From A Marketing Point of View

After a few months in the world advertising as someone working in marketing, I began to see some of the subtleties which need to be utilized in today's market place. Even though I have far more experience than I had had previously, I still have yet to scratch the surface of what it truly means to be deeply involved in marketing for years. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to speak to someone who spent years in the marketing game. Frank Simrell Sr, a former marketing associate for the Kingston Armory's sales team, was kind enough to share some of his tips, tricks, and experiences with me in hopes that I could see career success as well.

After welcoming Mr. Simrell to our meeting and exchanging pleasantries, he was not shy about starting up our little interview. The first question I had pertained to the changes he faced over the years as a marketer.

Mr. Simrell: The marketing industry has seen uncountable changes over the course of the last thirty years. The biggest changes we have seen are in technology. We can track people, demographics, and buying patterns like never before, which allows us to assure that we are marketing to the correct target. When I first entered the industry, we could take educated guesses and do the best we could, but now we can nearly certain that a particular campaign is successfully hitting the target audience.

JD: What advice do you have for somebody who wants begin a career in marketing?

Mr. Simrell: Learn to write. Everybody knows that intuition, along with a knowledge of numbers, and now a familiarity with things like Google Analytics there are a lot of components to being successful in the world of marketing. One thing that people overlook constantly is an ability to write. A marketing plan is perhaps the biggest factor on the road to success. If you can write, you can construct a pitch with the potential to change the sales game for your company.

JD: Was there a certain skill or skill-set that you feel set you apart from others competing for the same job or even the same clients?

Mr. Simrell: Absolutely. Everybody loves to believe that experience makes all the difference in the world, and there is no doubt that many companies hire on this basis. I don't mean to say that experience is not important, because it is certainly something which cannot be replaced. I had minimal experience when I got into marketing, but I feel what set me apart was my ability to interact with people. I don't just mean being sociable, but rather to interact and connect with people on a personal level. People love to work with and for people who they can interact with and not have to think twice about what they were going to say. I can't tell you how far my ability to talk to people as a friend and not a business partner took me in my career.

JD: At any point in your career, did you ever question that what you were doing was, say, less than ethical?

Mr. Simrell: Sure I did. When I first decided to study marketing I saw it as a form of manipulation, but then I realized that ti is  just American business. Our job as marketers is to provide the proper people with the products they seek. Essentially, my job was to make sure everyone had what they needed and not only can I live with that, I love what I spent my working life doing! Keep at it. It's only a moral question if you allow it to be.

After speaking with Mr. Simrell for an hour, I obtained countless other useful pieces of information, but I felt these were some of the most important for anybody with any questions about marketing. Even though I've learned quite a bit, the interview only left me with more questions. Fortunately for me, Mr. Simrell told me he would love to help anybody with interest and to stay in touch! As I learn more from him, I'll be sure to share anyone else who wants to know. 

Cyber Monday

With Black Friday loved by some and hated by others, it should come as no surprise that the advertising industry created a holiday to be enjoyed by all. Cyber Monday brings the best of Black Friday to the table while omitting all of it's faults. No lines, no waking up early, no abandoning family members in the middle of a holiday, and of course, all of the discounts.

Now that there exists a holiday where nobody will get trampled and still see their savings, why hasn't Cyber Monday overshadowed Black Friday? Is the rush? The thrill? The exclusivity? Or perhaps everybody is so deeply rooted in the traditions of Black Friday that they may never change.

Whatever the reason, the deals between the two consumer holidays clearly offer nearly the same incentive in their savings. If time is any indication, this trend doesn't seem subject to change, and it is not for lack of trying. Although Cyber Monday ads are greatly outnumbered, the quality and price promotion is as competitive as ever.

Over the course of time I'm sure more and more shoppers will partake in the newly available Cyber Monday, but I can't say with certainty that Black Friday will see a decrease in the number of shoppers lined up around buildings and ready to trample fellow shoppers for the best deal

Black Friday isn't for everybody. Some of us are quite content ordering their gifts in the comfort, and the safety, of their homes. 

Advertising: A Social Experiment

Black Friday. These two words have a very polarizing effect on all of American society. The first group of people everybody recognizes are those who believe it is kill or be killed. These people salivate at the first sign of Black Friday advertising and plan their holiday around the best deals out there. If it comes down to the deal of the year or the person next to them, the deal will win nine times out of ten. Then there are the people who resent Black Friday, the fact that it distracts from the meaning of Thanksgiving, and all of the traffic and clashing shoppers driven to the store by some measly sales. Although these people resent what Black Friday is all about, some of them will still venture out to the stores late Friday morning and try to "see what is there." Black Friday advertising evokes plenty of emotions in plenty of people, and I wanted to explore the essence of this brilliant exercise in marketing and advertising.

This year distinguished itself from every previous year's advertising in many ways, but Wal-Mart dominated this new idea. Not only did they begin their deals in the evening on Thanksgiving, but they separated these deals into three separate sections. The first string of deals began at 6 pm and ran until 7. Now, what was unique about these deals is that they had a 1 hour guarantee. They were guaranteeing that if you were in line for any of their big-ticket items between the hours of 6 and 7 pm, you would be able to buy the product and if they were out of stock, they would have it shipped to you by Christmas. A pretty radical idea for Black Friday, and I was excited to see how that went. Slightly less exciting were the next two waves of deals. The second began at 8 pm and ended around midnight with some pretty decent deals. Third was their traditional 6 am sale and these sales had taken a drastic increase in price from the previous two deals, which made me wonder why anybody would wake up at that hour?

