ExTRa BloG: BRaNd PlaCeMenTts In MoVies!!!

Nowadays, we can observe how all sorts of companies try to position their brands by every form possible. Consequently, this is why advertisers always find new creative ways to get to the company´s target market and to possible new clients by promoting the companies´ products, for example by means of placing the companies´ brands in movies or in TV programs as a way to encourage people to act as their favorite actor/actress.

Marketers know that brand placement is a successful form of advertisement because this offers them several advantages over other advertising media, especially cost efficient communication and an advantage in the fact that films can be selected to reach that target consumers who may be difficult to reach with more conventional advertising methods. Associating brands with particular actors, films or contexts allows the marketer to associate a brand with congruent lifestyle or usage situations, because films offer brands the full sight, sound, and motion capabilities they do not have access to in radio and television.

Due to the success of this type of advertisement, there are hundreds of movies that show any type of brand placement. However, three examples I could mention of recent movies that I have watched in the past few days and where we can observe brands placement, could be the Disney movie Enchanted, The Bucket List movie with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, and obviously Sex and the City with Sarah Jessica Parker.

In the Enchanted movie we can observe, how once upon a time in a world of singing forest animals, a dashing prince and his soon-to-be-princess path to happiness takes an odd detour due to the interference of a jealous queen, who literally pushes her out of the brand-free kingdom of Andalusia into the harsh and glittery real world of New York City. A surprised princess (Giselle) gawks at the concentration of brands jostling for her attention in the patch of concrete and steel that is Times Square. Kodak, AOL, Bank of America, DHL, McDonalds, Loews, Virgin Records and Coca-Cola billboards and marquees appear over her.

Moreover, another movie I have just watched in which we can find a lot of brand placements is The Bucket List. In this one we can observe how indirectly, as the movie goes on, advertisers promote brands as they tell you the story. The movie tells you the anecdote of two terminally ill men who cross off items on their list of things to do before they kick the bucket. Therefore, in their effort of taking advantage of their remaining days alive, the characters bought whatever they liked, or they did whatever they wanted to do before they died. In the movie we can observe how Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman use some products and cross off items on their list of the following brands: Apple, Bell, Cadillac, Chock Full O’Nuts, Chrysler, Cisco, Ford, Ford Mustang, Hill-Rom, HP, Lacoste, Listerine, Los Angeles Dodgers, Mercedes, Motorola, Pepsi, Philips, Pontiac, Pyrotect, Rolls Royce, San Francisco Giants, Sharp, The North Face, The Riviera Hotel and Casino, Timberland, Toyota, United States Parachute Association, a fact that show us a great number of brand placements in the movie.

Finally, one of the best examples of brand placement is the Sex and the City film. This movie has been named “Film Whore” of the year for being the film that most “sold out” for brand placement in the fourth annual Brandcameo Product Placement Awards from Brandchannel. The blockbuster’s partners included Mercedes-Benz, Coty fragrances and Skyy vodka, as well as the jeweller H Stern, Glaceau Vitaminwater, Coca-Cola and Bag Borrow. Moreover, other brands featured at the film were: Louis Vuitton’s, adidas, American Airlines, Apple, BlackBerry, Botox, Burberry, Carolina Herrara, Cartier, Chanel, Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Christian Louboutin, Christie's, Clean & Clear, Cuisinart, Cup Noodles, Dove, Duane Reade, e.p.t., Entertainment Weekly, Escada, Ford, Four Seasons, Garnier Fructis, Gucci, Harvard University, Heinz, Hello Kitty, Henri Bendel, Hershey's, HSBC, IWC, KeyFood, Kit Kat, Lanvin, Lincoln, L'Oreal, Louis Vuitton, Lumi, M&M's, Manhattan Mini Storage, Marie Claire, Mercedes, Merrill Lynch, MetLife, Motorola, Netflix, New York Magazine, New York Post, New York Public Library, Nike, Nivea, Oscar de la Renta, Pantene, Piazza Sempione, Post-It Notes, Prada, Pret a Manger, Princeton University, Roger Vivier, Salvatore Ferragamo, Scoop, Skyy, Smartwater, Sony, Sprint, Starbucks, Swarovski, Tiffany & Co., TV Guide, Vera Wang, Versace, VitaminWater, Vivienne Westwood, Vogue, Wall Street Journal, among others. And because of these huge amounts of brand placements, Sex and the City film was labeled by president of marketing at the film's distributor New Line Cinema as "The Super Bowl for women" in reference to the event ability to attract hundreds of millions of dollars worth of advertising.

In conclusion, I believe that brand placement in movies, programs, etc. is a vital tool for marketers because they know that the aspiration of customers to be like their favorite artists (having their artist´s lifestyle and therefore to buy the same products the artist is using) increases as clients are exposed to more and more product placements. For instance, Ray-Ban sunglasses experienced a 55% gain in sales following the prominent use by Tom Cruise in 1983's Risky Business. Therefore, as this case, similar success stories for other brands firmly established the importance of brand placement. For that reason, in the present days more and more companies are willing to appear in contexts other than film, including music videos and video games, in any type of verbal mention in dialogue, in the actual use of the product by a character, in visual displays such as corporate logos or on a vehicle or billboard, or even as a set of decoration, or in little snatches of actual radio or television commercials.

