Monday, November 24, 2008
Super Bowl
In 2007, a 30 second TV commercial cost about $2.7 million. It’s a lot of money just airing for 30 seconds so they better get the message out in an effective way as possible, they can’t simply afford to make a mistake. Of course you see all the big companies like Budweiser, Pepsi, and Coca– Cola etc.
One very common theme to use is humor. This is something that Bud Light has used for years to get our attention, and they are really good at it. My best Super Bowl commercial would be Bud Lights- the hitchhiker. A couple driving their car one night and see a hitchhiker. The man asks the woman if they should pick him up, and she answer that he has an axe. The man protest by saying “but he got bud light, and there is probability a reasonable explanation for the axe. So they pull over and ask him what’s with the axe. And the hitchhiker answer” It’s a bottle opener”.
The larger majority of the target group is men above 21 so it makes perfectly sense to advertise product like this during Super Bowl. Beer has become a thing that you have to drink during the game, it’s almost like ritual.
Another Super Bowl commercial was the Audi R8. This got the inspiration from the Godfather. Instead of finding the horse head in the bed they replaced it with the front a car. This one is a little bit confusing for me. I did not like it, and having a hard time figure out the message of it. I mean, the commercial is about 1 minute so it going to cost Audi a lot for airing it. At least they should have a clearer message.
Then we have the classic Apple commercial, 1984. This commercial was only aired once. Only once and for 1 minute! You do not think a thing like that is ever going to be remembered or get the message out. They pretty much put all their money on one card. Today, people still discuss and praise that commercial.
Bud light
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aO3TO5L0bM
Audi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_sshN-URJY
Apple
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R706isyDrqI
Monday, November 17, 2008
Celebrities and Public relations

Romances do not seems to be enough anymore. It seems like the latest trend is to get really drunk or getting exposed on pictures. Another “trend” is going to rehab. For example Lindsay Lohan has been to rehab some times now. If she could show that she really have changed and learned from the experience she might be able to build up her credibility again. Give the press something else to write about instead of driving drunk etc. For example, making another movie with some popular guy that she can have a brief romance with, ala Hollywood style. That will give people other things to talk about. Or join an organization like safe the rainforest. That will defiantly raise some eyebrows and they will probably think, what does she care about the rain forest. But if this is successful people might get by all the bad things that happened in the past. A good thing would be to party less, or drinking more responsible.

Another celebrity that has been to a lot throughout the years is Britney Spears. After her major breakdown, losing custody of her children, she has managed to work her self back up again. First of all is she back in the music industry again, working to release a new album. She has also been allowed to visit children 2 days a week and have one sleepover. This shows that she really have turned her live around and she trying to make up for the past. What would make it even better, seen for a PR perspective, is if could fined the perfect boyfriend, so they can become the next American Sweethearts and have the fairytale ending that people want her to have.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Blog of my choice: Coke Zero
Coke zero defiantly stands out from cokes other brands. This one is more targeting towards a younger audience instead of a mass marketing. And it seems like they a targeting specially towards young male, judging from the commercials or the webpage. However, Coke zero is after the people with a special lifestyle that do not what to drink regular soft drinks and are more aware and careful about their figure.
Coke zero has, according to me, really done a great job with their positioning of “Zero sugar, as it should be” or “Real taste, zero sugar”. This is often connected to the story in the commercials, like; Life as it should be or break up as it should be. What they are trying to say is that things don’t have to be as hard as you make it; it’s always an easier solution. The commercial is adding more attitudes to the brand, like cool people that want a change drinks Coke Zero.
So Coke has really managed to put another diet soda on the market. Their advertising and positioning has been excellent and I think that they really have connected with their target. I really like their teaser trailers before they launched the product, how they tried to create a curiosity about the whole thing.
Picture:
http://images.digitalmedianet.com/2007/Week_23/kmhpxsfs/story/ghost1.jpg

Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Message appeal
Sometimes it’s dangerous to use celebrities in commercial because they maybe not trustworthiness, expertise or the respect for the brand. In this commercial it is not going to be any problem with that at all. How is more expert and trustful than a soccer player in a soccer commercial?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc3PZ3Im5aQ
Another commercial that get the message out in a creative way is the Berlitz – language for life. Humor always good tool get the targets attention. In the commercial you see a German coast guard on his first day at work. He gets an emergency message saying: Mayday, mayday we are sinking. Unfortunately his English is not that good, so he answer: what are you sinking (thinking) about. This commercial plays a little bit down on foreign countries that may not be as good at speaking English, but it is funny and presented in a good way that makes the audience think about maybe they should improve their English. I think that the humor in this commercial attracts attention to the brand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT86iWiH2mI
One of the worst commercial I have ever seen is Playstation 3 – This is living. There are several commercials with the same concept. According to me, they fail completely to deliver the message. In the ad people are doing different things like dancing, sitting in a bathtub and quotes old movie cues and in the end a women sitting on the toilet in just her underwear and say: “This is living” and the she flush. I think this commercial is just confusing and do not really say anything about the product.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJRbf76jXHE
Another ad that doesn’t get their message out is Benetton. This billboard shows a newborn baby in the hands of a doctor. Benetton ads have become a wake up call that people have an equal value, but the ad does not say anything about the products that Benetton sell. I don’t think this message works at all. They are not going to sell more clothes if they advertise like this. And I believe that people will be confused when they see their ads.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Creative Brief: Carlton Draught
Client: Carlton DraughtProject: Big ad
Agency: George Patterson Y&R, Melbourne
The Ad:
In this ad you see hundreds of men with robes in different color running towards each other like in an ancient battlefield that looks like a scene from Braveheart. While running towards each other they are singing how big this ad is. In the final scene you see it from the sky and the men in the different colored robes is formed like a human drinking an Carlton Draught.
This one of my favorite ad and got all the right elements that a successful ad should have.
Background/overview:
Carlton Draught is an Australian beer manufacturer. The advertisement was aired for the first time in August, 2005. But before that it was posted on the web. The ad agency chooses to do a viral marketing to get people to talk about the commercial before it would air on TV. And it worked, about half a million people had seen the commercial before it aired. Most beer commercial is often alike and that’s why you need to differentiate yourself from the others so you are able to catch your audience attention.