Admittedly,  Wal-Mart changed the game and the only adjustments other stores made included bumping up the time they open to 6 pm, which only angered the non-Black Friday goers that much more. In order to get a closer look at the type of impact these new advertising strategies used by Wal-Mart might have on their competitors, I ventured out into the wild that is Black Friday approximately one half hour before all hell broke loose. Target had a line wrapped all the way around the side of the building awaiting a plethora or door-busters and Wal-Mart's only visible sign of chaos from the outside was the parking lot.

My exploration of the Black Friday society began on the inside of Wal-Mart, after parking approximately a quarter mile from the doors of the store. What I saw was one line. Then another. Then another. After a few minutes I began to realize that every single deal in the store required the customers to stand in line! A brilliant move by Wal-Mart. Sure, you could save hundreds of dollars on their door-buster television, but that would hardly leave you with enough time to shop for another deal, let alone two! By drastically limiting the amount of deals per consumer, Wal-Mart was able to pack the store and save face financially by limiting items per person. Though this plan was devious, the deals appeared to still be good enough to pack every line front to back. The store was packed. Even with the new "wait in line" strategy, Wal-Mart's deals were good enough to fill the store to capacity and continue to cause avid Black Friday shoppers to butt heads.

Following my 1-hour guarantee adventure to Wal-Mart, I visited Target's earliest Black Friday door-buster sale to date. What I expected was far different that what I experienced. I expected the crowd to be depleted as a result of the excellent deals offered by Wal-Mart coupled with their guarantee. After stepping through Target's doors, all I could see was chaos. People running through each other to get to the televisions were the least of their problems. There were piles of people fighting for headphones and pushing and shoving for the best place in line. Target embodied everything those who avoid Black Friday dread. Overall, neither of these two places were any safer than the other, and it seems the population split was simple. The people who needed the biggest deals on a few products should attend Wal-Mart and those who needed deals on many products should have visited target. I can't verify whether or not that was exactly how the split worked out, but it sure would have been strategic from a consumer standpoint.

In the holiday season, advertising is king, and no one day is more powerful than Black Friday. These advertisers control the entire population. Whether you consider yourself to be a Black Friday participant or not, the truth is that most people will venture out to the store on Black Friday, or even Thursday night now that savings have interrupted the sanctity of a family holiday. If it weren't for the power which advertising holds over society, people would spend their whole day being thankful for what they already have. Even though the idea of Thanksgiving is a great one, it cannot stop the fire that is the inherent greed of man, especially not with advertising fuel the flames. 

The Advertising Spiral

Last time I posted, I mentioned all of the angles advertisers look at to prevent a misinterpretation of one of their ads which might lead to some type of conflict. But what if they want to make waves?

Most of you have probably heard the phrase "any publicity is good publicity." If we look at this from an advertising standpoint, we can see some of the advantages of producing a controversial ad.

If there is even a remote chance that an ad will be misconstrued, you can almost certainly believe that it will be. Now with social media playing such a large role in today's society, a company can draw as much, if not more publicity from social media than virtually any other medium.

When somebody looks at an ad and sees an issue, there is a significant chance that it was placed there intentionally. An average consumer can reference the advertising spiral to try to help them determine if the controversy was intentional, or just an oversight.

The concept of the advertising spiral has been around since the inception of the industry. When it seems that a company has been using a particular advertising campaign or platform for a while, there is a good chance that any ad which might make waves is an attempt at a new pioneering stage. Even though they may be marketing the same product, taking a chance with a new wave of ads might be just what they need to get themselves back into the public eye.

Take for example, this Intel advertisement with some glaring controversy staring right back at us.

I will let you draw your own conclusions about what makes the ad so controversial, but there is no question that it stirred the proverbial pot. And why wouldn't a company such as Intel, which so many people take for granted, want to make waves?

You may not like what the advertisement says, but it catapulted Intel back into the public eye. As a company which finds its products inside of so many others, such as brand name computers, they need to do whatever they can to stand out.

Down the road, you may go to buy a laptop and see that it has an Intel processor. The name will ring a bell. They count on the fact that you don't know why you remember the name, but simply the fact that you do, and will buy the product as a result.

This practice is admittedly a risky one, but great risk is the father of great reward. If a company is willing to risk their reputation for a potential increase in sales, then they could be greatly rewarded for it.

Maybe companies shouldn't do this. Maybe it is offensive. Maybe the risk is too great. There are a lot of maybes in controversial ad creation, but there is also a lot of publicity. It simply boils down to believing if any publicity truly is good publicity. 

Societal Issues in Advertising

Every time an ad is created, teams of people examine how it could possibly be misconstrued. These same teams are the people generating the ads, and they must recognize that their ideas could be seen in a different light by others. The following is a short account of my experience in one of these situations.

On a Monday morning, much like any other, our team met in our conference room to discuss the generation of an advertisement for a current campaign we were working on. Because we had done this many times before, we recognized the pitfalls we would encounter along the way. There would be revisions, there would be technological limitations, and perhaps most obviously, there would be social issues.

The advertising campaign for which we were generating the ad was about the relationship people have with their vehicles. After much deliberation, we came to a conclusion. We would take a best friend approach and personify the vehicle as the driver's best friend or even significant other. It was at this moment that we realized all of ways in which these ads might be misinterpreted.