BLog 10: CeleBrities that Help (+) or Hurt (-) brand values . (Public Relations)

As we have seen throughout the course, advertisers always try to reach their target market by all kinds of original ways to enhance their clients to choose them from among the competition. Therefore, one of the most successful and common practices to advertise brands is through endorsement from public figures, in which celebrities act as the brand’s spokesperson and certify the brand’s claim and position by extending their personality, popularity, and expertise in the field to the brand.

One of the most successful examples of a company which has fruitfully taken advantage of a brand endorser is Nike. In the present, this company has created a very strong brand identity and a brand personality thanks to the use of the celebrity endorsement practice as one of the main channels of communicating its brand to a highly focused set of customers. Today, Nike is known around the world for being one of the most outstanding brands because it was recently ranked as the world’s 31st most valuable brand in terms of its brand value by the annual Business Week’s global top 100 brand survey. Nike has achieved this because it´s very well known for its consistent use of celebrities to endorse the brand. In fact one of the most successful collaborations between the brand and a celebrity is the one with Nike and Michael Jordan. So successful was the collaboration, that Nike and Jordan launched a new brand variant called the “Air Jordan” line of sport shoes. Moreover, Nike pulled off a very similar coup in the sports industry when it joined forces with the ace golfer Tiger Woods to enter the golf category with its apparel, equipment and accessories. Nike had no experience in golf before. In addition, golf being a very elite game, it was generally considered that a brand like Nike would not be very successful. But even if this might have probably been true, this made Nike choose to associate with the best golfer in the world and have him endorse the brand. And as it´s known today, Nike has emerged highly successful in golf. Consequently we can observe how Jordan and Woods have highly profited the company from their image and expertise in the sport industry by enhancing the value of the brand.

Another great example of a celebrity endorsement is the one of David Beckham with a number of important companies. For example: Armani underwear, Motorola's Global Brand, Adidas, Pepsi, Gillette, Vodafone, Police Sunglasses, Got Milk?, Snickers, TBC cosmetics, Marks and Spencer, Coty Perfumes, etc.

Just talking about the relation between Armani Underwear and Beckham we can decipher how this great endorser really has a positive impact on clients, because even if men are not physically attracted to the endorser, this was a very impacting campaign towards women who like to buy their partner their underwear clothing. Therefore, as this relation between Beckham and Armani, we can describe the other relations between Beckham and the other brands because this example show us how an attractive endorser (physical appearance, intellectual capabilities, athletic competence, expertise, trustworthiness and lifestyle) has most of the time a positive impact on the brand endorsed, and as a result, this positive endorsement helps to increase the brands value.

On the other hand, we can observe how brands strongly associated with celebrity endorsers who happen to be targets of highly unfavorable publicity are likely to risk losing their positive appeal and credibility fast. For example, the brand Hertz suffered in image ratings when its endorser, O.J. Simpson was accused of murdering his ex-wife and her friend. Consequently, this fact had a very negative effect on the brand value hurting the company´s position.

Finally, with this work I recognize that celebrity endorsements have several benefits, like building credibility and getting attention of the public, which can translate into higher sales. But at the same time I recognize that brands associated with endorsers who are targets of harsh publicity can just in a few seconds lose or diminish the companies´ brands value, so companies need to be very attentive when choosing their endorsers.

REFERENCES:
Jordan BrandHistory.RetrievedNovember8th2008.Fromhttp://www.sneakerhead.com/jordan-brand-history.html
Asis K. (2004) “Downside of celebrity endorsement” Daily Inquirer Business Features Section. RetrievedNovember8,2008.Fromhttp://74.125.45.104/search?q=cache:JRV6S2emw3YJ:www.karendeasis.com/articles/downside_of_celebrity_endorsements.pdf+negative+brand+endorsers&hl=es&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=mx

PUbLIC RELaTIOnS: BriTneY SpEArs!!

Britney Spear´s image has drastically changed since the launch of her first album “Baby one more time” in 1999. At that moment, Britney Spears was the pop icon able to influence teens and young people, and today all her cute image and power to influence have gone. Today, Britney Spears appears on thousands of covers of magazines, just garnering controversy because of her personal life that began to gain substantial media attention after her marriage to Kevin Federline, because their marriage ended two years later resulting in an ongoing custody battle over their two children.

Few months ago you can just see Britney Spears in the latest gossip about her serious drug or mental health problems. But today, Britney Spears has started to reconsider her situation, because she knows, she can still be a music icon for many people. Therefore, a public relations campaign for helping Britney Spears to reinforce her image in a positive way, would include things such as that at first she needs to start to recover herself, she needs to be healthy and to be laid back. She also needs to take care of her complete image. She does not need to give any motive so that the media could talk bad things about her. She needs to be well dressed and healthy looking. She needs to take care of her kids by herself and perhaps with a nanny, but she needs to call the media´s attention by her acts. In few words, she needs to make the paparazzi just talk positive things about her.


On the other hand, she needs to give a social image by helping charity organizations. She needs to make people know that she is trying to give back to the world. She could start at first by helping mental health organizations or drug prevention organizations with money and with her personal experience. She should make her efforts be known all around the world, so that people could perceive her in an optimistic way, because today, when most people think about Britney Spears they think of her in the worst way. Spears´ needs people to know that she is trying to recover. She needs to stop crazy partying with Paris Hilton, and she needs to give the impression of a good looking mom who cares of her children and who cares about getting along well with her ex husband.

