Jeep For Seniors

For the Jeep Campaign workshop, I have decided to use Jeep Patriot as the model to advertise for seniors. The reason I chose the Patriot was because the Patriot is the safest and the most affordable car in the Jeep brand. For this campaign I have decided to create a commercial using a retired couple as the models. In the commercial, the couple will be shown going on a road trip in a Jeep Patriot. While the couple are seen enjoying the ride, the narrator will talk about the safety features in the car and the couple will also demonstrates how easy it is to use the features in the car such as the GPS. Besides the road trip, the commercial will also show how family friendly the car is by engaging the car with their family and throughout the years their grandchildren will also grow with the car which further demonstrates how durable and long lasting the car is.

Toblerone Sweet & Salty!

Life is salty and sweet. Why not enjoy it at the same time?

Our target audience is 20-30 year old San Franciscans who enjoy the life in a unique and creative way. Since chocolate is a sweet and desserts are always popular during Christmas time, we have decided to use homemade desserts to promote this chocolate. This campaign will utilize three different sources of social media (Instagram, Facebook and Youtube) to promote and showcase different creative and delicious desserts using the Toblerone as an ingredient. 

First people can post pictures on Instagram with the hashtag #cookingwithtoblerone. These pictures can be recipes, the dessert itself, ingredients or even the process of making the dessert.With Instagram connected to Facebook, people can share photos of recipes along with the desserts with friends and family. Not only sharing with friends and family, they can also share their experience on Toblerone's Facebook page because Toblerone will create a contest via Youtube where people can create a cooking video using Toblerone Chocolate as an ingredient. Voting will take place on Facebook and the winner will have his/her video shown on a popular TV food show.

Interruptive TV Ads

I'm sure everyone are not very fond of television ads. I am fairly patient person myself, but sometimes these ads can get quite annoying. I understand that they are only 30 seconds long but sometimes people just don't want to watch the ads, especially when you are in the middle of watching something and the same ad comes up every ten or so minutes. Awhile ago I was watching a TV drama online and just when the show was getting interesting, bam all of a sudden a Honda lawn mower ad came up. Really? Do these people really think someone will buy a lawn mower because of this commercial? Especially when the commercial was not even relevant to the drama's target audience. Ads are so unwanted that people are willing to pay to get rid of them. For example, Netflix and Hulu both require payment of subscription in order to fully enjoy the online streaming experience. However, more people subscribe to Netflix rather than to Hulu because Netflix is ad free while Hulu still contains ads. Another example is the Youtube ads. How many times have your mouse hovered over the skip ad button and you just could not wait to have those 5 seconds past by faster. I know I have. Although the ad is just 30 seconds long, most people would much rather get on with their video instead of wasting 30 seconds of their time to watch an ad. So why are people so annoyed by these ads? It's because most of the time these ads are boring, irrelevant, and the product that they are advertising is mostly useless.

However, not all ads are bad. Some ads are quite interesting and people actually look forward to watching them. A good example is the Super Bowl ads. Super Bowls ads are such a huge thing because these ads are usually funny and interesting. For example, every year people look forward to the Doritos ads because they can bring laughter to the audience in such a short time. These ads are so funny that people will go on Youtube to watch the ads again, thus giving these ads millions of views.

The Booze Belt

Booze Belt Radio Ad

Setting: Tim and Maria are responsible for the drinks at a party. While Tim is sweating from putting out drink orders, Maria appears calm and collected. 

SFX [Party scene in the background, people asking for drinks]

Diane: (interested) Maria, you are so calm and collected compared to Tim over there. He keeps running back and forth to the kitchen and looks tired

SFX [Tim let me get a vodka tonic. I want a Manhattan!. Tim! Tim! Tim!]

SFX [CRASH glasses and bottles smashing]

Maria: (excited) Haha throwing successful parties is so easy since I am using the Booze Belt.

Diane: (quizzical) Booze Belt, what is that?

Tim: Maria! Help!

Maria: (As she is making drinks) It is this belt that I am wearing right now. I can carry bottles of alcohol, napkins, cocktail shakers, lemons, and anything else you might need for refreshments. All while maintaining a conversation.

Diane: Wow that is so amazing! You seem to be enjoying yourself a lot more than Tim is. Oh look at that it is time for me to get another drink, I’ll be right back.