One of the most controversial ads we created was a male treating his car as though it was his significant other. The advertisement itself was both playful and informative, but the color of the car and it's setting raised an issue.

One of our senior copywriters, who has seen issues coming and going, pointed out the problem with the way we were portraying the car. The car was initially a royal blue (predominantly a male color) and it was parked in a garage full of tools. For these reasons, she noted that the car could be seen as a male significant other, and that people would begin to say that this company was a supporter of same-sex institutions, which was something they had no intention of incorporating into their ads.

I silently wondered to myself how such a portrayal could cause a problem before finally asking the designer who had created the ad. This designer told me that he had created the ad turning a blind eye to the gender of the car, but that the masculine setting and gender descriptive color of the car were a major red flag.

After we noted this issue, we met again on Thursday to discuss the problem as well as potential solutions. First, we discussed changing the ad altogether, but decided that the concept and the copy were too strong to waste. Second, we considered changing the setting to something a bit more feminine, perhaps near a garden, and a more feminine color, something of a lighter or pastel shade. However, we decided that that would push standard marriage practices and that should also be avoided. Finally, we decided that we should change the car to a gender-neutral white, and place it in a very generic driveway in order to avoid ascribing any gender to the vehicle.

This was my first real experience in the world of sensitivity in advertising, and it has drastically changed the way I look at the ads people compose. From the setting to the color scheme and even the music used, virtually any aspect can cause a conflict in one form or another. This experience taught me that the best course of action is to avoid specification at all costs, and to try to distance that advertisement from any controversial issue which may arise. 

"Make it Pop!"

Make it pop! This is the only thing company's demand from their advertising agencies.

For the first time this year, I actually worked in an advertising agency. What I saw in my short time there was nothing less than shocking.

We brainstormed an advertising campaign for a particular company, I shall not name the company. After offering several ideas for campaigns and definitive images, they finally chose a concept that they really loved! Or so they said.

They came back with a laundry list of specifications -make it bigger, change the font, that color scheme isn't ideal, animate the background but not the image - but one iconic comment found its way to the top of the list with every revision - "Make it Pop!"

Now that I was watching the changes being made and our original idea completely change shape, size, and even the concept, I was nothing short of amazed. Seeing all these changes prompted me to ask our most senior graphic designer, "What do they mean by 'Make it Pop!'?" To which he genuinely replied, "Nobody knows."

"Make it Pop!," is the most generic phrase containing a definite goal to ever be uttered by man. The agency can only do so much to make an ad stand out before it becomes overkill, and no consumer is a fan of an ad which obviously just tries too hard.

The point I would like to make here is that I heard the term, saw the evolution of the concept, and even the end product which "popped" according to the company for whom it was produced. I still have exactly no concept of just what made it pop.

Stories such as this pervade the history of advertising agencies all over the world, and they are the butt of many jokes at agency functions. The term is thrown around by those in the industry as a sarcastic way to refer to editing some or all parts of an ad.

If you don't know what you mean, chances are good that we don't either. Please be kind to the agency you contract and come back with specific revisions. If it pops to some, it may not pop to all, but really, we just want to know that it pops for you. 

Something Other Than Sports?

Keep our head in the clouds and our feet on the ground, right? That's what we were always told growing up and we still have that notion pounded into our heads today. So should an advertisement keep that in mind when they show us something to get our attention? Probably not.

As a high school student, my dream was to play a college sport at the highest level. Today, I can honestly say that I've made it. As I enter my senior year as a Division 1 athlete, my mindset has changed drastically from that of the eager, competitive, eighteen-year-old with lofty goals. I now think about what classes I can take to help in my career and not which classes will be the easiest A, allowing me to practice, lift, run, and go pro someday.

Should the NCAA be advertising to people like me, who have lived the experience and now see it for what it is? Or should they be advertising to kids like me at 18 and every other kid who thinks they'll be the next J.J. Redick or Bo Wallace and the parents who want to their kids to be these athletes?

The answer is simple. Advertise to the dreamer, not the doer. Most college athletes will have the same realization as I have, and lets face it, that takes the focus away from the sport.

The NCAA is all about the money, the fans, the prowess. For God's sake, it is the National Collegiate Athletics Association. Not the National Collegiate Academics Association. Let's run some ads that focus on the sport. March Madness, the BCS Bowls, and the College World Series shouldn't have to stand on their own. Let's run ads that call a spade a spade and let everyone know about the sports and the athletes.

We want to watch sports and you want our money. Please stop trying to save face about how we will all go pro in something other than sports. Those of us who care already know. As for these academic ads, it was a nice sentiment. But frankly, NCAA, we don't give a damn. 

How to Create a Successful Advertisement

I spend a lot of time talking about what is wrong with advertisements and what could be done better. The truth is that many people in the industry know what they should be doing, but the problem is that what you should do is pretty vague.

Creating a successful advertisement is much more than following steps. It takes creativity, knowledge of your audience, a ton of research, and talent to make it happen. That being said, advertising is an uphill battle as we market to more skeptical consumers year after years. Although, even with these changes, there is a winning formula that, given the right people and resources, any advertiser can follow to success.

