Daily Post 10/25/11: TAKE THIS LOLLIPOP

Before reading please enjoy the video: www.takethislollipop.com

SM: From the genius behind Elf Yourself, comes the latest viral craze that may be the most haunting video you watch this year. Reactions to this video can be so extreme you can’t not tell your friends to watch it. I personally  told my 16 year old sister there’s this new online video they say is like the ring and showed her the website. She started freaking out after 10s, halfway through she was crying, and as it ended she ran screaming to my mother. (It’s what big brothers are for.)
The video purely seeks to stir emotions on the concern of privacy, but because this is an advertising blog I will try to analyze how this type of video could be used for advertising purposes. The standout feature of this video is it’s ability to personalize the content with information from an individual’s Facebook page. Obviously a company specializing in removing identity theft, ala old Ccitibank commercials, could have just slapped their logo in the top right corner. However, that’s too easy. Imagine if entertaining commercials used your social media information to better explain the benefits of a product. (This goes back to our post about the improvement of targeting in advertising. Link to Blog Post) Through location tagging, specific pictures and videos can be used to set the scene’s tone. Twitter hashtags allow for easy sorting of topics to be referenced in commercials. GetGlue & Facebook “Likes” can create a personal profile and better tailor the ad to the consumer.  THE OPTIONS ARE ENDLESS. Here’s just one idea video brought to mind for great advertisements.
For an intriguing television show: Have the commercial use a user picture with multiple people tagged in it. Then use different voice readers to read aloud comments you and your friends have made about the show on your social media sites.

What are some cool advertising initiatives you think this technology can produce?

Taking Patrick's place in commentary today is Jackie Bonifant, (a smarter more successful former advertising classmate of ours from Boston University.)

JB: You make some good points, but I think you might be misinterpreting the intent of this project. While it showcases the practically limitless potential of targeted content these days, it brings to mind the saying, “just because we have the technology doesn’t mean we should use it.”

To me, it serves more as a wake-up call than a demonstration of how cool targeted content can be. Almost everyone is connected to social media in some way these days, whether it be via sites like Facebook, Twitter, or Flickr, or location-based apps like FourSquare, Gowalla and SCVNGR. While these are all great ways to stay connected, find deals, and share content, these services also ask you to give up your privacy to a certain extent in order to access these advantages. “Take This Lollipop” shows, in an entirely possible (albeit dramatized) way, exactly what can potentially happen when you start getting careless about the information you hand out.

Marketers need to take notice just as much as consumers when it comes to hyper-targeted content. There is a fine line between serving personalized ads that are relevant in a cool way to your desired target, and serving overly-personalized ads that are downright creepy in the extent of their accuracy. I don’t mind ads that show up because they are geo-targeted and offer me discounts in the neighborhood I’m in: that’s useful. I would mind if I were served an ad because of something I looked up on WebMd: that’s intrusive. There’s a difference and right now, marketers are doing a pretty good job tiptoeing the line. But consider supercookies that don’t get deleted off your Web browser even after you delete them. Yes, they exist.

Whether you find it invasive or fascinating—or both—there are ways to engage in social technology without risking your safety. Don’t give away your last name. Your address. Even your school or birthday on some of these sites and apps. Just be smart about it.

PS – I x-ed out of the Take This Lollipop screen fast as I could as soon as it requested my personal information. If you’re creeped out by sharing your info, even for the sake of the joke, you can see a sample of the way it works here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DYFPupvo1Q

For logistical purposes, if you wish to vote in agreement with Jackie please select Patrick and we will adjust our standings tab manually. 

Ad of the Day: Pepsi: 10/25/2011

SM: It’s not often that a major company known for enormous advertising expenditures passes on the chance to run an ad during the Super Bowl in an attempt to preserve resources for a social media based campaign. Yet, it is Pepsi’s 2010 “Refresh Everything Campaign” focused on demonstrating their commitment to corporate social responsibility that garnered more buzz prior to the Super Bowl than if they had ran a commercial. Based on monthly voting by consumers, Pepsi gave away $20 million for beneficial projects run by charities, organizations, and schools to name a few. Massively successful, there were approximately 70 million votes cast in 2010 in the act of helping people help other people. The campaign strove to help reposition Pepsi from the drink of choice for the new generation of Americans to part of the new generation of Americans. Although this brand awareness activity doesn’t directly correlate to sales, it’s impact in the lives of grant recipients can only help the brand in the long run.


No secondary commentary today, so just let us know what you think of this initiative.

