Ah, sweet nostalgia...We all get it somehow. I'm only 21 and I feel nostalgic for the carefree days when I was ten and watching Powerpuff Girls on Cartoon Network.
A big advantage of nostalgia marketing is the loyal customers that have been with you for some time are almost guaranteed to respond positively. It's not uncommon for Coca Cola commercials today to do a montage of clips of their advertisements throughout the decades. And it works well for any audience, young or old, because it gives the older demographic nostalgia and shows the younger demographic just how long the company has been around. It doesn't work all the time though, as it could also prove just how much a brand has changed; sometimes too much.
Nostalgia works great with companies in the food and drink industry as their products never really change. Hershey's will always sell chocolate. Pepsi will always sell soda. McDonald's will always sell sub-par burgers. More technology based brands could only be hurt by nostalgia though. Windows and Apple have changed so much over the years they now have their own split camps of fans to the point internet wars will break out over the two. Yet some will agree that both have their problems (certain recent Windows operating systems come to mind while Apple tech doesn't seem to want to cooperate with several nice programs and other add-ons) and reminding users of the 90s before everything was sleek and shiny and computers were far less complicated and more user friendly is a bad idea. Gaming company SquareEnix would only serve to remind its fanbase of the myriad games it made in the past when their stories were good. Yes, the graphics weren't eye-searingly gorgeous like they are today, but the characters and gameplay were well-written and fun. Nostalgia marketing is the worst possible choice SquareEnix could possibly do, outside of making yet another sequel to the fanbase breaking Final Fantasy XIII.
In short: if your product has only gotten worse instead of better, don't use nostalgia. It'll only do you more harm than good.
This has been another lesson in selling stuff. My final lesson, really.
This is Rose Daly signing off.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Hiiiiiighwaaaaaay tooooo the Marketing Zooooone
Let's talk Harleys, the manliest of motorcycles and toughest in transportation (outside of monster trucks, perhaps.)
The world of consumerism is all about how you market your stuff, and Harley Davidson is all about being tough, rebellious, and carefree. They know who their audience is, what their attitude is, and what sorts of products and services their audience would want. As long as you stick with what you know and what they'd want, you can build a strong brand and a strong bond of loyalty from your customers.
The Posse Ride ads to this rebel experience that Harley is trying to sell. By arranging group rides for Harley owners, they almost recreate the experience of being in a biker gang. Nothing but the riders, their bikes, and the open road. This in turn lets Harley owners meet others who share the taste for a biker's lifestyle.
The structure of the Posse Ride simply lays out a course with checkpoints. The only thing the bikers need to do is have their 'passport' stamped and they're good to go to the next checkpoint. Other than that, the bikers have freedom with the road and their fellow riders, and to have Harley Davidson do any more than that would go against the rebellious and carefree image that they try to sell. It would hurt their reputation a bit, so less really is more in this case.
Other events Harley could organize could be something like a car show, but for motorcycles. Harley owners could come show off their bikes and how they've cared for them, and win prizes in different categories. Even a small race wouldn't even be far from their initial mark. Just as long as the rules are few, the average Harley owner will be happy.
The world of consumerism is all about how you market your stuff, and Harley Davidson is all about being tough, rebellious, and carefree. They know who their audience is, what their attitude is, and what sorts of products and services their audience would want. As long as you stick with what you know and what they'd want, you can build a strong brand and a strong bond of loyalty from your customers.
The Posse Ride ads to this rebel experience that Harley is trying to sell. By arranging group rides for Harley owners, they almost recreate the experience of being in a biker gang. Nothing but the riders, their bikes, and the open road. This in turn lets Harley owners meet others who share the taste for a biker's lifestyle.
The structure of the Posse Ride simply lays out a course with checkpoints. The only thing the bikers need to do is have their 'passport' stamped and they're good to go to the next checkpoint. Other than that, the bikers have freedom with the road and their fellow riders, and to have Harley Davidson do any more than that would go against the rebellious and carefree image that they try to sell. It would hurt their reputation a bit, so less really is more in this case.
Other events Harley could organize could be something like a car show, but for motorcycles. Harley owners could come show off their bikes and how they've cared for them, and win prizes in different categories. Even a small race wouldn't even be far from their initial mark. Just as long as the rules are few, the average Harley owner will be happy.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
You, the Shopper
HEY, WHO WANTS TO HEAR ME RANT ABOUT DR. PEPPER TEN SOME MORE?