• Don't just grab attention, force it into submission.
• Most people use a flashy sign, or a jarring headline, or shocking image but they don't account for the rest of the ad. Copy is the big player here. Make yours count. Make me read.
• Why should they listen to you?
• Tell me why what you have to say is so important. Make sure there is a value that I think I will miss out on by not purchasing your product.
• KISS - Keep it simple, stupid.
• Readers understand quickly, and a picture really is worth 1,000 words. Too much of anything can be a bad thing. Short copy. Effective imagery.
• Know your target and take aim.
• The best way to make a bad ad is simply to target the wrong group. Know your target market and define your position in that market clearly. We can appreciate an ad that is tailored directly to us.
• Every ad is a part of the whole.
• Any one advertisement is only as strong as it's campaign. If this ad doesn't fit your campaign either change the ad or change the campaign. There is no room in advertising for unconnected ads. Nobody has time for that.

Yeah, these are some very basic components that we all learn in school, but most of us forget them. Keep them in mind when you generate each and every ad in your campaign and just try to be sure that you would like to see it 100 times. If you couldn't stomach it every day, please don't make us. 

The Best of Stock Imagery

Are we lazy, busy, or just incompetent? Some ads make you scratch your head rather than reach for your wallet, and those head-scratchers are the ads I like to talk about. Fortunately for me, I follow one of my favorite blogs - Good Ad Bad Ad - quite religiously, and one of their newest posts had me completely dumbfounded.

Exhibit A:

Now this is bad. I mean really bad. And I couldn't be happier that Good Ad Bad Ad brought it to my attention.

I have a passionate hate for stock imagery, but I also understand that in some cases it is a necessary evil. Sometimes budget constraints stop you from getting the right picture, or maybe you just don't have the time. However, if you are a company like Southwest Airlines, this mistake just can't happen. The only thing worse than using a stock image in an ad is using a stock image in an ad and making no effort to make it look like your own.

Now Mr. Goldman made a valid point, maybe they didn't pay for the rights. But it should stand to reason that if you didn't pay for the rights and you can't remove the watermark, maybe we just shouldn't use the photo. Take your own. Create a similar image. Do literally anything besides announce to the public, "We copy-pasted this image and we couldn't care less." Whatever happened in the creation of this ad, Mr. Goldman was right when he said that the designer screwed the pooch on this one.

Ads like this help me justify my distaste for the stock photos and they also give us something to talk about. Keep it up advertisers. I love what I'm doing, and without you, there would be no blog.

Honesty Hour

David v. Goliath. The North vs. the South. Samsung vs. Apple. Every period in history has an epic battle, and for this generation its the clash of these smartphone titans. Fortunately for us as consumers, they don't always play nice.

Apple seems to be taking the highroad, and Samsung seems to be taking all the shots. Samsung's newest advertisement for the Note 4 is their most controversial ad yet.  

 Lets be clear, this has been the campaign Samsung has gone with since their inclusion in the battle of the leading smartphones, but this ad is on a new level. Making direct comparisons to the iPhone leads us to ask, "Can they do that?"

As I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, A Grain of Truth?, yes they actually can do that. I actually made an amendment to a portion of a Wikipedia page regarding negative campaigning and how these claims against false advertising are regulated and this article was changed because it did not accurately describe what they wanted to say. Such are the struggles of Wikipedia.

My changes:

Critics of negative campaigns sometimes contend that negative ads are not always used for the stated reason. In some cases, negative campaigning presents twisted or spun information under the guise of bringing hidden negatives into the light. Sometimes those who practice negative campaigning fail to realize that if their claims are not facts, they may be sued for libel. Virtually any negative campaign can be run without fear of prosecution if the campaign makes factual claims.  

Wikipedia's Changes:

In commercial advertising, various regulations prohibit false advertising and broadcast campaigns to promote potentially 
harmful activities, such as advertising tobacco products. Similar regulations have at times been proposed to limit negative political campaigning. Such restrictions have been proposed to regulate political advertising on television and radio, where negative claims might not be fully explained due to time constraints, and would expand disclosure requirements in printed political advertising.

Well, not all things are permanent, but every statement lacking fact is subject to change or even punishment. Thankfully in our case, Wikipedia has no history of punitive action to my knowledge.

So as long as all of the statement Samsung makes are accurate, they can't have any legal action brought against them by Apple. If more people knew what I just shared, I think Samsung would have sturdier ground to stand on. 

Samsung is going to keep turning out entertaining advertisements and keep taking swings at Apple. While they keep with it, I'll keep watching, laughing, and yes, loving my Samsung smart phone. I may be biased on the product but that doesn't change the copy in the ads. Its accurate, and therefore legal and hilarious. 

Flat Burgers, Empty Tacos, and Stoned Aliens

If I could eat an advertisement, my life would be so much happier. Every time I see an ad for food, fast food specifically, I think, "Wow. That looks fantastic." And every time I look at my meal, my heart sinks.

I'm not sure who to be disappointed in, the restaurant for their false advertising, or myself for continuing to get my hopes up. We all know that what you see on an ad is not always, or sometimes, or ever what you get. I learned this sad fact of life first hand the last time I ate at Burger King and was left with a full stomach and an empty heart. I've chronicled these tough times in my post, Reality is a Cruel Mistress, and you can read about that after I finish explaining the real problem.

Sex sells. Even when it comes to food, the appeal is where the money is found. Advertisers know this. We know this. And even though we understand that the product in the picture is a lie, we still imagine eating the ideal burger, taco, frozen pizza, or whatever floats your individual boat. 