Maria: Wait! That is why I have the Booze Belt!

Diane: Thanks, Cheers!

SFX [Maria and Diane’s glasses clink together]

Commentator: If you are constantly throwing parties and find yourself running and out of breathe like Tim, you should buy the Booze Belt and entertain with ease. The Booze Belt can be found online at www.boozebelt.com or in your local supermarket. 

TV Ad

Setting: Inside a bar, Maria and Tim are competing against each other to see who is the best bartender.

Creative Ads

Having creative ads can help benefit the product or company being advertised because when seeing something creative and outrageous, people will usually pause to take a better look at it. Not only will people stop to look at the ad, but they will take pictures or even better they will post the pictures on their social networking sites. By posting the pictures online, words will spread and more people will talk about it which can cause more publicity to the product or company.

Here is an ad that I have mentioned in one of my blogs before which I still think is one of the most creative and interesting ads I have ever come across. The reason why this Lego ad is so creative is because in the ad a crane is seen lifting a block of Lego and in the back people can see the construction site of a building. I think this is quite cool and creative because what better way to demonstrate what Lego is and how it works by literally using Lego on real life construction sites.

This Gap T-shirt billboard is an ad that I have actually seen. This ad was constructed with hundreds of t-shirt forming the letter T. When I saw the ad I had to take a second look at it to make sure the t-shirts were actually real t-shirts. I think it is an ad was definitely an attention getter because it was very colorful which made it easier to people's eyes.

"Bring the Typewriter Back!"

For this workshop, my group's target audience is the young, tech-hungry, not-so-well-off, college students that find the traditional typewrite to be a good alternative as oppose of the expensive high-end laptops. To bring the typewriter back, my group decides to start a "We're Bringing the Retro Back" campaign. In this campaign we decide to put in famous movies from the 1950s that contain scenes of actors/actresses using the typewriters and also famous authors such as Mark Twain who used the typewriter to write his first manuscripts. Since our theme is all about old school and vintage, we also decide to deliver the idea that the typewriter does not only link to the students' memories but it is also versatile. It is versatile because not only can the typewriter be used to type without paying for electricity but it can also be used as a vintage decorative piece for the student's home. To sell our idea, we will to utilize the social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter to spread the word around. Also we want to advertise through television, radio or even magazine to attract a bigger audience.

Nostalgia Marketing

Nostalgia marketing can be a tricky marketing strategy to use but if used correctly, it can bring products back into the market just like the old times. Nostalgia marketing is to bring old school memories back to the public. Some of the major advantages of this marketing strategy are reliving the history and knowing for sure that if advertised correctly the product will capture the consumers' attention once again. Nostalgia marketing is all about reminiscing memories and reliving the history. Sometimes people purchase a certain product just because it reminds them of a certain time in their life. For example, I can purchase a Michael Jackson record that is totally old school and I might even have to find a record player to play the disc; however I will still buy the record because it reminds me the times when Michael Jackson was the best singer. The product might be old, but it's the memories that the product brings that causes the consumers to have the desire to buy such product. Another advantage of using nostalgia marketing is sellers will often know beforehand whether their product will sell or not. For example, combat boots and military styles were considered a classic but they were not always in fashion. So taking advantage of these classic styles, designers and advertisers reintroduced the market to these styles with trendier shoes and clothing that were based on the old school designs in the last few seasons. This is Nostalgia marketing because if done right products that the companies roll out will always be a hit.

Using nostalgia marketing is not always the best strategy because it can have its disadvantages. First of all, thinking of how to bring back a certain product from the old times is hard, companies have to think about the target consumers and what the product has that the consumers can relate to. Second, not all products can utilize this strategy because this strategy only works on product that most people in the society is familiar with. 

There are some products and companies out there in the market that nostalgia marketing might not be the strategy to use when promoting. For example, technology companies such as Apple and Samsung will not benefit from nostalgia marketing because people are constantly hungry for new technologies. This is because people are always expecting whatever product that comes out next to be better and faster than the current version. It is such expectations that these companies cannot replay the history because they have to keep moving forward in order to meet the society's demand.

Harley Davidson

Question 1:
I believe brand communities like Harley Davidson result in greater involvement with the brand because the brand creates events such as the Posse Ride to help riders engage with one another. By having events like these, riders can share their Harley experiences with one another. For example, car drivers would also get together with others who drive the same car and talk about what they did with their cars and what not. These gatherings or meets will not only bring people closer but they also give the drivers a sense of pride in what they are driving or what they have done. Basically, the brand they are driving is not just a car or a motorcycle, but part of their life.