In summary, I think that Britney Spears could do so much with her life to turn it around, because she has all the resources. She just needs to be or to pretend to be mature. She needs to change her lifestyle radically. She needs to realize that she still has the power to influence the lost generations she moved before, as well as she needs to realize that she is still young enough to recover her successful music career, meanwhile having a successful personal life. And with these she is going to move again crowds of people, because she is going to have the popularity she used to have before just by acting as a mature and conscientious individual who follows these simple public relation´s advices.

BlOg 9: AnaLysIS oF SuPer bOwl aDs

The characteristics of successful television ads according to surveys and statistical information say that ads should be characterized for being creative, innovative and eye catching. However, even if the Super Bowl ads are fully covered with these characteristics they are also characterized for making the audience laugh, for introducing elements of shock and surprise, for putting more sight in the ad than sound, for using famous celebrities who promote their brands, for using memorable background music, for using talkative animated animals, among other things, in just a 30 second commercial.

For me, one of my favorite things about watching the Super Bowl football game is looking at the commercials. Throughout the years, I have considered that the Budweiser ads have stood out as being particularly funny. In fact, some of them have become a sort of pop-culture with regular people imitating them in real life. In particular I like the commercials of this brand because I consider they use the humor appeal as an effective method for attracting attention to the advertisements. Moreover, I like Budweiser´s commercials because they create a word of mouth buzz. In other words, they use extremely well the concept of Viral Marketing, which as we studied, refers to a form of online marketing where the customer passes on information to other potential customers, instead of companies contacting them directly. Budweiser was one of the first companies to embrace this, with the croaking frogs at the “Original Budweiser Frogs Commercial” in 1995 at the Super Bowl(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVcbasIb8lQ), or the “Wassup” parrots commercial launched in 2006 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgjxnHMF0zs) in the same event. The two previous commercials are well recognized for being eye catching and simple with “Bud-weis-er” or “Wassup” being repeated over and over. Additionally, these two ads were so memorable, that perhaps people might not remember who the winning football team was, but they should remember the commercials.

Furthermore, another commercial I really like about Budweiser at the Super Bowl is the “Bud Light Starring: Carlos Mencia” ad which is so funny and real. In this commercial, you can see how Carlos tries to teach some immigrants how Bud light gets it done all around the country… and if someone asks for a beer…. You must say: “I don´t speak English”. I think I like this commercial, because obviously it was targeted specifically for the Hispanic community who lives in the United States and who feel themselves identified with the context, as in my case.( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=670X2MCWzK0)

Moreover, I liked the Budweiser "Cedric" commercial which was launched in 2001 at the Super Bowl because I think it´s funny and humorous. In the commercial you can observe how the advertisers created a comical environment in which you can see how Cedric, an entertainer is romancing a very hot date, and when it's time to cool off just a little, he eases into the kitchen to grab two bottles of Bud Light from the fridge. Cedric was so "excited" with the prospect, so he does a little happy dance in the kitchen, accidentally shaking up the bottles in the process. The end of the evening comes too soon when he opens the bottles and the shaken beer explodes all over his date. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiECBowBa4c)

Another commercial I really like is the one called: “Bud Light, Apes”, which was launched in 2007 at the Super Bowl. This commercial, as all the commercials of Budweiser use a humorous appeal. In this ad you can notice how an ape is planning to steal a Budweiser with the help of another ape. However, the last one is so interested in smiling for a picture that it doesn´t realize what it needs to do to obtain the Budweiser, making the other ape mad. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oekYqamByD4&NR=1)

Finally, the last commercial I like of this same brand, is the funny 2006 Super Bowl Bud Light Beer advertisement “Roof repair”. I like this commercial because this is an awesome advertisement in which the ad features husbands who go onto their roof on the pretext of repairing it to chill out with Bud Light. But the funny part is that the one guy who actually is on the roof for repairs falls down. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q05QIp5qbnY).

In conclusion, throughout this work I have noticed that Super Bowl commercials are sometimes more exciting than the big game itself. I think for marketers and for people in general, it is a great way to see how creative the marketing industry can be, and I definitively believe that paying almost $3 million dollars for a 30 seconds commercial is worth it for companies who can obtain in just few seconds the same or a greater amount of money from their sales derived from the Super Bowl advertisements.

BlOG oF MY CHoICE: ADVErTISInG AT THE SuPER BoWL!!!

Throughout the years, the advertising marketing tool has been so successful to create brand awareness and to entice customers to purchase, that some companies today are willing to pay huge amounts of money just to advertise their brand. This is the case of companies who decide to promote their products in a 30 second spot during the championship game of the National Football League in the United States: the SUPER BOWL. However, the fact that a company decides to spend millions (2.7 million dollars in 2008 at the Super Bowl plus the expenses of creating and running an ad) in a 30 second exposure commercial has been seen by worldwide critics as a controversial issue, because they argue that Super Bowls commercials are risky ventures. Millions of dollars are dropped in less time than breaks between NFL plays, and the result may be viewers’ yawns and media pans, which makes one wonder: Considering all the major sporting events during the year, isn’t there a better way for companies to spend their ad money?