For the sake of the post, lets refer to this image as "Exhibit A." 

Exhibit A is a rather morose, but accurate depiction of all of the fast food I've eaten in the past week. Please reserve your judgement. 

Burgers are flat, and dry. Tacos are empty. Have you ever had an empty Taco? Taking it out of the wrapper is like (SPOILER ALERT) watching Bambi's mother get shot all over again. 

I'm not a huge fan of Disney movies, though I am a big fan of deer meat, however, nobody can be sure which type of meat does not fill the empty shells of Taco Bell. 

Now let us be realistic for a minute. These advertisers are doing their job and we continue to buy in. Score one for you, advertising agencies. 

If you're anything like me, this image saddens you, and I'm sorry to have to kill the mood. As consumers we must learn to separate image from reality until the day that the product on the package matches the product on the inside, which is a less that likely expectation. Until the day that happens, we will have to continue to deal with flat burgers, empty tacos, and Tweety Bird looking like a stoned alien.

Calm Down People

"This ad is racist. That ad is sexist."

Every time a consumer makes a comment like this, the job of advertisers becomes exponentially more difficult. Or does it?

We've all heard that any publicity is good publicity, and while that is the truth, there is a fine line between creating a buzz and making an ad demeaning enough to slow sales. 

Recently, General Mills decided that its about time they show some cultural changes in their ads, just like they did in their recent Cheerios Superbowl advertisement simply entitled "Gracie." 

An adorable ad featuring the daughter of an interracial couple who has just learned that she is about to have a baby brother which is explained by the addition of Cheerios. The little girl then uses her newly found leverage to barter for a puppy; a request to which her father happily obliges. Then we see mom's face and we all know that dad is in the doghouse for not clearing the idea of having a puppy with her first. 

Such a simple ad with a very loving message, and it only ended in serious backlash against General Mills, which is described in this NJ.com article.

Times are changing. Demographics are changing. If you fail to change with them or at least learn to accept them, you'll likely spend your time as angry as a mom who just found out she's getting a puppy. 

Its an advertisement people. If you can't bare to watch it, the solution is simple: don't watch it. 

Info - Wait For It - Mercials

Infomercials. The bane of every insomniacs existence. They promote the most useless products and do it by perhaps the least entertaining means possible.

There are a handful of reasons for infomercials running between the hours of 2 am and 5 am:

• They probably can't afford to run them in prime time. There are no conversion rates to fund those time slots.
• Nobody is watching. Which is a good thing, because nobody wants to see them.
• Anybody in the proper state of mind to buy the products advertised has probably had a very long day and an even longer night. 
• Something has to take up the space on TV that actual shows and ads don't want.
• And did I mention that NOBODY wants to see them?!

Here are a few of the most ridiculous infomercials ever conceived by the human mind, and I would love for you to see them in a humorous light. Please, for the love of all that is good, don't take these seriously. Get a good laugh, and just see exactly what I mean.

Now if any of these appealed to you, there are stores specifically dedicated to purchasing this junk. Just visit your local "As Seen on TV" store and see for yourself. 

Not all products in infomercials are complete junk. I just enjoyed a salad out of my bacon-bowl (It's a real thing. Look it up) while laughing at the apparent irony of eating a healthy snack in a bowl made of bacon. Welcome to America. 

Now please, go, watch, enjoy but don't buy these hilariously terrible products. 

Reality is a Cruel Mistress

Have you ever looked at an advertisement and thought, "Wow. That looks too good to be true" ? I know that personally, I do that with just about every advertisement for food that I see.

The unfortunate truth is that as long as a restaurant or any food distributor uses actual food in their advertisement, they are allowed to use the best of the best and bring in artists to manipulate the food to make sure it looks as perfect as humanly possible.

Today's case study involves the advertisements for one of Burger King's newest promotions:

As a college student with limited funds and an athlete who is constantly hungry, again I thought, "That looks too good to be true. You're telling me I can eat 20 nuggets for 3$? Sign me up."

So, naturally, I rolled over to Burger King in my beat up Toyota Camry for my 3$ feast, and what I found was less than impressive.

The nuggets were flat, heavily breaded, actively growing colder, and just plain awful. I'm not even sure if it was meat I was eating. Also, what part of the chicken is the nugget? It was depressing. I was sad eating food, and that never happens.

Well done BK. You bamboozled yet another consumer. Although, in hindsight, I have only myself to blame. A promotion like that actually is too good to be true. You have my money, and I have my regrets. Well played BK. Well played.

Advertising Done Right

I spend a lot of time talking about all of the things advertisers are doing wrong, but we rarely talk about the many ads which are done right. Sometimes their ads are just on point. Plain and simple - they work.

A few weeks back we talked about all of the advertising campaigns used by Geico. Both the good and the bad, and now, I would like to go back to Geico's newest ad. Its almost like somebody at the company had a concept and it just clicked. Before I keep babbling about it, lets watch.

All of us have watched a horror movie and thought to ourselves: "Why in the hell would you do that?" The answer is simple, in horror movies, its just what you do. And without this logic, we would have no horror genre. Nobody acts logically in horror movies. It would kill the plot. 

Geico took that thought process and turned it into an excellent commercial.

A horror movie backdrop, and an apparent horror movie cliché (as opposed to textbook advertising clichés) and explains it with one simple statement - "It's just what you do." And even the villain is dumbfounded by their absurd actions. 

