect emotionally and engage their customers by giving them something to be apart of. 

Elements such as the free open road, old biker bars, and sharring travel stories help to bring meaning to the brand as more than just a brand but a lifestyle or biker culture. 

I think the company should not get more involved in the ride becasuse that would make it feel less rebellious and carefree 

I believe Harley could increase more involment in the brand by making a social network for riders to share stories and locations of good bars or stops to visit during a HOG posse ride. 

Chrysler fails to produce a winner

Last year Chrysler began its marketing campaign for the brand new mid size sedan named the Dodge Dart. It began advertising it during the MLB all star game featuring NFL star quarterback Tom Brady. Despite their excitement, their sales for the mid sized sedan has flopped. Among the two competitors which are the Civic and Corolla, Chrysler failed to produce a competitive mid sized sedan that would perform up to par. Initially, they sold roughly 200 units a month when it first came out. Although during the month of November they sold 4500 units it came very far from the competitors 30,000 units sold by Honda and 22,000 units sold by Toyota. Analysis say that the Dart's failure could be because Chrysler  has little experience in mid sized cars, with most of their successful vehicles being jeeps and trucks. Consumers also failed to give it a high rating due to its power train issues and steep priced options. 

Dodge did a great job in designing the exterior and interior but many consumers failed to give it a good rating because the car would tend to show several mechanical glitches after 20,000 miles. Dodge should stick to what they are known for, Ram trucks and SUVs like the Durango. 

I believe they had a good thing going by realizing that there was a market for mid sized sedans, however they failed to perform due to poor mechanical construction on their part. 

Should have sat this one out guys :) 

Rose petal play house commercial rewrite

I would start the commecial with a shot

of 4 multicultural kids each holding a product that comes in the cottage. It would also have a playful song in the back but nothing that makes it seem catered to little girls. Something maybe with a funny accent like how spongbob square pants has a pirate singing their theme song with kids shouting the courus in the background. The house itself would need to have less feminine colors. Maybe a green, yellow, and red color scheme. The little girls could still be doing stuff like cooking and rocking the baby but I would also include shots of what kind of things there are to do for boys. I think it is important for boys to have imaginations and being able to play along with girls. They could show boys cleaning the gutter or fixing the pipes with a girl handing him the tools and learning how to do it too. Finally I would end it with the kids giving eachother high fives for helping eachother out in different chores around the house and eating at the dinner table. 

Greenpeace UK environmental campaign

Greenpeace is a international campaign working across the globe fighting many environmental issues including climate change, protecting the forest, protecting the artic, and finding sustainable energy. It's interesting to see how much the internet has changed the world of advertising and how powerful social networking has become. Greenpeace does a good job in taking advantage of the internet by creating a twitter, YouTube, and Facebook account. They also have several actors and directors fighting with them towards their cause. In case anyone wants to check out some of their information here is a link 

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/global

This website provides good facts and strong arguments. It's nice to see that they combined social media with the help of famous people and also allowing ordinary people to make post and their Facebook and Twitter. 

I like what they are doing and wish them the best in their cause! 

Is gender stereotypes a reflection of today's society?

Last weeks topic was gender steriotypes. The question that was asked was whether gender steriotypes were setting the standards of society today or if it was instead mirroring it. I believe that it is simply reflecting it and that advertisments get these stereotypical ideas from modern society. I believe this to be true because you never really see new steriotypes out there in the media, advertisments even sometimes have a outdated portrayal of society at times. As society has begun to merge gender  roles (seen mainly in the workforce or in the household), we still see a majority of products marketed and even produced in favor of one gender. Take the tablet made by Eutostar. 

This tablet, sold on amazon, claims to have made the worlds first tablet exclusivly for women. The tablet comes equipped with apps that a woman would use such as yoga, recepie generator, weight loss, and measurement converter, amount others. 

I find it discouraging that these products that are new to the market are encouraging the roles of women by assuming that these are the apps that they need and want. This only barricades the gender roles and discourages women to venture out in trying new things that are considered "a man's job". In a way I think it's societies job to create the standards that the media should mirror, however there is no room to make this happen without further encouragement from the media because that is something we see everyday. 