To clarify this point I would think that obviously companies spend huge amounts of money in advertising because they know that their actual expenses in advertising will be greatly compensated in the short term future with the sales they will generate. Companies know since the beginning that the exposure they will receive will be around 93 million viewers and that the money they will make will be tremendous. Moreover, companies who advertise themselves at the Super Bowl aside of wanting to create more money, want people to talk about them, they want people to create a buzz. Therefore, as advertisers know that commercials are part of our lives, and they know we watch them, enjoy them, and discuss them with our friends, it is evident that after the game there is going to be a flurry of opinions from people in general, from marketing experts and from focus groups of which was the most effective Super Bowl ad. I also think that advertisers invest at the Super Bowl because they know that they will generate crowds of Internet traffic in their web sites because the event encourages consumers to purchase their products, and this fact is sufficient to make the wise investment. Moreover, I believe that advertisers know that after the event there is going to be an Internet following on the ads that were publicized, and therefore they will get sort of a red carpet treatment for a few weeks that as a study suggests, this could inflate company stock values by 1.3 percent after the game. 1

In conclusion, I would say that if I were a companies´ advertising decision maker of a well known company, I would definitively decide to continue spending a huge amount of money to advertise the brand at the Super Bowl. I think that the event is really worth it because the Super Bowl is the greatest American showcase where football teams field highly paid players in an attempt to win the most important game of the season, and therefore the whole country specifically, has been waiting for this event to happen. Finally, I think that although this event is not exclusively targeted for women or for people who don´t like football at all, we could unquestionably watch it just to know about the appealing commercials, which definitely would create a buzz in the following weeks after the event.

REFERENCES:

1.YelkurR.(2004RetrievedNovember4th2008.Fromhttp://journals.cambridge.org/download.phpfile=2FJAR2FJAR44_012FS0021849904040085a.pdf&code=e536623654a64ca51339879b90c07d0cA study published in a 2004 issue of the Journal of Sport Management looked at eight years of Super Bowl ads to find out data of the most liked ads. This were 30 seconds long, humorous, appealing to emotions, features a product and not a service, made no mention of price.

2. Goldman, Kevin. “Advertising: Super Bowl Ads Looked Worse than Bills.” The Wall Street. Journal, February 1, 1994.

BLoG 8: MesSage apPeaL

One of the ads I definitely don´t like because it doesn´t works for me and I think for almost anyone is the Colgate ad that was printed in some magazines a few months ago in Mexico. In this ad, I guess that the marketing advertisers wanted to design a humorous ad, but at the same time they wanted this to conduct some type of fear. Colgate´s advertisers might have thought that by printing an old woman without teeth they were going to be able to at some point “scare” people because they will think that in the future they will look the same way if they don´t brush their teeth. However, I think the message they tried to transmit is totally contradictory to the product they are selling, because Colgate stands for whiteness, cleanliness and strong teeth. Indeed, the brand is the number one recommended by most dentists, and this fact is undermined by this ineffective advertisement according to my point of view. Moreover, I think that if it was really the objective of Colgate to create fear, they should have printed the ad on any outdoor advertisement instead of printing the ad in well recognized magazines, which were ineffective vehicles to transmit the message.

On the other hand, one Colgate ad that I really like because it is kind of original is the one in which Mona Lisa is smiling and it is carrying her toothbrush. In this we can see how Colgate´s advertisers used some kind of humor in a moderate way to enhance the product. In this advertisement, humor is used in an effective manner with the objective of attracting attention to the brand. For me the message is clear, and that is why I like it. Because when I see the big Mona Lisa I can center my attention on her red lips and on her white smile that obviously Colgate created. Therefore, I think the ad is creative because famous Mona Lisa is used as a portrait to create knowledge about Colgate by making a comparison between the real pictures of this famous celebrity with this obviously edited picture.

Moreover, one of the ads that I considered very interesting despite the fact that I don ´t really like because I can´t completely catch the messages that the brand advertisers want to send us are the ads from: UNITED COLORES OF BENETTON. I think that the message of this retailer doesn´t work for me, because even if I think their ads are really interesting and very eye catching, I think their messages are totally awkward and they do not transmit any information about their clothing. And even though if I recognize that the strategy of the store is mainly attention grabbing to keep people talking about their company, I will suggest that for reaching people just as me they should change the strategy and they should adopt another type of advertisement in which they show their product characteristics and not just odd things. Because even if I know that the different skin color of the people in their ads represent the “United Colors” of the brand, the ad doesn´t show the garments you can find at the store. Therefore, anyone who doesn´t know about the store or who doesn´t catch the message just as me won´t be attracted to go to the store to buy their products because obviously their advertisement doesn´t show anything about their brand.

Finally, one of the most interesting marketing campaigns for me is the one that was launched weeks ago by Coca-Cola for its newest product: Coca- Cola Zero. In this campaign the company´s main objective was to transmit the idea that their new product tasted the same as the original Coca-Cola. I think this ad was really appealing for me because the ads and commercials of this campaign are really creative and original. We can see in this campaign how Coca-Cola´s advertisers used the humorous appeal to get people´s attention. Specifically, the ads that I liked were the ones in which an eye tries to convince two tongues that what they are drinking is Coca-Cola Zero and not just normal Coca-Cola. The message for me is so clear: “Authentic flavor, no Sugar”, so definitively this type of advertisement works for me because the message is simple and well conducted.