THEN Geico took that simple phrase and told you that if you wanted to save 15% on their car insurance, you use Geico because "It's just what you do." Despite reusing the same tagline about saving 15% they effectively made a commercial that is nothing short of excellent. I've now seen it upwards of a dozen times and it's just as great as the first time I watched it.

Well played Geico. Well played. 

Watch this ad. Enjoy it. And get ready for more horror movies and commercials as Halloween approaches. So until next time...

Sneaky Sneaky Advertisers

It's no secret. Advertisers will do just about anything to grab our attention. But let me let you in on a secret you may or may not already hold, we see what they're doing!

We aren't sheep. We understand attention grabbing tactics when we see them, however, we still continue to fall for them. 

• They'll change the size of the font midway through the sentence to make words more IMPACTFUL...
• They like to say "Hey! Look Over here!" despite the fact that we were obviously already looking...
• They like to study which color combinations resonate best with consumers...
• They really really like to put things in lists because apparently we all love bullet points...
• And FINALLY, they really like to do things like summarize the first part of their list with some funny anecdote about the other points to make it seem like they too have a consumer driven sense of humor. Click here to see a website which manifests itself as a loose extension of the topic so that you think we actually have outside support to the info we're giving you. 

In no way can I begin to cover all of the tactics used by advertisers to grab our attention, but hopefully I can sum up a couple so that we're better protected against the seemingly sneaky approaches taken by today's advertisers. 

Until we show them that we won't fall for tricks, and we want meaningful, truthful content, they will continue to try to take the easy way out. One day maybe advertising will be boiled down to telling the truth, but until that happens...

We're Over Here! Pay Attention to us!

It really grinds my gears that advertisers continue to compose campaigns with their clientele in mind, and not the consumers. Yeah, that company will buy your end product, but how about advertising to the people who, you know, buy your clients products.

There are a ton of components to make a good advertisement, however, that's not today's topic. Today's topic is how to advertise TO your consumer instead of AT them. You know what I mean: annoying pop-ups, general statements, cliche scenarios. So here are a couple ways to engage your consumer instead without annoying them.

- Use your own photos or footage - for the love of all that's good, we're sick of seeing the same damn stock photos and generic footage. If you care about your ad, maybe we will too.

- Know your target and aim accordingly - I am not in the market for new rims for my 2000 Toyota Camry. Have you ever seen 20inch rims on a Camry? No. That's ridiculous. Even if I could afford them. Which I cant, but I digress. Know your target audience and advertise to them in order to be successful.

- If you try to be funny, BE funny - This one seems relatively self explanatory, but we see it all the time. What focus group laughed at this? Are you paying them for positive reactions? That ad wasn't funny. I'm talking about you Esurance. Topical is funny if your ad isn't funny...it was just sad.

- Make me want to see more - When you tell me to "see more at blank blank .com" I should actually want to see more. If I changed the channel or closed your ad before I got to that point, chances are I don't want to see more. You failed.

- Grab my attention...and keep it - If this doesn't grab your attention, then I'm not sure what will.

Well, those are just a few things that advertisers may want to consider in order to get our attention. I know if you're anything like me, you've probably already ignored those links. But seriously, watch the link right above this paragraph. Its sick, borderline cruel, and unbelievably effective. I'm going to wait for you to watch that ad...so until then...

Top 5 Things I Hate About Online Advertising

There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to complain out loud. Thankfully for me, despite losing my voice I can still rant online.

Confined to my home, I need to find some way to entertain myself. 

In early October, my current obsession "Arrow" returns for a third season. This time on my ass has given me a perfect opportunity to catch up on the end of season 2. Needless to say, I'm excited. 

On my way to catch up on what I missed in the world of Oliver Queen (our protagonist), I was distracted by a few things that seriously pissed me off along the way. Now here comes the rant of the day.

Top 5 Things I Hate About Online Advertising

5) That ad is not a part of your content - I'm not dumb. I'm annoyed. If you continue to shove advertisements masquerading as content in my face I will ignore you. Have some dignity. Tell me its an advertisement and make it grab my attention. 

4) Long ads for short videos - If I'm trying to watch a quick summary of an episode, I do not need to sit through an ad of the same length. When I seriously want to know what happened, I just don't care what you have to say before I'm told what I want to hear. 

3) Ads I can't stop or mute - This is just not fair to the viewer. Plain in simple. We don't care, and you cant make us.

2) Asking for my email to view a video - Even if you ask for my email you won't get an account I use. Everyone has email accounts strictly for spam, and if you ask for any other details I'm leaving your page. Other websites will offer the content I want without asking for my first born child in return. This is a free market, people.

1) Anything that auto plays - Why is it that during the climactic scene of every episode, audio from some ridiculous ad starts playing in the background? You aren't making me listen to your advertisement, you're simply making me replay the last portion of the episode. This is the internet and I can do that. I came to your site to catch up on my show and I shouldn't have to be interrupted against my will. We live in a society. If you wouldn't interrupt me in a movie theater, don't interrupt my show online.

These are just some glaring issues about online advertising which fell into my lap. I assure you that I have many, many more, but I just don't have the time. Arrow awaits and I have advertisements to dodge. So until next time...

A Grain of Truth?

The next big thing is already here. Better luck with your next generation Apple.

Shots have been fired by Samsung with their newest advertisements claiming that Apple is simply mimicking features which already exist on Samsung handsets. 