Is stereotyping in advertisements acceptable ?

This week the topic of discussion was stereotyping in the media, mainly with advertisements.  Stereotyping is an oversimplified image or representation of a general members of a community or racial group. Some negatives about this form of advertisement involve placing members of that group as having one or few characteristics which often unifies a cultural group or race but offers no individuality. This  may mislead or offend viewers  of this racial group if advertisers are not careful in their choices. However stereotyping can have its positive outcomes by emphasizing valued traits of a culture such as family oriented or nurturing.

Here we have a advertisement for baked potatoes which says, "so easy a husband could do it" Here the company is trying to show how easy their product is to make by saying anyone, targeted mainly to husbands who stay out of the kitchen, that they could make this with ease. Some men who can relate to this product might buy it. However, perhaps it might offend men who cook on a regular basis. The message may not be received as clearly because it may be  telling men that they are not capable of cooking when in reality they are equally capable.

I believe it's alright to racially stereotype as long as you use some sort of comedy in it which is received in a non offensive manner or emphasize strong characteristics of a culture which they take great pride in flaunting.

From the Doritos video commercial we can clearly see that racism in advertisements is very current and is used in both positive and negative ways. Here actor Aston Kutcher poses for a pop chip commercial as a Indian with the slogan saying they are Bombay! Clearly racist and this could absolutely offend people of Indian cultural background. Absolutely, the fact that he is a white man painted brown  and wearing Indian clothes this is definitely something that could cause a stir.

And in conclusion I believe that advertisers definitely have a huge responsibility to uphold because they are dealing with mass media which is seen by millions of people. If you put something out there for the public to see you want to be professional because that advertisement not only reflects the standards of your company but it also says a lot about your public relations with society.

3 types of ads using semiotics

1. My first ad is a print advertisement for the 2013 Lexus LS F-Sport.

Denotation: I see a white man and woman walking out of a building. They appear to be in there late 20'a and are dressed up, the man is in business attire and the woman has a nice modern style  dress on. He is looking to the left getting ready to hop in the drivers side and she is looking at him standing by the passengers side. There are silhouettes of a crowd in the back ground which can be seem through the glass doors on the building. The Lexus car is facing front first and looking directly at the viewer. The advertisement reads, the world is your stage, make it a memorable performance". The words "memorable performance are in bold lettering.

Connotation: Judging from the way these two are dressed I would have to say they are pushing for the sophisticated look. The color scheme of this advertisement coordinates well with the Lexus preferred colors. They seem to always go for silver, blacks, and metallic grays. The colors seem to reflect their message which is memorable modern performance. Both models in this piece have a very stern and cool look on their face. No one is smiling, which gives the feeling that this is a car for mature sophisticated but also young drivers.

2. The second ad is a travel advertisement for Little Cesar's Hot-N-Ready pizza


Denotation: a pepperoni pizza on a school bus. Once slice is being pulled apart from the pizza and cheese is being shown as its pulled away. The sign says they have pizza that is hot and ready for 5$

Connotation: because they chose to stick it on a school bus this could mean that they area riveting towards children so when the parents pick up their kids they can be reminded how succulent and hot the pizza is and that it's only for 5$. The price tag sells itself really but the juicy cheese makes you want to take a bite!

3. The video commercial I chose was for the new Axe shower gel.

Denotation: A teenage boy is on a public beach and begins to wash himself. As he washes himself women around him begin to uncontrollably move their hands and rub their body the way he is. When he pours water on his hair they do it. When he shakes his head, they do it. Finally he begins to scrub his back which makes the women behind him unhook their bikini tops. Somehow his hands land on his chest covering his nipples and he turns around to find that the women have their tips untied and are covering their breast. He tries to take his hands off his chest in hopes that the ladies will do the same. Instead they shake their heads and he smiles and strugs his shoulders as to say "it was worth a try anyways ". Then the commercial ends by saying "the cleaner you are, the dirtier you get"

Connotation: I feel like there are some subliminal sexual connotations in this advertisement. I think they are trying to tell people that the shower gel can spark wild things to happen and women will notice you. It's also playing with the viewers mind by leading up to the cliff hanger when you think that the women are going to get naked but then reality kicks in and they don't. It draws you in with curiosity by wanting to try the product for yourself to see what happens.