Question 2:
I believe the experiences and the memories that are shared during the Posse Ride are the main elements that enhance the meaning of the brand for riders. The experiences and the memories are the main elements because sharing a trip with others is both meaningful and personal. So by having trips like that with other drivers, the drivers will develop a sense of connection within the Harley community, almost like Harley Davidson is not only a brand but a family.

Question 3:
I think Harley Davidson's involvement is good where is it because having gatherings and checkpoints are already enough. Harley Davidson wouldn't want to get more involved because then that would seem like the Posse Ride is a task and not a fun and relax ride.

Question 4:
In addition to the Posse Ride, I think Harley could hold several races and also create "marathon" rides but let the riders create routes that they want to go.

iPod Classic

Remember those bulky Sony Walkmans? I remember I used to have one when I was a little girl and it was absolutely the coolest thing I have ever gotten back then. I would carry it with me everywhere to listen to all the radio stations and cassette tapes. It was just awesome because I remember at night when I was supposedly to be sleeping, I would still hold on to the Walkman and listened until I couldn't stay awake anymore. However, what happened to these history makers? These gadgets seemed to be forgotten now that Apple took over the music devices industry. When the Apple iPod first launched in 2001, it became the new it thing. However, it was not until a year or two later that the iPod became the talk in the industry. What made it so popular? The Apple iPod was not just an MP3 player, instead it could carried hundreds and thousands of songs digitally all in one device. It no longer required any tapes or CDs to play music. With one update from the computer, songs in the iPod could decrease or increase however the consumer liked. People no longer had to listen to the same tape or CD over and over again and most importantly people did no need to carry tapes and CDs anymore. It became a necessity because people just wanted it. To have it and to show it. The popularity showed because throughout the years, Apple perfected the iPod classic and developed sub divisions of the iPod, such as iPod mini, iPods nano, and iPod shuffle.

I remember the first time I asked my parents for one, I had to earn it by getting good grades because it was considered a luxury unlike now people would buy the device like it was nothing. Also, people who had an iPod were considered cool because they had the "cool" gadget. When I finally got the iPod nano, I remember I would carry it around in a pouch careful not to scratch or dent it because it was that precious and paying over a hundred for a such a small device was considered expensive.

Now, iPods are mostly owned as a classic because now Apple took the device and branched out to having other devices that are capable of doing much more stuff such as taking pictures, searching the web, playing advance video games and so much more. Overall I think Apple succeeded in creating and promoting the iPod because it became a revolutionary device.

Tide: A Day of Life

At exactly 6 AM Margret wakes up naturally from her sleep. She slips out of bed, careful not to wake her husband. She proceeds to the bathroom to wash up then moves into the closet and throws on her running clothes bought from the thrift store. After her 30 minute jog, she takes a quick shower and puts on a pair of yoga pants and a sweater. She then travels to the kitchen to start her morning coffee, breakfast and prepares lunch for her children. While the bacon (bought from whole food market) are baking in the oven, Margret decides to wake her children and help them get ready for school. She dresses them in their freshly washed and pressed school uniform. After the children are dressed, Margret walks the children to the kitchen and meets with her husband to have their breakfast. After breakfast, Margret meets her husband in the driveway to wishes him a good day at work. When her husband drives off in his Mercedes, Margret walks back in the house and cleans up. She then ushers her children into her Honda Sedan to drive them to school. Margret drops them off in front of their private school and waits for them to enter the school before she drives off. On her way back home, Margret decides to do some grocery shopping in a whole food market. She picks up the expensive organic food for her husband and children and the cheaper alternative for herself. Margret arrives home around 10 in the morning and after she unloads and stores away the grocery, she decides to do the laundry because it saves more energy during the day. Using the Energy Star washer, she loads the clothes in and pours Tide detergent and Downy softener in the dispenser slot. While the laundry are in the washer, Margret cleans and tidies up the house. She also pays bills electronically on her PC after she puts the laundry in the Energy Star dryer. Later in the day, after all the chores are done and the clothes are folded, Margret goes on her laptop to check emails and do some work from home. Around 5, Margret starts preparing dinner and around 6 she drives to her children school to pick them up from their extra curricular activities. With her children helping her preparing dinner and making her table, they start dinner around 7:30 when her husband arrives home. After dinner, her husband would clean the dishes and the table while she helps her children with their homework. When homework is done, the whole family spends some family time in the living room before the children are off to bed. Finally Margret catches up with her husband talking how each other's day went before she goes to bed around 12.