Blog 7: CreAtiVe BriEf HuSh PuPpiEs ShoeS!!

Creative Brief for Hush Puppies Shoes

The Creative Brief that Hush Puppies´executives must have done for achieving the “Hush Puppies: Beauty & the Beach” commercial and ads should had consisted in the following:

DATE: October 07, 2008

PROJECT: “New campaign to increase Hush Puppies brand awareness.”

The project consists in developing an advertising marketing campaign of the Hush Puppies shoes that communicates the classical features of the brand. The ad should evoke to its actual and potential clients the idea that Hush Puppies shoes rely on comfort, and therefore they stand for providing relaxed moments.

PREPARED BY: Michael Phillips (Creative Marketing Assistant in charge of the Hush Puppies brand).

APPROVED BY: Sara Bilkins (Marketing CEO in charge of the Hush Puppies brand).

CLIENT INFORMATION: Hush Puppies brand is part of a successful Mexican company called Emyco, which can be found in the US market since 1958. The brand stands for simple, stylish and comfortable shoes that women, men, and kids can wear in their everyday lives.

Hush Puppies’ history is rooted in innovation from inventing the first truly casual shoes to developing dozens of patented technologies that make the shoes more comfortable, lightweight and worry free. The brand strives to constantly evolve Hush Puppies’ world renowned comfort, bringing clients the most advanced technologies available in footwear today. Whether it is water, stain and scuff resistant Worry Free Suede®, or the newest exclusive technology, WaveReflex® featuring extreme flexibility, Hush Puppies strives to provide its clients with important product benefits that enable them to find one more reason to relax.

BACKGROUND/ OVERVIEW: The advertising agency is required to perform this job because the company wants to increase the brand awareness in the United States. Although the brand is well recognized among its target market, the sales have been dropping because the market is really competitive. The company wants to inform its potential and old clients that the company continues to provide comfort and relaxing moments just by marketing its casual shoes which provide unforgettable moments.

OBJECTIVE/ PURPOSE OF THE AD: The company wants the target audience to notice that the brand really provides the features it promises on the commercial despite anything else (for example the price). The company expects that the clients really feel that the Hush Puppies shoes provide comfort and relaxation just by wearing them, because those characteristics are invaluable. Therefore, the company expects clients to go to any of the world’s best retailers in the United States to buy their shoes and feel well of wearing them. The strategy to achieve this objective could be the fact of showing a man wearing its shoes in a relaxed environment, in which clients feel themselves as if they fit in the same situation. The success of the program would be measured by the number of sales the company expects to increase in the country between the following two months after the commercial is launched.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0aTHCL7Cz4

TARGET AUDIENCE: The target market should be men and women between 28 and 40 years old who live in the United States. Specifically, the audience should be men and women belonging to classes between C+ and A+. Men wearing these shoes should need to be natural, relaxed, authentic, with a young spirit, free, simple and healthy. Women should be natural, mature, free, relaxed and simple. More exclusively, the target market should be people whose rate of life requires: comfort, functionality and style. People worried about their surroundings and people that like to feel comfortable with themselves and with the environment. People who project a successful social and familiar life, and that in addition enjoy the feeling of being comfortable in their daily lives.

SINGLE MORE IMPORTANT THING TO SAY: “Hush Puppies: We invented Casual”!

SUPPORTING RATIONAL AND EMOTIONAL REASONS TO ACT OR BELIEVE: Hush Puppies shoes meet needs and wants of its clients, and create a strong identity that resonates with values and aspirations of those who wear the shoes. Hush Puppies brands should transmit the powerful idea that touches the lives and imaginations of people everywhere.

MANDATORY ELEMENTS, HELPFUL INFORMATION AND INSIGHTS: The advertisements should always need to include the brand logo, a real product Image, little or no text, and relaxing music if possible to enhance the brand characteristics. Moreover, the ad should avoid talking about prices and manufacturing processes to arrive at the final product.

MEDIUM: The best way to reach the audience would be throughout a commercial and by in-store and outdoor advertising. The commercial and ads should demonstrate the benefits (comfort and relaxation) of wearing the Hush Puppies shoes. Both types of advertisements should communicate without words (less possible text). To communicate the idea it is important to always show a real shoe that demonstrates visibly the benefits.

SCHEDULE: WHAT WE NEED FOR THE CREATIVE TEAM AND WHEN DO WE NEED IT? We need from the creative team a driven and catching commercial no longer than 35 seconds that show the attributes of the Hush Puppies shoes. The commercial should need to leave clear that wearing the brand´s shoes will be the same as being barefoot because of the shoes ´characteristics. We also need some informative ads that demonstrate the shoes features and outcomes of wearing them. We need the 1) initial creative review of rough sketch ideas for October 31, 2008. The 2) review revised creative for November 11,2008. The 3) final internal creative presentation for November 22, 2008. The 4) client´s presentation for November 30, 2008 and the 5) material ready to be delivered to publication two weeks before Christmas so we can launch the commercial and see results (increase of sales) since the first days of January.

BLoG 5:The BraNd NaMe TraP - My FaVoritE BillboaRDS!!