Why yes, it is my go-to example for bad marketing/product failure/consumer backlash/etc., why do you ask?
Some of the best ways to appeal to your market are as follows: "It's perfect for the everyman like YOU!", "Billy's just like you, and he's got this thing!", "You know that problem you have/thing you hate? Well this will fix it!", "Look how much better your life will be when you get this thing!"
Notice how nowhere in there are the words "Insult/alienate literally half the population." And yet for some reason, Dr. Pepper decided to turn the testosterone nob waaaay past eleven to the point where it was kind of insulting. Low-cal drinks and manly aren't often associated with each other, so it was already weird, and then they had to go that extra mile and flat out SAY "It's not for women!" In the end, it was so manly it was insulting. Once again, when people are uploading vlogs to youtube about how insulting your ad is, it's time to turn around and go right back to the drawing board.
This has been another (slightly more obvious) lesson in selling stuff.
Why yes, it is my go-to example for bad marketing/product failure/consumer backlash/etc., why do you ask?
Some of the best ways to appeal to your market are as follows: "It's perfect for the everyman like YOU!", "Billy's just like you, and he's got this thing!", "You know that problem you have/thing you hate? Well this will fix it!", "Look how much better your life will be when you get this thing!"
Notice how nowhere in there are the words "Insult/alienate literally half the population." And yet for some reason, Dr. Pepper decided to turn the testosterone nob waaaay past eleven to the point where it was kind of insulting. Low-cal drinks and manly aren't often associated with each other, so it was already weird, and then they had to go that extra mile and flat out SAY "It's not for women!" In the end, it was so manly it was insulting. Once again, when people are uploading vlogs to youtube about how insulting your ad is, it's time to turn around and go right back to the drawing board.
This has been another (slightly more obvious) lesson in selling stuff.
Greentweets
I'm not gonna lie. I'm what you'd call a "couch activist," (a term I just invented.) I see things show up around the 'net and I click the reblog button on my tumblr dashboard appropriately. "How dare they!" I say as I hit the 'like' button before moving on to laugh at the lolcat of the week.
But sometimes campaigns stand out. If you're going to use social media, you need to know how to reach social media's largest demographic: the young adult. With every teenager and college student plugged in to some form of electronic device almost 24/7, following twitters and tumblrs and facebooks alike, you need to learn how to speak the language. Greenpeace has it down pat.
Back in 2011, a scandal surrounding Barbie erupted when it was discovered she supported deforestation, a habit picked up from Mattel who purchased products from an Indonesian company known for trashing Indonesia's natural environments. A campaign was launched in which Ken announced it was over between them, while Greenpeace spread the word via their own tweets similar to a gossip-loving teenager, complete with a gratuitous use of 'OMG'. It worked, and plenty of people were responding via all sorts of electronic media, supporting Ken and Greenpeace.
What some companies need to learn is that it's not just about having the method to reach this generation of plugged in youths, it's learning how to connect with them. Anyone can hold a megaphone, but not everyone's a public speaker.
And no, getting your tweets screencapped and posted on facebook or something because your attempt at being hip was laughably bad does not count as reaching the youth of today. Contrary to popular belief, there is in fact such a thing as bad publicity.
This has been another lesson in selling stuff.
But sometimes campaigns stand out. If you're going to use social media, you need to know how to reach social media's largest demographic: the young adult. With every teenager and college student plugged in to some form of electronic device almost 24/7, following twitters and tumblrs and facebooks alike, you need to learn how to speak the language. Greenpeace has it down pat.
Back in 2011, a scandal surrounding Barbie erupted when it was discovered she supported deforestation, a habit picked up from Mattel who purchased products from an Indonesian company known for trashing Indonesia's natural environments. A campaign was launched in which Ken announced it was over between them, while Greenpeace spread the word via their own tweets similar to a gossip-loving teenager, complete with a gratuitous use of 'OMG'. It worked, and plenty of people were responding via all sorts of electronic media, supporting Ken and Greenpeace.
What some companies need to learn is that it's not just about having the method to reach this generation of plugged in youths, it's learning how to connect with them. Anyone can hold a megaphone, but not everyone's a public speaker.
And no, getting your tweets screencapped and posted on facebook or something because your attempt at being hip was laughably bad does not count as reaching the youth of today. Contrary to popular belief, there is in fact such a thing as bad publicity.