Ad of the Day: Captain Morgan: 10/21/2011

SM: According to this recent article beer sales are down 1.5% this year, while spirits are up 3.2%, and I have a feeling it has to do with the advertising. How many times can we see a bunch a guy standing around doing god-knows-what with beer in their hand? Spirit ads are breaking that cycle by creating brand personalities through storytelling. This ad establishes the suave swagger that I’ve come to associate with Captain Morgan. By depicting the brand icon in a narrative, the consumer can clearly differentiate the brand identity from other liquors and determine if that’s the image they want their alcoholic beverage to emulate. Although I could do without the corny ending, two seconds of guys standing around drinking is a heck of a lot better than 30 seconds. PW: The facts don’t lie: beer brands are suffering. When I think of recent alcohol advertising I think of Johnnie Walker and Jameson. But there are beer brands with great storytelling campaigns running right now including Dos Equis’ “The Most Interesting Man In The World,” Stella’s “She Is A Thing Of Beauty,” and Sam Adams’ “Take Pride In Your Beer.” The article highlights another issue: unemployed blue collar workers. When the lites’ target audience has no money to spend, of course the sales will plummet Another issue may be healthy living trends. Dieting commercials are now specifically targeting men; all those football analysts are losing weight with nutrisystem. And, although proven not true, common folklore states spirits have less calories than beer. Maybe the brewing industry needs to try and abolish the term “beer belly.” What do you guys think? Be sure to stop by tomorrow for the inaugural Saturday Social Spotlight during which we will analyze FourSquare.

Ad of the Day: Sean: Branded Entertainment

Clinton Foundation: Celebrity Division from President Bill Clinton

SM: I hate to be a broken record, but here is just another example of solid branded entertainment.
In one day, as the featured video on Funny or Die’s home page, “Clinton Foundation: Celebrity Division” has amassed upwards of 135,000 views.
Why is this considered successful? Functioning as a general awareness initiative, the collaboration of A-List actors were able to cohesively integrate the key facts of the Foundation into the overall sketch. By the end of the video, you’ve definitely caught some of the facts and now possess a general understanding of the organization (which is the purpose of an awareness campaign.) Those 135,000 people, who have clicked on the video, opted-in to hearing the Clinton Foundation’s message. What more could a company want from a marketing venture?

PW: This ad is an excellent piece of writing, but it is NOT an awareness campaign. It is a call to action. At the end, they ask you to donate to the fund. The success of this campaign will not be measured on total views, but instead on total GREEN. So, does the message persuade you to donate? Not me. What will the money be used for? The ad barely mentions the past initiatives, and the message is lost under the star power. This is the problem with most celebrity endorsements. Personally, seeing Jack Black improvise a theme song doesn’t make we want to donate, it makes me listen to Tenanious D. (And why is Matt’s head shaved? What his next movie?) For branded celebrity endorsements, the product must at least share as much of the spotlight as the celebrity if not more (See Kobe’s Black Mamba for Nike). Advertisers rarely use celebrities effectively. Think about it like this. If you want to see Kobe Bryant play, the Lakers’ front office makes you pay for a ticket. Same for movie stars. We are willing to pay to see them in action. But, what this? We can see them in action without paying? Oh, you want us to pay (donate) AFTER seeing them? Fat chance.

Daily Post 10/18/11: The IGen

Article: http://adage.com/article/news/igen-influential-peers-household-buying-decisions/230427/ Daily Post: IGen Influential With Peers: 10/18/11 Quick Summary: This article stresses the importance of the newly coined “IGen’s,” children 4-16 yrs old, influence on their peers and parents’ spending. It also should be noted that this demographic garners an average of $10-39 in weekly spending money from jobs and allowances. The IGen is equipped with an array of new media devices, i.e. smartphones, laptops, ipads, and gaming consoles, leading them to spend less time watching television than previous generations. Thus, marketers should try to focus on reaching this generation online. SM: Thank you Ad Age for stating the obvious. Is there anyone who didn’t know that kids in grade school are highly influenced by their peers? And was there ever a time when a child didn’t scream and annoy their parents to buy what the cool kids had, and they didn’t give in and buy the damn toy? One kid got a (insert elementary fad, i.e tomagachi, yo-yos, pokemon, etc...) and everyone in school had one until the tyrannical institution banned them for (insert lame principle loud speaker message, i.e. theft, distraction, Tommy tried to flush Jenny’s beanie baby down the toilet, but it got clogged, flooding the east wing, resulting in Mrs. Friendly to fall and sprain her ankle and Mrs. Smiley to knock over the classroom pet cage, releasing 5 chicks and a duck into the school. Also if anyone sees a chick please inform the main office right away.) There are two big stories to be mentioned here. 1) The IGen is more technologically savvy and sophisticated than anyone gives them credit for. By growing up with an established Internet media, this generation is able to choose their entertainment with greater freedom. Instead of being stuck choosing the best show on Nick, Disney, and PBS, the IGen can search the web to find the most entertaining and interesting content for their age group. COMPANIES NEED TO START TREATING THE IGEN LIKE THEY WOULD COLLEGE KIDS. There is an ability to interact with kids on the social media landscape unlike anything before. You still need your product to appear cool, but with an array of interactive media the possible options to achieve this goal are endless. 2) The increased interactivity among the IGens through social media has resulted in an increased speed by which trends spread and can be monitored. Social media allows this generation to assess the current trends in a real-time manner, making the evaluation of the cool trend much easier to diagnose. (Imagine how much faster stupid trends like the bleached-blond boys hairstyle and avril lavigne fishnets would have ended if it’s criticism was spread throughout Facebook.) While social media helps the IGen establish its own trends, marketers now have the ability to gauge these trends and react accordingly. PW: Above, Sean points to two insights advertisers should learn from the article.