The newest Ipod campaign that I really liked demonstrates the effectiveness of its creative billboards. A few months ago Ipod removed its “Guitar” Apple Music ads from Billboards all around the globe, and has replaced them with new silhouetted ads of different people on bright backgrounds using their Ipod. This one, I consider is extremely successful and eye catching because the whole message that the company wants to spread is just transmitted by the logo and the product. These billboards don´t have anything written, however the message is clever, and they can show us how little or no information is more effective than overcrowding the entire billboard with letters. These billboards seem to be neat and clear enough, so no additional information is needed to reinforce the brand. Moreover, the message is not just transmitted by words, but also with pictures. For example, in this campaign Ipod wanted to transmit different silhouettes in movement which enhance the Ipod features such as fun and music. The main objective of the Ipod campaign aside of reaching all segments of the population, is to entertain and intrigue consumers; this increases the attachment and attraction to the product. Also, their designs bursting with brilliant colors are used to evoke emotional responses to inspire lasting impressions.

IPod TarGeted For KIDS!

IPod TarGeted For relaxed Men!

IPod TarGeted For Fresh woMen!

Ipod On Roads...

Another amazing billboard I like from Apple is one that is located in New York. This billboard has a black background and it was done to advertise the Ipod Nano and the ITunes. This billboard reflects the product characteristics by showing with just images that thousands of songs can be lodged in such a small product. Also, the fact that it is 3D makes the billboard more real and attractive, breaking out of the one dimensional format of advertising. So, I think I like these billboards because Apple has been consistent, distinctive, striking, and strong, reinforcing its products.

Meanwhile in Mexico, one of my favorite billboards is one that promotes the beer called “SOL”. Even if this campaign was mainly targeted for men, it was so clever because before the company decided to launch the beer, they made the consumers participate in the product design. To do the marketing research, sexy women were standing in some cities main points and they asked people to select between 2 main bottles designs and 3 different beer flavors. During one month people from around the country voted to decide the final design of the new beer. When the beer was launched, billboards and all type of outdoor advertising were posted in city’s main points. Until now everyone talks about the fascinating campaign, the new beer and of the billboards that are spread all over the cities. These ones are so attractive, because they have a yellow background that immediately get the attention of everyone, especially from men who are just impressed by the “curves” of the beer bottle and of the models in the billboards.

Beer "SOL" BillBoard

Beer "SOL" CaMpaigN

BLOG 4: PoSitIoNing for Flat EaRth !!

When I first watched the ”Flat Earth” commercial I didn´t understood the relationship between the logo with a pig image and the potato chips. Yet, after I investigate I now understand that the company is trying to make us know that awkward things can be real (impossible can be possible). I'm sure Frito Lay meant its new natural foods "Flat Earth" brand name and flying pig logo to seem unconventional and clever, because fruit and vegetable snack chips are unconventional.

Each time we think of chips brands, I am sure we think in Cheetos, Doritos, Ruffles, Tostitos, etc. which are targeted to young people, especially to men who don´t care about maintaining a good body shape. But Frito Lay concerned about its consumers health and necessity of abandoning greasy bags of chips for healthier snack foods, have recently designed ”Flat Earth” chips with which you get 1/2 serving of fruits or veggies in every serving. So if we eat the whole chips bag we can justify it with, "well, I just had my servings of veggies and/or fruit!" That is why I think these chips are totally targeted to women among 25 to 40 years old, who consider themselves or who aspire to have a wealthy living style. However, this doesn´t means that men couldn´t try them.

I believe that the positioning of the brand is really clear, because since you see the webpage you can realize that the message they want to transmit is of a healthier and better world. Also, the brand slogan “When pigs fly” is telling us that impossible things can be done even if we don´t realize them in our minds (Just as Flat Earth did). Moreover, I believe that even if we can relate pigs as being dirty and fat animals, this is not the image that “Flat Earth” wants to create in our minds, because they are creating a cute and lovely image of a pig with its wings, and because they are showing with their commercial a neat and green environment. So I believe that the brand has a good positioning statement because it really reflects “Flat Earth´s” competitive advantage. In other words, “Flat Earth“provides healthier chips, even if these are always seen as greasy and unhealthy products.

Furthermore, I think that the brand tries to motivate consumers to taste the “impossible” chips showing in the commercial the woman who was enjoying its chips before eating them. For example, now that I saw the commercial I would like to buy the chips just to taste them and have an opinion about them. Also, another thing that can motivate people is the fact that in the commercial they show all the chips features so the fact they looked just like a potato chip but much healthier than a chip is a good statement to call consumers attention.

I think that until now “Flat Earth” is showing a clear and innovative implicit message below the brand´s name, but if I had to change something I think I would eliminate the pig from the logo (not from the slogan), because even if it´s perceived as cute by many women, it could be kind of contradictory, because as I said before, when people think of pigs they can relate to them as fat and unclean. Even so I recognize that “Flat Earth” really took care of all the small details when they first launched their campaign. Another thing I would consider to change would be the blue color of the bag, because even if that color makes us think about lighter products, a green color will be the best in my opinion. So that consumers can think about the brand as healthy chips, and not as light chips.

