Don't Tell Dad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk0PG7BzrY8

As one presenter mentioned in class, car commercials are rarely memorable and can even reach the point of annoying. Generally, advertisements for cars feature some sort of twisted, scenic road on which the car races in the rain, driven by an attractive driver. This ad, however, is completely different and still manages to get across a message about the car.

The classic mom vs. dad, which can be compared to good cop vs. bad cop, is relatable to anybody who has ever wanted something from a parent. When I wanted a friend to sleepover when I was younger, I would always ask my dad first because I knew he would say yes. If one parent said no, there was always the chance to ask the other parent before they had time to communicate and counter their answer with "but mom/dad said I could!". Taking a piece of childhood humor and inserting it into a car commercial definitely makes an impression and strikes a cord with a wider variety of audience members (even people who aren't remotely interested in purchasing a new car.)

I also think this advertisement shows a side of parents so many of us never think about, the side that is still a kid at heart. Up until college, many kids think that their parents don't make mistakes, don't have fun etc., but the time comes when you realize parents are people too, and this ad touches at that realization. Overall, its one of the funniest car commercials I have sees, and coming from a person who isn't interested in cars, it says a lot that I even remember it.

It seems that in most advertisements regarding food products, laundry detergents and various other items found in the household, moms are the final authority. I remember hearing "choosey moms choose Jiff" and wondering "what about choosey dads. In my household, at least, my dad does equal to (and probably even more) cooking than my mom, and I just felt that commercials like that gave fathers a bad reputation.

I saw a commercial this weekend for Go-Gurt, and it actually featured the father in the same way that Jiff ads feature the mother, insinuating that he was the one (in this case) to get the kid ready for school, pack his lunch etc. Personally, though the ad is simple and not for any particularly exciting product, I found the message refreshing.

It also makes me wonder if other companies will continue with this trend? Or is the mom as the homemaker a cliche that will never really be broken in the advertising world?

BIng! The Difference

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=xSwoZMmf_xY

Google, Yahoo, Bing - The list of search engines goes on and on. The competition and consumer preference between them is well known, and even spawns users to pit said search engines against each other (the winner generally provides the best or funniest answer to a question). But what is the actual difference between the three? Here's what I know about each one:

-Google is my go to for anything I need to know. As a History major, Google Scholar is my best friend. They change the way the word "google" is written on special occasions, and have been pretty cool as of late.
-Yahoo seems to have a lot of celebrity news on their homepage. I never use it.
-Bing had a commercial in which it played an awesome song by the Lumineers.

But these things are trivial, what is the real differences between these search engines? More importantly, how am I supposed to know?

Unlike Bing's previous advertisement, which again, featured a killer song by the Dever based Lumineers, didn't really tell me what the search engine did that was different. This new series of commercials, however, not only tells but shows the user in what way Bing is different from Google, and how to use it properly aka maximizing benefits and search results. I find it extremely helpful, and it made me actually consider Bing as a search engine, especially on non scholarly issues on which another opinion could be useful. I think that actually showing how to use their website was just the advertising Bing needed to gain a users.

Patagonia

 http://www.patagonia.com/email/11/112811.html


My family has received Patagonia magazines and purchased Patagonia products for as long as I can remember. Recently, in my Human Resources class, we looked into Patagonia as a business; their morals, their ethics, what makes them and their employees tick etc. One of the things that stood out most about the company, which I previously knew, is that they are extremely green. Our focus, as a class, was the recruiting techniques of the company which, interestingly enough, are none. Patagonia has done such a wonderful job advertising their brand, both literately and figuratively, that more people apply to the company than they could possibly use.

In order to figure out how exactly Patagonia did this, we looked into their advertising. This advertisement, which reads "Don't Buy This Jacket", seems to be the antithesis of what an advertisement is supposed to do; get customers to buy the product the company is selling. However, Patagonia is serious! Keeping true to their green, sustainable promises, Patagonia actually urges customers not to buy things that they don't need, even if it is their own product.

To me, this ad shows loyalty to belief; Patagonia does not just say they believe in sustainability, they prove it. I would be curious, however, to see other business' take on this strategy as well as customers. Do people think it is genuine? Or do people think it is still a business ploy?