1) The IGen is more tech savvy then we give them credit. Correct. but I would go further to say: they are the most tech savvy of all the generations. As the article says, they spend almost double the amount of time on their mobile devices than the average Millennial. Is this a good thing for advertisers? Heck no. Spending time with a medium helps you understand all the ways it communicates, including advertising. Every Millennial knows there’s a right side bar of Facebook advertising and so WE IGNORE IT. Expand this “talent” to all social platforms and you have a Gen Zer’s vision. With these kids understanding the message platform better than you, how will you get them to digest your message? If it wasn’t for child labor laws, all major corporations would be hiring these tweens for buko bucks. I think the best bet for marketers looking to influence this generation is through content laden messaging. Games and contests. Perhaps build a contest around the tweens making branded content: t-shirts, hats, wristbands, etc? Sean is right to think advertisers need to target this generation in the digital space, but they should not treat them like college kids. This generation is smarter than those Millennials and advertisers need to think at a tween’s lofty level.

2) We all know these kids set the fads and trends. Heck, how many times has #BiebersFutureWife trended on Twitter? Tweens set the agenda in the social space especially leading the conversation when it comes to celebrities, TV shows, and music. Brands should be very wary to enter these conversations. One “lame” comment and the brand is part of the out-crowd. Brands should use brand ambassadors within the age group to help promote the message (and some brands already do). These ambassadors have much more influence than the brand’s past youth ambassadors because they harness the social power of the web. This way the brand enters the conversation with the most influential message: peer-endorsed.

Lastly, an insight that Sean looked over. Advertisers need to realize how much TWEENS INFLUENCE THEIR PARENTS. No, I’m not talking about what they parent’s buy for the child’s use; I’m talking about what the parents buy for the family’s use. Do you think that IPad was purchased without the gentle nagging of the 8-year-old casual gamer? Do you think the decision to buy a PS3 over a 360 was the sole reasoning of the Tetris-playing Father? Children today influence a family’s entertainment platform purchases more than ever before. Maybe advertiser’s should market their TVs, tablets, and other products to the kids specifically. That way when their parents inevitably ask them how to make a web purchase, the advertiser’s product is top of mind for the kid.

Let us know what you think and check back later for the Ad of the Day

Ad of the Day: Red Stripe: 10/17/11

RED STRIPE: REGGAE:

SM: I figured for my first ad campaign of the day I’d start with possibly my favorite TV spot of all-time. This ad didn’t win any awards or quadruple sales, but I love how it chose to separate Red Stripe from the over-saturated beer market by staying true to itself. It gave homage to the beer’s Jamaican roots in a quirky humorous fashion, while establishing the brand’s spokesperson. The spot had a very catchy song coupled with a clear message: “Red Stripe is beer, Hooray Beer!” Now who can’t agree with that statement.

PW: This campaign is quite memorable. Red Stripe has definitely positioned itself as the odd duckling in the beer category. The ads tell vignettes about the brand’s Jamaican identity, which is cute. BUT CUTE IS ALL IT IS. Does it leave me with a positive feeling about the brand? Slightly. Does it make me want to drink Red Stripe? Not really. Have I ever ordered a Red Stripe? No. Although the campaign is memorable, it is not top of mind. Besides when has Jamaica been about anything besides illicit substances and Reggae music? Okay, you’re right, AND the Jamaican bobsled team.
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