If the brand wants to be positioned to a younger audience such as college young women I would suggest the company:

- To launch a campaign in which they kind of challenge young college people. This means that they could launch a campaign daring people telling them that they can't eat even one, so they are consequently going to buy “Flat Earth” chips to taste them.
- To install in every school vending machines with “Flat Earth” chips all around the country.
- To maintain and reinforce the nothing is impossible slogan.
- To use well known actress which promote the brand, just as Eva Longoria did for Magnum.
- To make more emphasis in the product features to appeal body conscious women.
- To organize focus groups in which they join young college women to ask them their preferences in some topics, as in which kind of media they see mostly all of the products they buy, their favorite flavors, the opinion leaders they follow, the environment they imagine when they think of the brand, etc.
- To select another environment for the commercial. For example, instead of using a big beautiful house that can only be afforded by older people, they should use a department where mostly all young people use to live.

BLOG 3: EtHiCS In ADveRtisIng!!

Nowadays we live in an interconnected and globalized world in which all business owners are fighting to have the best position among competitors. More clearly, we live in a world where brands exist everywhere we look, because all companies want to communicate with their customers or with their target market to influence their decisions toward its products or services. Companies or business men want to obtain greater earnings in less time, and usually this requires using the manipulation tactic by showing all the “possible” benefits their product can give, even if sometimes they need to “lie” or to hide the truth, just for obtaining economic rewards. That is why I think ethics in advertising is important, because even if advertisers have to influence people´s buying decisions, they have to do it with honesty. They should have to tell you the complete truth about the product features even if they are trying to convince you to acquire a certain product. Yet, most of the time this does not happens as it should need to be and as a result ads are just made to make people buy things they do not really need at all and that they just consequently buy them to be part of the brand. They are just made to manipulate or to create a stimulus toward a product that is completely unnecessary, such as prescription drugs which are used by people who think they will not be able to deal with their problems, without have not tried them. Just because they saw a commercial or an ad about this issue that was really appealing to them, they think they ought to buy the product to feel better as the guy that appeared on the commercial.

Another great example where Ethics in business arises is in the food industry, because although restaurants as McDonalds need to have promotion to stay in the mind of its consumers, some argue that this kind of publicity exhort people, in particular children and teenagers to have a fat meal which contributes to the childhood obesity, because most of McDonalds campaigns encourage overconsumption by promoting its food products for “everyday” eating. I believe that targeting this kind of unhealthy food to young people is not the most ethical thing to do if you take care of them, but I also think that the company is just trying to form a brand image in the consumer and it is trying to sell its products. So as result I think that neither the company, nor the children are guilty. The ones that have most of the fault are the parents which are moved by their kids to have that type of fast food every day.

There are other controversial issues that come to mind related to unethical marketing tools, as trying to position credit cards in the minds of kids. But, although I do not completely agree with this fact, because they are teaching children to buy and buy even if they do not have any money available just as their parents do. (They are hiding the fact that they would have to pay when their accounts arrive.) I think they are just teaching the real way it works in life. Even if their own purpose is to sell more and to create a greater brand image, they are just doing their job.

So in conclusion, I would say that definitively in today´s advertising it is really difficult to observe a completely ethical commercial or ad, because advertisers just want to make products more appealing to consumer's eyes by disguising them. How are they going to be able to make you know their product, if it is not only by advertising? So in my opinion most of the fault is of parents who leave their children in front of the TV for hours, action that makes children more vulnerable to acquire everything they watch on their favorite channels. So I can just say that marketing firms will never stop doing advertisements so it is up to us to make the right decision on whether or not to buy their products. Meanwhile Ad agencies need to be careful with how far they take their advertisements, because society can be offended by these into receiving wrong messages from the ads exposed.

Blog 2: Brand Identity

HARD ROCK BRAND IDENTITY

Hard Rock is a global phenomenon, which has been expanded to more than 40 countries all around the world. The brand stands for spreading the spirit of rock music from the hottest and best known musical artists of the last 50 years. At Hard Rock you can have a classical American meal; meanwhile you are entertained in the same place due to its great environment and wonderful background scenario which makes you receive an authentic and unique living experience. Nowadays, Hard Rock is one of the most successful global brands, given that it has 92% of brand recognition.

BRAND IMAGE: Rock shop, music groups, lyrics lovers, global phenomenon, posters, guitars, cafe, hotels, casinos, restaurants and LP´s.

BRAND IDENTITY: Hard Rock is the best and only one theme restaurant with background music of the last 50 years even if it has some indirect competence as Planet Hollywood which does the same activity of entertainment but with movies instead of music.

BRAND POSITION: Hard Rock is actively communicating that it is the originator of theme restaurant dining, and that it continues being the dominant rock connection for music enthusiasts worldwide. The brands wants to make us recognize that Hard Rock is one of the most globally recognized brands known for rock music showed throughout its live concerts, Hard Rock live performance, collectible and fashion merchandise as for example the well known pins and clothes, etc.

When people think in the brand, they think about the pleasure of live, entertainment, having fun, and about exciting audio and video environment that constantly stimulates the senses of spectators, without taking in count their age.

CORE IDENTITY (Brand as Organization/Brand as Person)

VALUE OFFERING: Relaxed environment, living experience provided, fun (theme restaurant), good service and speed, and excellent BBQ sauces.

OPERATING VALUES: Integrity, professionalism, innovation, passion and a kick-ass service.

BRAND PERSONALITY: Music lovers oriented, wholesome, cheerful, fun, and enthusiastic.