Real Beauty

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

Though this advertisement may not necessarily be considered recent, I think it is gives an extremely powerful message concerning the matter of negative body images and society's idea of "beauty" today. Though it is a cliche message (and a good cliche!), the body image and idea of beauty presented today, mainly to young girls and women, is generally unhealthy and unattainable. Models tower over the average girl, and weigh much, much less. Ads in magazines portray pictures of girls with flawless skin, perfect make up and hair and beautiful, designer outfits. These images are plastered everywhere - magazines, bus sides, television, movies etc. and young girls have began to take notice.

This commercial is part of Dove's real beauty campaign, which uses actual women as opposed to models in hopes of promoting a different idea of what beauty is. In some ads, women's body type is the and focus, but this advertisement shows the drastic effects photoshop (as well as a professional hair and make-up stylist) can have on a person. I think that, even more so than the positive body image ads, this video speaks to an entire generation of girls. The women who comes into the study looks like an average women - she has flaws, imperfections, and unique attributes that make her human. With hair, make- up and a huge amount of photoshop, she is transformed into a model. Her neck is elongated, her eyes exaggerated, face slimmed etc., to the point where she is no longer herself.

Dove goes above an beyond challenging the beauty norms of today with this bold, real feeling advertisement. It is certainly memorable, and for those who struggle with body image, I am sure this advertisement is even more powerful than it may appear to the general public.

Wanderlust

http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=-BrDlrytgm8 


STA Travel is a travel agency that caters pacifically to students, mainly college students. In this simple, one mine ad, they have successfully reminded me that I want to travel to each and every places shown. In the case of this particular commercial, I think its simplicity is the key ingredient to its success. Capitalizing on the short attention span of the average college student, STA manages to flash what seems like hundreds of pictures in front of the viewers eyes, all within 61 seconds. These picture, which are major scenes from all around the world, all have one thing in common - the same twenty something man is walking in the middle of each one, presumably documenting his travels around the world.
The song playing in the background has no words, and each beat seems to match the switching of pictures.

Mind you, it isn't hard to sell the idea of studying and/or traveling abroad, so some may say STA has it easy. The idea may not be hard to sell, but, the actual plane tickets etc., are, especially in this economy. For every airline ad, Groupon or frequent flyer mile brochure I have seen, nothing evokes my sense of wanderlust like this commercial. Each scene, I found myself mentally noting places I have gone and places I have been, watching over and over again to make sure I didn't miss anything.

It isn't telling me where to go. It isn't telling me what to think. It isn't telling me what to buy or what to eat or where to stay. It is simply telling me to go somewhere, anywhere and experience all the world has to offer, a message of choice and freedom I feel our generation values greatly.

"Jess & Elliot" Google Chrome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1sT7QV8nfU

Crying is not my thing. My roommates, friends and family have always commented on my lack of crying during times when most people and/or teenage girls definitely cry. Once, in high school, I was watching Marley & Me with my best friend and then boyfriend, both of whom sobbed a majority of the movie while I did not shed a tear - both questioned my humanity. Recently, I found out i had two stress fractures and could not run the marathon I had been training for, once again no tears came. Oddly enough, the only guaranteed method to make me cry is usually some sort of historical documentary surrounding one of two things; World War II or the Civil Rights Movement. Also, a PBS production called Downton Abbey, centered around the trials and tribulations of an English estate and the family owning it during WWI (those historically accurate tales always get me). However, this advertisement for Google Chrome of all things, defied the odds and got me extremely teary eyed.

Featuring a college freshmen, Jess, and her father Elliot, the ad documents their interaction through the year. While this is touching enough on its own, it is also made known that Jess's mother is deceased, and gives the impression that this is the first time the father/daughter duo of Jess and Elliot have had to separate. Somehow, in 61 seconds, this ad addresses the pain of losing a parent, the loneliness that can be ones freshmen year (or any year, for that matter) of college, introducing your father to your new boyfriend and the all too familiar yet uniquely "college" feeling of limbo between being homesick and dreading change to feeling like you have finally found your niche/best four years of your life.

Maybe this ad hit so close to home for me because I have an extremely close relationship to my dad, or because I am in college, or because I am possibly going to be living across the country next year (gulp), but Google was certainly successful in demonstrating the power of the internet in our lives, on a deeply emotional level.