Rose Petal Cottage

On Wednesday's workshop, we discussed two advertisements with gender stereotypes. One of them was the Rose Petal Cottage commercial. This commercial was full of gender stereotypes. First the colors used in this app were all girly pastel colors and not a single boy was seen throughout the whole commercial. Even the theme song was sung by a girl. The lyrics in the song was also stereotypical because the little girl in the song was singing about her how dream is to raise kids and be a housewife.

To break the stereotypes, I thought the commercial could use more neutral colors instead of pastel colors because not only girls, but boys should be able to play house too. Also instead of have just girls playing with the cottage, the commercial should show both boys and girls playing and the theme song should be sung by both genders.

Using Apps to Campaign

While social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter are great sources of advertisement, app is another great way to deliver information out to the public digitally.  Here are two apps from World Wildlife Fund also known as WWF. The first app is called WWF Together. Using a sleek and cutting edge interactive design, WWF hope by delivering information about the importance of these endangered species, users can understand what these animals are facing so they can take actions in protecting them.

The second app is an UK app. Launched by the WWF, creators of this app integrated 10 London's waterside hotspots into this app. This Waterside Challenge app contains facts, videos, and quizzes, which the user can earn panda points and win prizes such as t-shirts, canoeing and kayaking lessons. The idea of this app is to encourage people to go out, experience the nature and hopefully have them realize what's around them and what they will be missing once these nature habitats and animals are gone.

I think these apps are a great way to get people involve and interact with nature because people are always looking for fun apps to download onto their smartphones or media devices. Therefore launching these apps will not only bring entertainment to the users but it will also do wonders to the campaign. 

Gender Stereotype

Sexism isn't a new thing that society has to face. In fact it has been around for quite awhile. Take a look at this ad. In the ad below, the woman is seen holding a bottle of nail polish with the caption "Secretaries, look!" next to it. As if it is not stereotyping enough, it even says, "Beauty consultants styled it just for secretaries... Type us a letter on office stationary asking for it." I think this is quite offensive to women because it's basically saying secretaries = women, whose only job is to type letters in their office cubical.

If you think sexism has gotten better as time progressed, then you are absolutely wrong. True, gender stereotyping has gotten a lot for more discreet in ads and they are definitely less blunt and straight forward then the ads back in the day. However, sexism still exists. Take this ad for example, in this ad is a picture of a kitchen stove with pots on top of it. While the picture is okay, it's the words that are sexist. This ad is indicating that women are the ones who cook, but what the designers behind this ad failed to realize is that women nowadays are more involve in the working class and sometimes men are actually the ones who cook in the kitchen. 

Racial and Gender Diversity

Recently I have watch a movie called Real Steel. Real Steel was about a popular sport called robot boxing where instead of having human boxing competitions, there would be robot boxing competitions operated by humans. This movie was a typical American movie with Caucasians being the dominant ethnic group. Also because this was a robot sci-fi movie, the people in the movie were mainly male. Even the robots that the owners owned were also being referred to as male robots. Though the movie mainly revolved around Caucasian males, females and other ethnic groups such as Japanese and African American still appeared in the movie. Having a diverse gender and ethnic group are important in media because not only having diversities will appeal to a larger group of people but also people are very sensitive when it comes to gender and racial stereotypes. On top of that, the people who have access to the media can be anybody from any part of the world. So the last thing producers want to do is to gain a negative impact on the media they project.

There were a few racial stereotypes appeared throughout the movie. First, Max the main character's son said he played Japanese videos games because they were better. Second the people who owned some of the best robots including the best one were Japanese. This was stereotypical because we often associate technology with Japanese, so when it comes to people with the best technology, most people would automatically think of the Japanese. The final racial stereotype was a scene where two people were making a bet for the competition and one of them called the other person a cowboy because he was wearing a cowboy hat and the "cowboy" called him "homie" because he was African American. These two were typical stereotypes for southern Americans and African Americans because these were the stereotypes that the media portrait the audience to think.

