The topic this week is product placement in TV shows, movies, and video games.

The tactic I chose was product placement in video games, specifically Need for Speed Carbon. As a kid, I was a huge fan of the NFS games, and racing games in general. What I didn't notice as an 11-year-old kid was the use of advertisement in the game in 2008.

During that time, the election between McCain and Obama was taking place and one of Obama's tactics to self-promote was to use in-game advertisement. Obama's wasn't the only one who used the billboard tactic in a video game, but I'll bet that it was the most effective due to the timing of the release of the game.

According to the text, "the primary game playing market segment is 16-34- year old males" (Clow, Baack, 2014). Due to this age gap, many young men are interested and involved in politics, which might explain the reasoning behind this in-game advertisement of Obama's marketing team. Because of the timing the game was released and the interest in politics from the age group most likely playing the game, I do believe that this was an effective ad. I mean, he did win.

The topic this week is strategies that marketing brands use on social media. I chose to pick the Influncer Marketing strategy, which "involves an individual endorsing a brand on social media sites" (Clow, Baack, 2014).

Above is the ad that I chose. It is a Lincoln commercial, but focuses mainly on the actor and his surroundings. Matthew McConaughey is sitting in a coffee shop, as he looks at his parked Lincoln soaking in the water on a rainy night. Ambient music plays throughout the commercial, and every now and then Matthew displays philosophical thoughts that may engage the customer. You may even see a dancer enjoying the weather if you wait until about the 45 minute mark!

Although McConaughey is a celebrity, and the book states that "although celebrities have large followings, they may not be the best choices", I believe he is wonderful in this instance. I do not know of anyone who dislikes the man, and throughout the video, he presents many philosophical points that may shift opinions on Lincoln as a car company and the demographics of the people who drive Lincoln. Both Lincoln and McConaughey have large followings, which has provided the video with hundreds of thousands of views. The video was posted to Youtube and has received many positive comments, stating how relaxing and thought-provoking the video is.

The topic this week is digital marketing. The ad that I first thought of as being effective (and digital) to me was Sony's Bravia Colour ad shown below. 

This is an older ad by Sony, but it is a great one. It's obviously a digital ad, but that isn't why I think it's effective. The ad most definitely uses the consumers' emotions to sell their product and they do this by using visual effects and sound. Throughout the commercial, the song "Heartbeats" by Jose Gonzalez plays, which many people tend to think of it has an emotional song. It's slow, and calms the listener down. The way Sony added this to the visual effect of thousands of colorful bouncy balls falling down the streets of San Francisco was absolutely genius.

I have watched this ad probably about 10 times already, because it truly is beautiful. It immediately grabs the audience's attention until they finally advertise their product, and it ultimately makes great use of the pathos aspect of the consumer.

The topic this week is effective newspaper ads, and I found a few that have me very, very excited.

They were presented in the British daily national newspaper, and feature Queen Elizabeth II. Below are the three separate ads presented in the newspaper:

Above is the first one. It pictures Queen Elizabeth (modern) linking arms with Prince Philip back in the day.

The second photo pictures a modern Queen Elizabeth shaking hands with the notorious Winston Churchill.

Lastly, the third photo shows a past Queen Elizabeth walking along cheering children waving their nation's flags in modern day.

First off, I believe that the ads are effective. Although it doesn't give priority to local advertisers, it is a national newspaper promoting national pride, which I consider an advantage. Another advantage this ad possesses, is that it has high credibility. History is about as credible as you can get. I am not a history buff, but I do know that Churchill achieved a lot during his lifetime, including the saving of Britain during World War II. I would also assume that the ad has a strong audience interest among readers. People are proud of their countries and the leaders who got them to where they are today, strengthening the interest of the intended audience.

Internet competition does not seem to be a problem here. Why? Because I found these images on the Internet. Just because they were originally printed in a newspaper doesn't mean they won't appear anywhere else in this day and age. Because of its originality, there are quite a few articles giving the creators credit, which is why I was able to stumble upon it. History lasts forever, and that is why I don't believe that this ad will have a short lifespan. Unlike many newspaper ads, the color quality on this is the best part of it. Color versus black and white makes the ad pop and stand out from other newspaper ads. Lastly, I believe that people even under the age of 25 can enjoy this ad. Many kids learn about this kind of history and grow appreciation for such history before that age, ruling out the disadvantage of a limited audience.

Personally, I see no flaws in the advertisement. It is innovative and I know that I would read more newspapers if they contained more ads like these.

The topic this week covers Chapter 6 which discusses advertisement design. The magazine ad I chose is picture below.

The message strategy is quite clear in this ad. Armani clearly uses the affective message strategy, specifically the emotional affective approach. The emotional affective approach "attempts to elicit powerful feelings that help lead to product recall and choice (Clow, Baack, 2014, pg. 160). The feelings that this ad project include glamour, luxury, pleasure, passion, and most importantly, romance. It suggests that if wear this cologne and go out to the club, then you'll meet a beautiful woman, and she will be wrapped around you (even though most people know that probably won't happen). 

You can probably guess what appeal Armani uses as well. Armani is using the sex appeal, by placing two attractive people together, and having them act sensual with one another. The biggest types of sexual appeal used here are sensuality and sexual suggestiveness. We don't see partial nudity, but the audience can infer that sex is about to take place. Women on the other hand could see sensuality in the advertisement. Because there is no explicit sexual interactions taking place, it could be deemed as a sensual interaction, with true feelings. 

The executional framework used in the ad is the fantasy execution. The text states that "in the past, a common theme was that splashing on the cologne caused women to flock to a man" (Clow, Baack, 2014, pg. 174). Many cologne and perfume companies use this framework, and Armani is no different than the rest. However, because it is fantasy, most people have a hard time finding themselves in the position of the man or woman above, making the ad framework somewhat ineffective. 

What I would personally propose for these types of ads, is use the same approach that Old Spice uses. They use humor to sell their products most of the time by pointing out the common cliches used by other hygiene brands. 

This week's top is visual Esperanto, "the universal language that makes global advertising possible for any good or service" (Clow, Baack, 2014, pg. 127).

I chose this ad from the textbook because, to me, it is an excellent example of visual Esperanto. The goal of VE is to make the advertisement understandable to people of other cultures and languages. This ad does not require the view to even know what they are advertising. The picture of the girl on the left is smiling, but when you add the "Plus" benefit, she becomes extremely excited. Anyone is able to figure out that OIB's reward plus system is better than just using them as your bank. This is a perfect visualization of persuasion without using words.

The topic this week is to pick an interesting Super Bowl ad. The ad (or ads) I found interesting, but funny, were the Tide ads. Tide did this throughout the football game, and what they did was something I have never really seen before. They used other brands to promote their own brand. The commercial would start off making you think that it's a medication ad, or an Old Spice commercial. David Harbour would appear, known for his famous role as the sheriff in Stranger Things, declaring that it was "a Tide ad." Some of the commercials they did even featured a cameo of a celebrity from the commercial they were pretending to be.

Although it was confusing at first, I assume, like me, most of the audience began to catch on. This was more interesting to me than the other ones because of the strategy they used. It is a complete change in the traditional marketing strategy. Most brands like to show their product's strengths, and maybe make people laugh or cry for the pathos factor. Tide did both of these, but the way they used other brands to do it is what made them so different from the rest. I completely believe it was effective. It got my family and me laughing, it made me write about it in this blog, and it made Tide the pioneer of this type of commercial strategy.