This has been another lesson in selling stuff.
Anything You Can Sell We Can Sell Equally!
As a good natured society (on those days we have the narrow minded idiots in check) we've come a long way to iron out a good deal of stereotypes. Here in Amurica, all races are equal and no decent person is throwing around racial slurs and making racist jokes because we believe we're better than the other guy because we were born with lighter colored skin.
Gender stereotypes are another matter. From ye olden days, women were seen as frail and dainty and meant for housework and making families and little else. Things didn't really start to change until much much later, and even then women had to fight for their rights. Once again, we've come a long way to finally get somewhere, but with not quite as much progress as the racial front had. I could almost say our progress has been twisted back around into a smack in the face. In the realm of advertising, women have gone from hopeless housewife, to sex object. In ads, women are almost always dressed up, covered in makeup, and either shopping, chatting with her girlfriends, and/or admiring/having a romantic moment with some hunk of a man. Compare the man's role in advertisements where he is handsome and tough. He's the one who gets slow motion shots while doing manual labor, while the woman's slow motion is spent on dress up and night-on-the-town montages.
And when it comes right down to it, what types of products prominently feature these sexes? Ads with women are all about clothing, makeup, and the magical cure to get rid of whatever condition makes you imperfect (weight loss, skin care, etc. because you're only beautiful if you spend the money to do so), while ads with men are often selling power tools, cars, and other manly things. Because men need to act like men.
I've already ranted about the sexist Dr. Pepper Ten commercial, so just pretend I copy and pasted that in here somewhere.
TL;DR: Dear advertising execs everywhere. This is the 21st century. Women can be tough and men can be girly. Stop being sexist. Please and thank you.
Gender stereotypes are another matter. From ye olden days, women were seen as frail and dainty and meant for housework and making families and little else. Things didn't really start to change until much much later, and even then women had to fight for their rights. Once again, we've come a long way to finally get somewhere, but with not quite as much progress as the racial front had. I could almost say our progress has been twisted back around into a smack in the face. In the realm of advertising, women have gone from hopeless housewife, to sex object. In ads, women are almost always dressed up, covered in makeup, and either shopping, chatting with her girlfriends, and/or admiring/having a romantic moment with some hunk of a man. Compare the man's role in advertisements where he is handsome and tough. He's the one who gets slow motion shots while doing manual labor, while the woman's slow motion is spent on dress up and night-on-the-town montages.
And when it comes right down to it, what types of products prominently feature these sexes? Ads with women are all about clothing, makeup, and the magical cure to get rid of whatever condition makes you imperfect (weight loss, skin care, etc. because you're only beautiful if you spend the money to do so), while ads with men are often selling power tools, cars, and other manly things. Because men need to act like men.
I've already ranted about the sexist Dr. Pepper Ten commercial, so just pretend I copy and pasted that in here somewhere.
TL;DR: Dear advertising execs everywhere. This is the 21st century. Women can be tough and men can be girly. Stop being sexist. Please and thank you.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
The White Man's Burden(ing): Race and Stereotypes in Advertising
America's been around for a heck of a long time. I hate to fall back on an overused cliche, but we're like a giant melting pot. For a time we were awesome. If you wanna get big in life, come to America! That's why everyone and their grandma (quite literally sometimes) would pack up what they could, hop on a boat, and set sail for the glorious U S of A. Asians poured into California, Europeans docked in New York, and we already had African Americans here due to our unsavory past as slavers. Name an ethnicity and we've got it. Unfortunately, this diversity is also why racial stereotypes are our bread and butter. Despite Native Americans being here first, the white man kind of took over and became the real big man on campus. We thought we were superior from day one and, while times did change and we became more accepting of others, a shred of that past mindset is still there. It's hard to change several hundred years worth of narcissism after all.
With all this in mind, it's no wonder we think racial stereotypes are an okay thing to use. It's just now we say it's all in good fun. There's this invisible line we just can't place that defines what is and isn't offensive, something that goes hand in hand with the idea that there are positive and negative stereotypes. For example, a positive stereotype would be that Asians are good at math. A negative one would be that Jewish people are greedy and love money. So as long as an advertiser doesn't crossover into offensive territory, then sure it's okay. If you're trying to get across the authenticity of your product for example, I would say it even makes sense. Selling pasta sauce? Get the friendly Italian mother making it from scratch on the stove in there. Selling wine? Set the stage on a romantic date night with the Eiffel Tower in the background. As long as the stereotype is more of a nod, a wink, or a friendly nudge in the ribs rather than laughing loudly in the face of our foreign friends pointing out that thing they all do, then I think it's totally fine for stereotypes to be used. That said, racial stereotypes in ads is hardly a thing of the past. Once again, it's just too ingrained in our culture not to show up.