EXTENDED IDENTITY (Brand as Product/Brand as Symbol)

PRODUCT SCOPE: English influence, American food, gathering atmosphere.

FOOD QUALITY: Variety of good American food with Rock´n´ Roll flavor.

USERS: All music lovers, doesn´t matter the age!

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: London (1971)

CONVENIENCE: All around the world, near its target market and in touristic places.

SERVICE: Friendly, welcoming, fast and relaxed.

RELATIONSHIPS: Since Hard Rock was established, it has been dedicated to a wide diversity of philanthropic causes and activities around the world, because the brand has in mind making the earth a safer, healthier and a better place to live.

Nowadays Hard Rock, has been helping a wide range of organizations which had been benefited in the form of economical aid, food and merchandise. Some of those organizations are: Amnesty International, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Children's Miracle Network, Fundacion Pies Descalzos, Global Angels, Habitat for Humanity, among others.

LOGO: Hard Rock logo is really simple, it just has the name on it “Hard Rock” engraved on top of a circle in dark colors, especially black. This color frames the relationship between the organization and its clients, given that black represents all the rock lovers’ community.

SUBBRANDS: Hard Rock Café, Hard Rock Hotel, Hard Rock Casino, Hard Rock Park and Hard Rock live.

SLOGANS: "Love All, Serve All" ... "All Is One" ... "Take Time To Be Kind" ... "Save The Planet."

VALUE PROPOSITION

You should buy the brand because Hard Rock makes you live…

FUNCTIONAL BENEFITS: Comfortable atmosphere, good time, experience at a theme restaurant, good tasting American products, live music, warm service, shop centers, and entertainment at meal that appeal people to go there.

EMOTIONAL BENEFITS: Being at Hard Rock makes people feel fun and relaxed just by hearing music, watching videos and attending the spectacle. For kids the park is ideal to have a wonderful time at the roller coasters while enjoying the great music environment and the company of the Hard Rock characters. At the same time, adults (lovers of music) can have the best experience of their lives just for being at the park, or the casino, or the hotel, or at the restaurant, etc…

Warmth via link to family because you can be doing the things you like (music) meanwhile you are spending time with your family.

PLEASANT EXPERIENCE that makes you remember being at a concert while you have dinner, FUN VIA EXCITEMENT!

CREDIBILITY: High in performance of music spectacles and entertainment.

Blog 1: Ad Agencies and Campaigns

TOP 10 AD AGENCIES of 2008!
1. J. Walter Thompson
2. Leo Burnett Worldwide
3. McCann Erickson Worldwide
4. BBDO Worldwide
5. Grey Worldwide
6. DDB Worldwide
7. Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
8. Foote, Cone & Belding Worldwide
9. Y & R Advertising
10. Publicis Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi, Euro RSCG Worldwide

- Shimp T. A. Advertising. Promotion and other aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications.

3 COMMERCIALS I LIKED:

The first commercial I liked is called “Raisin Bran Crunch test commercial” which is a 30 seconds TV spot created for Kellogg's in January. This was done by J. Walter Thompson with the collaboration of Young Seo.
I liked this commercial because I think it is well oriented toward its new young market even if it’s a 56 years old Raisin Bran Cereal. I got the impression that the commercial wants to show us that having a breakfast in the morning is essential: “It´s IN” now that our lives go so fast, remarking at the end of it “Breakfast is back”. Also I liked the spot, because it reminds us of the 70´s with the background music and with the image that was formed by the plate and the spoon.

- Thompson W.J (2008) You tube Broadcast youself. Retrieved August 29, 2008 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8sF41dcsCo

The second commercial I liked is called “Oslo if Insurance” which is a 44 seconds TV spot created for The Risk Experts. This was done by Leo Burnett.

I liked this commercial because it only show us the reality, it show us that mostly all accidents are due to the same activities, such as the one we saw at the spot, so if we all know that the probability of having an accident is high when we are immersed in a risky activity the best thing to do is to acquire an insurance. The goal of this commercial is to convince people to acquire it, looking at themselves as part of the commercial. So they're trying to remind us that accidents can happen to anybody in a few minutes, sending us the message by using an exciting material with those rat characters.

-Burnett L. (2007) You tube Broadcast youself. Retrieved August 29, 2008 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4PgiF3zczE


The third spot I liked is called “Ballet Dance Coca Cola Zero 2008” which is a 1 minute 26 seconds TV spot created for Coca Cola. This was done by McCann Erickson.
About this commercial, I think that even if it´s too long they try to send the message that Coca Cola could be always surprising for its customers. With the commercial they try to show that Coca-Cola Zero is a testimony of the power of the zero sugar, because they´re just playing with gravity. I really think the commercial is so good.

- Erickson M. (2008) You tube Broadcast youself. Retrieved August 29, 2008 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-v6digPcws

Finally I liked all the 2008 campaign called Ola Magnum "Wonderful" with Eva Longoria, in which we can observe the elegance and the sex appeal of the actress, who tries to seduce the spectators. I think she tries to represent the temptation of chocolates. I think it´s a very interesting campaign because I have seen that Unilever revenues have risen since the campaign was launched.

-Erickson M. (2008) You tube Broadcast youself. Retrieved August 29, 2008 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNWtUkB5Dyg