Racial Stereotypes in Advertising

Whether racism appears on ads or through people's mouth, it is never right. Though racism is not right, racism is still a big issue among the world's population. So if racism is wrong, why do advertisers still racially stereotype one another? Let's face it. Racism SELLS. Though it is wrong, it draws people's attention. There is also the fact that not every place in the world is as diverse and open as the United States. Some places in the world, especially the more reserved countries do not see anything wrong with racism.

Personally, I don't think racism is a thing in the past because as long as racism still stands, people will continue to criticize and stereotype. If racism still affects people, then advertisers will definitely continue to use racism to promote their products. As for ethical responsibilities, the business world is not very ethical in the first place and as long as the advertisement is not super racist, then I can't say advertisers have to take any ethical responsibilities for their ads.

For example, in the following ad, Dove is selling their body wash using three models with different ethnicity. In the background, two pictures of zoomed in skin are placed, one being before the use of the body wash positioned behind the African American model and the other is after the use of the body wash positioned behind the Caucasian model. The fact that this ad appears to be pretty resent shows that racial stereotypes still stands in the world of advertisements today.

Semiotics

Semiotics. What is semiotics? To me, I feel like semiotics is the foundation of what advertising truly is. Advertising is a form of communication and it can either be really informative or really pointless. This is where semiotics comes in because by understanding semiotics (the study of signs and symbols as elements of communicative behavior) the makers and the audience can easily depict the ad and the message behind the ad.

Outdoor ads are the trickiest because people are often on the good so ads should be easy to read and get straight to the point. I love this Lego ad because not only is it super creative but it can not be any simpler and straightforward than having a crane carrying a block of Lego.

Simpsons! Who doesn't know Simpsons. Iconic characters are often used as a form of advertisement because of their popularity. In this ad, Marge Simpsons is seen sporting her iconic column of fizz on the left but on the right she is seen with her never before long and wavy luscious hair. Assuming this product works, people who use this product will end up with long and sexy hair no matter how crazy their hair is.

  

The only time where investors really invest in their advertisements is during the annual Super Bowl. To me Doritos always has the funniest ads. Not only that but they are always short and simple but they capture the audience's attention like no others. This year, their "Fashionista Daddy" commercial was so funny I ended up watching the video several times again on YouTube after it aired. I think this is whole point of advertising, the implantation of the ad. In this ad, Doritos did nothing about why people should buy Doritos, instead they used Doritos to engage it in a comical skit where the dad and his friends were seen playing princess with his daughter while they were dressed in princess clothing. Cross dressing is always funny and once a idea is captured and used correctly, words between one another will become the best form of advertising. 

   

What Is The Brand Telling You?

Brands define everything! Brands are like personalities, and different brands have different personalities. Brands do not only portray where the companies and products stand but it also differentiate the customers from one another. Having good quality and a good image are important to a brand because having those two important factors will get the brand to places. For example, what do people think of when they think of fast luxurious super cars? No doubt their minds will flash in the brands Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati or even Bugatti. But how many people actually own one? And yet everyone knows what they are. That is what I consider good branding is. It's rare to see one of these cars cruising down the street, but when there is one going down the street, people might take a second to look at the car and think "Wow a Ferrari, the person driving it must be rich." However does the driver have to be rich in order to be driving the car? The driver can be borrowing or test driving the car but will others think of that? Probably not. Come to think of it, are people defining brands or are brands defining people?

"The Future of Advertising"

Today we had a guest speaker, Mr. Dietmar Dahmen. Mr. Dahmen gave a presentation about advertising titled "The Future of Advertising". I found both his presentation style and presentation to be very interesting. Mr. Dahmen covered many different areas of advertising from past, present and the future. From his presentation I learned some of the changes that have occurred or is currently occurring around us. This is kind of interesting because most people never really pay close attention to what is changing, due to the fact that changes just gradually ease in our lives. His presentation also put me in another perspective because it made me view the changes in a different way. Overall, I enjoyed the presentation because not only did Mr. Dahmen interacted with the audience, but he also included several jokes which I thought really helped brightened the presentation.

First Day of Class

Today is the first day of class. Professor Delacrus went over the basics of the class: what the class is about and what are we to expect from the class. It's hard to tell how the class will turn out just by the first day, so let's see how is it as the semester progress.