With all this in mind, it's no wonder we think racial stereotypes are an okay thing to use. It's just now we say it's all in good fun. There's this invisible line we just can't place that defines what is and isn't offensive, something that goes hand in hand with the idea that there are positive and negative stereotypes. For example, a positive stereotype would be that Asians are good at math. A negative one would be that Jewish people are greedy and love money. So as long as an advertiser doesn't crossover into offensive territory, then sure it's okay. If you're trying to get across the authenticity of your product for example, I would say it even makes sense. Selling pasta sauce? Get the friendly Italian mother making it from scratch on the stove in there. Selling wine? Set the stage on a romantic date night with the Eiffel Tower in the background. As long as the stereotype is more of a nod, a wink, or a friendly nudge in the ribs rather than laughing loudly in the face of our foreign friends pointing out that thing they all do, then I think it's totally fine for stereotypes to be used. That said, racial stereotypes in ads is hardly a thing of the past. Once again, it's just too ingrained in our culture not to show up.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Analyzing Ads in the Wild
Advertising is everywhere. This is a fact of life we have come to realize and deal with. You can't even watch your favorite shows and movies these days without some form of product placement. But all we do is view them, accept them, and then decide if we care about their product or service or not. So step into my jeep. We shall hold a safari adventure right here in the city as we analyze ads in the wild.
Lounging in the pages of magazines and newspapers is the common print ad. In my household, we don't actually have any newspaper or magazine subscriptions, so it was rough trying to find something that wasn't your run of the mill junk mail coupon clippings. This ad is about Box Tops for education. It is simple in it's design, showing the logo at the top against a vibrant blue backdrop. In the middle are a wide range of brand name products as the centerpiece. Between the logo and this spread of food and snacks are a few tag lines. "the difference 1 can make," with the 1 enclosed in what I assume to be the symbol and point value of some sort that you'd find on the box tops. Below that is "Savings for the whole month of September!" in a black board type font, complete with a dashed line below it. Underneath it all, at the bottom of the ad is some fine print about where you can find box tops, and the General Mills logo. It's a simple ad; not a whole lot going on, but it doesn't need to be. Box Tops for Education is about helping schools get money. It's an innocent cause, and with how comforting the ad is, it gets the point across. The chalk board font feels like you're in a proper classroom, and the spread of General Mills products in the middle show you how common their products are and that you don't need to go out of your way to help a good cause.
Next on our ad safari is the wild television ad. With how much television people watch these days, these are aggressive ads that try to make you pay attention even if you don't care about the ads in between segments of your favorite show. It's a hard world to compete in, so these ads have to try harder. Let's look at a KitKat commercial. It's Halloween and we see some kids in costumes running up to a house to ring the doorbell. Inside we also see a woman preparing her candy bowl. She opens a bag of KitKats and pours it into a bowl. The kids ring the doorbell and yell "Trick or treat!" The woman smiles as she answers the door with a witch hat and we get a close up of KitKats dropped into the kids' waiting candy buckets. Once the door is closed, the kids run off and stop back on the sidewalk and open their new candy bars. Cut back to the woman in the house and she's opening a KitKat of her own. Everyone eats their KitKats and the kids make "Mm!" noises of sweet candy satisfaction. Throughout this commercial, the only things we hear are the kids and the sound effects. KitKats getting dropped into buckets and bowls, the doorbell ringing, wrappers getting torn, and the KitKats breaking. It is all done to the classic KitKat jingle. "Gimme a break, gimme a break! Break me off a piece of that Kit-Kat bar!" The commercial doesn't need the music or the lyrics. They know that people have heard it enough to know the tune just by properly timed sounds. Otherwise the commercial is completely feel good and happy. It's an innocent childhood tradition and we see everyone taking part with a smile as KitKats are enjoyed by both the young and the old. You don't need to be a kid to enjoy a KitKat.