History of advertisement video

I have to say I really enjoyed watching the video in class about how advertisement came to be. At first I thought to myself, "oh man not another boring video", but it proved me wrong. It managed to grab my attention within the first couple minutes when it talked about how America was trying to enforce a complete opposite type of society by shunning communism with mass consumerism. During this time America was going through the red scare, I believe, and so it was intreging to see that Americans delt with this by encouraging people to be more materialistic and individualistic.

It was also fascinating to look at some of the old methods of advertisement and see some of the obsard tactics in which they used to sell everyday products. It's crazy to me how it appeared that they really didn't care about the long term effects of some of the things they were selling like Coke-A-Cola and Mallburo and even looking at the gender roles of society in that decade you can really notice how times have changed. By doing some research I was able to find some old ads which cracked me up..

Favorite Ad Agency

The ad agency I chose and researched was Grey Advertising. They are a giant agency that assist with many communication disciples such as direct marketing, public relations, public affairs, brand development, interactive marketing, and customer relationship management. They were voted one of the top agencies of 2012 with familiar work such as the E-Trade Baby and the Charlie Sheen commercial for Direct TV. I think that they are a successful ad agency because they use humor in their commercials which sells itself because I believe that it can be used on many different types of demographics and people of all ages.


I enjoyed the Charlie Sheen direct tv commecial because it told a story in small segments like a domino effect. This drew me into the ad and I started to gain a sense of curiosity and I had a good laugh out of it. Finally the ending was goofy, however it answered why you should buy their product without marketing direct tv in a boring way.

Here's a YouTube link for anyone who wants to check it out!

Enjoy..

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TFJAe9snWDg

Brand Gender Preferences

Through out the years, as I've started to pay more attention to brands, I have come to realize that a brand's main objective is to connect with their customer for life. If you ask people what their favorite brand was, in any product, it normally tends to be the one that has been around the longest since they were children. For example choosing Samsung over Apple, Nike over New Balance, or even Toyota over Scion. This has made me question whether they just like the brand because its been around the longest, caters best to their needs, or whether they are just going with the consumerism flow. Furthermore, brand choice is also catered to either men or women. 



Article author, Laura Heller best answers this question in her online article titled," Most Desired Brands by Gender: Women Are From Amazon, Men Are From Geico. She says that brands loyalty normally originates from the brands choice of strategic marketing, "it's empowering for consumers to know they can expect more from a brand than just the best price or being on sale." Women enjoy shopping at Amazon.com because they enjoy the personal way of the brand's marketing. When women shop online its up close and personal. This explains why of the most favored brands by women is Johnson & Johnson. I think that its because they market to women by tapping into their emotions with soft and warm baby advertisements. Men favor brands like BMW because they market a message that shouts life long luxury, dependability, ambition, and masculinity. I think its because color choices like warm grays, blacks, and silver relate better to males. Those colors associate with metals or stability, they represent strength and history. These may be characteristics that the average male would expect and want from a car. 



 think that this way of marketing to men or women is good because it creates a general market for advertisers to focus on because in the real world men and women have completely opposite wants and needs. 

here is the article link, for anyone that wants to check it out..

 http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/02/02/women-are-from-amazon-men-are-from-geico-worlds-most-desired/
By Nickles and Dimes, spend them wisely! 

I find humor in TV advertisements to be quite entertaining. Although it is highly exaggerated, slightly corny, and most of the times useless. It does a good job in making me laugh and tells me what new fast food is out on the highly processed sodium packed food market.

These guys usually make me laugh, its not the highest level of humor but it does the job.

Get your hot dog here!