But wait, how can Samsung continually insult Apple by claiming that they're out of original ideas and that they are always a step behind without legal repercussions? To answer this question, lets look into negative advertising and its regulation. 

Wikipedia has this to say,

 Critics of negative campaigns sometimes contend that negative ads are not always used for the stated reason. In some cases, negative campaigning presents twisted or spun information under the guise of bringing hidden negatives into the light. Sometimes those who practice negative campaigning and publicity also denounce the approach when used against their side by telling the attacker to be nice, be civil, stay clean, be positive, not hurt others, not get personal, not to scare people, etc.

However, I think Wikipedia's entry should look something like this...

Critics of negative campaigns sometimes contend that negative ads are not always used for the stated reason. In some cases, negative campaigning presents twisted or spun information under the guise of bringing hidden negatives into the light. Sometimes those who practice negative campaigning fail to realize that if their claims are not facts, they may be sued for libel. Virtually any negative campaign can be run without fear of prosecution if the campaign makes factual claims.

For these reasons, Samsung enables their advertising campaigns to appear to bash Apple while they are simply reciting facts in an unsavory light. If they did not comply with this regulation, Samsung would be taken to court and charged with libel (a published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation; a written defamation.). 

So we all may think that Samsung is just being cruel, while they are really running an unbelievable effective campaign. Well played Samsung...Well played.  

Do You Know This Pig?

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." - A brilliant man with terrible grammar.

Whenever somebody gets the chance to walk into an advertising agency and share this tidbit of wisdom, we will all really appreciate it. Too many times agencies take something that's working and decide they need to mix it up to draw a bigger response, but they wind up alienating the same consumers who were on their side. 

Now I'm not saying that they need to stay static in their advertising ploy, because in many instances that could be the kiss of death for a brand. However, when a company decides they want to go in another direction they need to analyze the perspective response, and then commit full board. Running multiple campaigns with different brand characters just confuses and frustrates consumers into turning their heads or changing the channel. 

Remember this bloke?

Of course you do. Not that I need to tell you, but the gecko in question is the Geico gecko. We know him. We love him. His image has become synonymous with the brand. Brilliant marketing. But time and time again companies prove that sometimes we can't leave well enough alone. There's always something better. Something more relevant. Something more...

Maxwell! 

"Yeah JD?"

Get off of my television!

This pig did nothing but annoy me as a consumer. Do I understand where they were coming from? Yeah...actually, no, not at all. 

You have your own talking animal already, why borrow one from a children's rhyme? This idea probably should have gone wee wee wee all the way back to the drawing board.  

In most cases I would explain how terrible I think it is that they couldn't commit to their new potential brand character, but thankfully someone at Geico decided to keep one foot on the ground. If not for the continued use of the gecko, Maxwell would tarnish the brand image. Of course I would be remiss if I said that I didn't like any of the Maxwell commercials. Pig in a blanket? Definitely comical. But can he stand on his own? Absolutely not. Nor should he ever. 

A valiant effort Geico, but I think its time that little piggy goes all the way home. Geico needs to stick to what they know best: small British lizards and their infamous "Did You Know?" commercials. 

They've found the formula for success, and until it ceases to be successful, my vote is to keep it going. Hopefully they will, but only time will tell. So until then...

Cows Might be Educated Too

Don't yew love when companies mispell werds on perpose? No. Nobody does. It was annoying just to write that, let alone read it. I find it insulting that I have to see things written like that on a daily basis. Much like many of you, I have attended some level of schooling so that I might be able to read and write like an intellectual, and you know, fit into society.

In recent years, companies have taken a new approach to getting noticed, and this initial concept became wildly popular. When the concept first came about, consumers were caught off guard. But isn't that the idea of advertising? To catch the attention of the consumer? Yes, fellow consumer, that is the goal. Unfortunately, seeing the same "attention grabbers" over and over and over is like being beaten to death with the same mildly entertaining joke.

Some companies have taken a hard stance and built an entire advertising campaign around the concept of purposely misspelling the words in their ads. Not to pick on any one company, but just as Roger Goodell makes examples of players, we will pick a company to sacrifice on the alter of advertising "no-no's." Enter Chick-fil-a. 

Everybody loves a good anthropomorphic (It has human characteristics) animal, and I'm not any different than any other consumer. I put my pants on one leg at a time, and laugh at a good talking cow or two. The difference is that once my pants are on and the laughs have passed, I get sick  of watching companies abuse intentional misspelling. 

Don't get me wrong. The idea is cute - cows producing advertisements for a company which specializes in chicken based food. This could potentially be the best marketing effort in the history of cowkind, or a desperate, and rather horrific, attempt at self preservation, but that's neither here nor there. Bottom line is that these ads were original...five years ago. As social media and advertising have progressed, consumers have grown weary of reading the same misspelled words. These are no longer attention grabbers, but instead just another annoying variation of the same ads. 

Continuing with the Chick-fil-a ads, maybe eventually these cows will be wearing graduation caps and sharing their information in an educated fashion. Will that be the next concept behind the advertising campaign? Doubtful, but I'm just spit-balling. The ads are affective and they serve their purpose. They make money. I'm not taking anything away from them, I just think the misspelled words are them beating a dead horse and its time for a change. 