Finally we come to the elusive public ad. These can be found on the sides of bus shelters, billboards, and even on the ceiling of the bus itself. I myself frequent the bus so I see plenty of ads like this on my daily commute. I saw a simple one recently. It had a hazy gray background and a young, sad looking child on it. Beside his head were the words "He can feel your cozy wood fire. In his lungs." It was an add for spare the air day. Something about this ad always strikes me as terrifying. The implications here are rather clear. It's trying to imply that with all the emissions we put into the air--car exhaust, smoking chimneys, etc.--it's like we're making choking people as though everyone's got their head down a chimney. And of course our hearts always go out to sad looking children. "This poor kid can't breathe because of our pollutant ways!" There is a certain amount of shock value in play here, implying that our forms of comfort are hurting small children.
And so ends our safari analysis of ads in the wild. Please watch your step as you leave the jeep and have a nice day. This has been another lesson in selling stuff.
Lounging in the pages of magazines and newspapers is the common print ad. In my household, we don't actually have any newspaper or magazine subscriptions, so it was rough trying to find something that wasn't your run of the mill junk mail coupon clippings. This ad is about Box Tops for education. It is simple in it's design, showing the logo at the top against a vibrant blue backdrop. In the middle are a wide range of brand name products as the centerpiece. Between the logo and this spread of food and snacks are a few tag lines. "the difference 1 can make," with the 1 enclosed in what I assume to be the symbol and point value of some sort that you'd find on the box tops. Below that is "Savings for the whole month of September!" in a black board type font, complete with a dashed line below it. Underneath it all, at the bottom of the ad is some fine print about where you can find box tops, and the General Mills logo. It's a simple ad; not a whole lot going on, but it doesn't need to be. Box Tops for Education is about helping schools get money. It's an innocent cause, and with how comforting the ad is, it gets the point across. The chalk board font feels like you're in a proper classroom, and the spread of General Mills products in the middle show you how common their products are and that you don't need to go out of your way to help a good cause.
Next on our ad safari is the wild television ad. With how much television people watch these days, these are aggressive ads that try to make you pay attention even if you don't care about the ads in between segments of your favorite show. It's a hard world to compete in, so these ads have to try harder. Let's look at a KitKat commercial. It's Halloween and we see some kids in costumes running up to a house to ring the doorbell. Inside we also see a woman preparing her candy bowl. She opens a bag of KitKats and pours it into a bowl. The kids ring the doorbell and yell "Trick or treat!" The woman smiles as she answers the door with a witch hat and we get a close up of KitKats dropped into the kids' waiting candy buckets. Once the door is closed, the kids run off and stop back on the sidewalk and open their new candy bars. Cut back to the woman in the house and she's opening a KitKat of her own. Everyone eats their KitKats and the kids make "Mm!" noises of sweet candy satisfaction. Throughout this commercial, the only things we hear are the kids and the sound effects. KitKats getting dropped into buckets and bowls, the doorbell ringing, wrappers getting torn, and the KitKats breaking. It is all done to the classic KitKat jingle. "Gimme a break, gimme a break! Break me off a piece of that Kit-Kat bar!" The commercial doesn't need the music or the lyrics. They know that people have heard it enough to know the tune just by properly timed sounds. Otherwise the commercial is completely feel good and happy. It's an innocent childhood tradition and we see everyone taking part with a smile as KitKats are enjoyed by both the young and the old. You don't need to be a kid to enjoy a KitKat.
Finally we come to the elusive public ad. These can be found on the sides of bus shelters, billboards, and even on the ceiling of the bus itself. I myself frequent the bus so I see plenty of ads like this on my daily commute. I saw a simple one recently. It had a hazy gray background and a young, sad looking child on it. Beside his head were the words "He can feel your cozy wood fire. In his lungs." It was an add for spare the air day. Something about this ad always strikes me as terrifying. The implications here are rather clear. It's trying to imply that with all the emissions we put into the air--car exhaust, smoking chimneys, etc.--it's like we're making choking people as though everyone's got their head down a chimney. And of course our hearts always go out to sad looking children. "This poor kid can't breathe because of our pollutant ways!" There is a certain amount of shock value in play here, implying that our forms of comfort are hurting small children.
And so ends our safari analysis of ads in the wild. Please watch your step as you leave the jeep and have a nice day. This has been another lesson in selling stuff.
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