All Publicity Is Good Publicity

                                                    "THE ONLY BANK ON CAMPUS"

This phrase is printed in plain, white letters on a blue banner hanging above U.S. Bank in the Alumni Memorial Union. The first time I saw it, I honestly chuckled a bit... is claiming you are the only bank on campus really saying anything about your service or product? To me, it seemed that all it was "you have no other choice, so use us." For some reason, this simple banner stuck with me the rest of the day, and I began wondering if this was a case of any publicity being good publicity. Though it usually refers to people, especially celebrities, why couldn't it refer to a bank chain? I really see two ways of looking at this ad, one option being that the advertising department was just not feeling creative and decided to point out the obvious. The other being that, though it is apparent that this banner says absolutely nothing about U.S Bank or the services they provide, it is still true that they are the only bank on campus, so why not capitalize on it? 

While most Marquette students are all too aware that U.S Bank is, in fact, the ONLY bank on campus, it still seems to me that advertising it is giving off the impression that the bank may know it is not the best, but it is our only option so we will come anyway. A more positive advertisement, I believe, would be more effective in drawing in the few students who do not have accounts there than simply pointing out the obvious. 

You Can Judge a Book by It's Cover

My bookshelf is my most prized possession. As a bibliophile and future (hopefully) archivist, I pay attention to books wherever I go.  Though, usually, I try not to judge books by their covers, it happens from time to time - there is just something so enjoyable to me about an aesthetically pleasing bookshelf. This summer I had two reading oriented goals, the first of which being to read as many "classics" as I could. During one of my Amazon "window" shopping spree, whilst looking for an inexpensive copy of Pride and Prejudice,  I came across Penguin's reprinted classics, all of which have unique, patterned covers. After viewing the collection, I became obsessed; the pastel colors, antique designs, hard covers and all over vintage feel had me hooked. I needed them, all of them. After receiving one for my birthday from a friend and one for Christmas, both from friends whom had said that when they saw it, they bought of me immediately (apparently these books are"so Emily"), I began to realize that the simple book cover was certainly a sort of "brand".  Penguin would not have reprinted classics, which are readily available everywhere, if they did not think they would make money off of them. But who exactly are they targeting? The colors and designs, though by no means juvenile, certainly don't scream grandmother either. They are sold at stores like Anthropologie and seem to be mostly purchased by twentysomthing women.

So why would I buy these books over a two dollar copy of Wuthering Heights at a local bookstore? They definitely present an image, and it is an image I like, whatever that image may be.  It hadn't occurred to me that something as simple as a book cover could present such a distinct image, much less make money., and I certainly hadn't thought of them as a way of branding.

"It's Shandy Season"

As a history major, I have to admit my attention is typically not on advertisements/marketing/public relations etc. When walking on the street, I tend to pay more attention to dates on the side of buildings and any signs of historic architecture. A constant subject of good natured ridicule amongst my friends,  I can't tell you how many times I have heard "You are the only person who would notice that"' in reference to my pointing out of some vintage piece of furniture/rug/tea kettle etc. etc.  I was doing just this after a movie at the Oriental with my roommates when I spotted this advertisement above New Trier on the Eastside.  It was one of those perfect Wisconsin summer nights, the kind where the air has a sense of excitement and somehow creates a time machine in which one is transported back to every warm, starry and mischievous summer night they have had. Maybe it was my current intoxication of nostalgia, but I saw this billboard and immediately said to my roommate "That is what I want to be doing right now, everything about that is where I want to be." Somehow a fairly simple billboard, advertising a beer I am not even especially fond of, made me long for cabin trips with my high school friends like I had never longed before.

As I thought about it, I think the reason this particular advertisement struck such a chord is simple.  And by that, I mean the answer is actually in the simplicity of the ad.  Who doesn't have memories that include a relaxing lake, a canoe and friends (if there was alcohol involved does not even necessarily matter)? These memories, for me at least, bring me back to a simpler time (because the life of a college kid is just so, so complicated) when I had all the time in the world to spend with my friends, tipping over each others canoes and having canon ball contests.  Even the red canoe in the ad holds a soft spot in my heart, for my family has our very own red canoe and some of my earliest childhood memories take place in it. Even the slogan under "It's Shandy Season", which reads "Come Join Us Out Here" evokes a sense of camaraderie, like the makers of Summer Shandy are old friends waiting for you to towel off and come going them for dinner and night games.

To me, this ad is summer. Simple, sweet, sunny summer.

(I actually just told my roommate about how I am officially a blogger now, and mentioned how I was writing about the ad we saw that one time after leaving the Oriental. She informed me that she noticed the other day "they actually took that ad down, I guess summer is really over." Safe to say, it had an impact on more than just myself.)