All in all, a big thank you to Chick-fil-a. We needed a scapegoat and they flawlessly served our purposes. The only other thing I wan't to fault them for is closing on Sundays, but unfortunately I'm pretty sure the next time I eat Chick-fil-a on a Sunday will be in my dreams. They are only one of many companies using this strategy and eventually I'm sure we'll see them head in a different direction. Will we educate these heffers? The world may never know, but I'm eagerly awaiting the day they improve both their grammar and penmanship. So until that happens...

-JD

Warning: Questionable Advertising Ahead.

"Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy sh** we don't need." - Brad Pitt 'Fight Club 1999.' Brad, or Tyler Durden for my film enthusiasts, was onto something here. Advertising has us chasing cars, clothes, and even a lifestyle - agreed. We as consumers buy a lot of sh** we don't need - again, agreed. We work jobs we hate - that one's probably on us but that's not the point. Bottom line is that advertising gives us the opportunity to buy things we need and see things we want, however, I want to stress a totally different point.

Now that I have your attention, lets break down this ad. Provocative? Yeah, probably. Does it objectify women? Definitely, but we'll come back to that. Effective? You better believe it.

Most of us couldn't afford an Aston Martin if we wanted to, but this is advertising perfection. To make a great advertisement, often times you have to step on some toes. I couldn't count how many people this ad pissed off. Simply by likening an attractive woman to one of their cars, they have successfully associated their product with a lifestyle.  At the same time, they more than likely just alienated a large amount of women who previously only saw an Aston Martin as a high end vehicle, who now see it as an object which objectifies their gender. Such are the calculated risks of the advertising industry. A group of people got together and decided that the reward outweighed the risk in running this ad, and I don't have the data, but I would guess their risk payed off.

This is just one of many issues I have with the advertising game. I feel like it is just that: a game. In order to win, you have to find that "wow" factor. You have to stop people in their tracks with something flashy, sexy, or just plain wrong. As a consumer base, we're drawn to anything of this nature because its a step outside our comfort zone. Ads like this are going to continue, and if I had to guess, I would say we will see them more frequently in the near future. Its about time to cozy up to the unusual, provocative, questionable, and sometimes uncomfortable ads we'll inevitably see in the years to come. If you stand by your morals and refuse to see the humor in these ads, kudos to you and your steadfast nature. But while you're busy bashing one ad after another, the rest of us will be busy laughing at you and each new ad that pushes the limits of what we see as "acceptable."

Now back to the ad at hand. Some people want her. Some people want to be her. Some people like Tyler Durden refuse to be sold an image by advertising. But no matter what we want - her, the car, the lifestyle, or none of the above - every one of us noticed that ad. So until next time...

- JD

Why Me?

We all find ourselves wondering the same question from time to time: Why me? Well allow me to explain. Now that I've spent a fair amount of time in the advertising industry, I've begun to understand exactly why many advertisers do what they do, whether we like it or not. This is something I'll touch on for the foreseeable future, but right now let me tell you why I should be your authority on all things which make us wonder, "Why would they do that?"

I like to consider myself an intellectual and a keen observer, you may disagree, but that's not my problem. Being a part of the advertising industry makes me no different than every other everyday consumer, but seeing the moving parts behind the ads gives me a unique perspective. Every time I see an ad that irritates me, I briefly think, "why?" and then I realize there was a reason behind it. We may not understand it. We may not like it. But its there. Hopefully I can shed a little light on what we find irritating and why it makes sense in one way or another.

A quick Google search will tell you what you probably already know, many people are annoyed by ad after ad on a daily basis and almost nobody likes advertising. This is where it gets interesting. Many people think that they don't like advertising and that these things that bother them simply serve no purpose. But the truth is we all buy shit. At the end of the month we all will have bought a bunch of shit, most of it we probably never needed.

So what exactly am I saying? Advertising is effective. No matter how annoyed we are by a company's advertisement, how many times has it actually stopped you from consuming that product? Chances are good that answer is zero. We can hate on advertising as much as we want, and I promise, it has its issues and we will discuss them in due time; however, when you see what we see, you can realize that you're going to grind some gears, but at the end of the day consumers need advertising. From the funniest, to the most irritating, to the, "What in the sam hell does that have to do with me?" we're going to have some fun talking about all of the things advertisers do that make us scratch our heads. So until next time...and we will dive into it next time..

-JD

You're a Consumer Too. Now Cut the S***

Here we go. First off, my name's Jack and I will henceforth be referring to myself as JD...for tracking purposes. I'm just an everyday consumer who spends my days in an advertising office where I get to track both sides of a 2 way mirror. I say that for the simple fact that advertisers want to study consumers like ants in a maze, but here's the kicker: they still irritate consumer after consumer.

Spending my time at an advertising agency for the last 4 months I've racked up my fair share of things that irritate me from a consumer perspective, and I'm pretty sure you'll feel the same way. Sometimes there's a rhyme or reason for what that agency is doing, but who cares? If its redundant, in your face, annoying, intentionally misspelled - seriously, that's getting old fast but I digress -, or just plain wrong, it sucks to have to see every day. We're consumers too. Even the people that make ads are consumers. So why don't companies hire that one guy who just says, "No. Don't do that. That shit pisses me off?" The answer isn't always clear, but it seems that advertisers forget that they're consumers too. Somewhere, for some product, they are somebody else's target audience.

Over the next few months I plan on sharing with you guys all the "necessary evils" and sometimes unnecessary bull that for some reason they continue to pull, which gets me heated. With a unique perspective and a view from both sides, this could get interesting. So until then...

- JD