The purpose is to make people aware of the beer Carlton Draught. The viral marketing
made people aware of the commercial before it air on TV. By doing this people would go online just to see what everybody was talking about.
Target audience:
The target audience is men at the age 18 or 21+, depending on the drinking age in the country the commercial air in. The reason that the main target is men is because they are the larger consumers of beer. Carlton Draught is a regular beer which means that the target does not care that much about other substitutes, like light products with less calories. People with a relaxing, easy going lifestyle should drink it this beer.
Most important thing to say:
At the end of the commercial the slogan says: made from beer. People that consume this product just want a draught beer, nothing else, light products or flavored beer. Again the main point is to gain awareness. Carlton Draught may be known in Australia, but some countries may not have heard about it before.
Supporting rational and emotional reasons:
This would be that beer is refreshing and tasteful, perfect to have after work, when you watch a game or just want to relax. It should also have the “join the gang feeling” like when you hanging out with your friends and having a beer.
Mandatory Elements, helpful information and insights:
Mandatory elements for this commercial is that it's creative, gets your attention and is funny. It also creates a curiosity that make you want to see the whole ad.
Schedule:
1. Post it on the internet and try to create a buzz about it.
2. Air it on TV
This was a clever thing to do, by posting it on internet they could see who the reaction was before airing it on TV. They got their attention by people that starting to talk about the commercial, and this triggered media started to write about it. So Carlton Draught gained the awareness it was looking for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGJiTpBBD18
Pictures:
http://www.sense-datum.org/tim/images/carlton_draught.jpg
http://www.bandt.com.au/news/images/17/24007c17.JPG
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/04/16/carltonad_wideweb__470x375,0.jpg
Friday, October 3, 2008
Assignment 5: Outdoor Advertising
The billboards I remember the best was the ones at Piccadilly Circus in London. I guess that Piccadilly Circus probably is Europe’s answer to Time Square, NY. There you find electronic billboards on the wall of a building, like Coca-cola, TDK, Samsung and Sanyo.
What I liked about Piccadilly Circus is that the billboards actually where beautiful, especially at night. And I never really thought that some billboards where beautiful before. It’s an incredible sight.

I think that the companies have been able to create a great advantage because Piccadilly has become one of London’s tourist attractions. So that means that besides the inhabitants of London, other people that come to London will be able to see their commercial. And that’s create a great advantage, because people normally don’t pay that much attention to commercial but if they create some kind of attraction to it then it’s easier to get their messages out. Although, it could be a problem that the billboards are next to each others, may not be able to get their entire message out. But it will most defiantly create a high frequency level.
Another billboard I really like is the Adidas commercial in the textbook at page 216. This one I actually never seen in real life but it caught my attention right away. On the billboard is a green soccer field and there are two players hanging in wires and playing soccer on a vertical billboard. This is a really creative way to get attention because it’s something you do not see everyday and it will defiantly caught your attention.

http://www.cactuslanguage.com/images/destinations/united_kingdom/london___piccadilly_circus.jpg
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/08/guerrilla_ads/image/2_adidas2.jpg
Friday, September 26, 2008
Assignment 4: Positioning
If you go the webpage you see green grass, blue heaven and it creates a great atmosphere like you where out in the nature. This raise the credibility for the brand, because when you think about healthy food, you think that it’s produced in a green, healthy environment. So I think Flat Earths positioning is clear.
In the Flat earth commercial you see a woman following a pig that runs around in her house. The woman ends up in her kitchen where she finds a bag of Flat Earth chips. In the end the male voice ask a question, which he answers by saying: sure, when pigs fly. And after that the pig fly’s away. The semiotic message for this commercial is that nothing is impossible anymore. You can still be successful, slim and eat chips that are healthy. The slogan “Impossibly good” might also draw attention, because how does an impossibly good crisp taste like? Flat earth is trying to add benefit to the ad by creating an experimental need for the consumer, with the impossibly good tasting and healthy chips.
I really didn’t like the commercial. When I think about pigs, I think about pork and unhealthy food. They should probablty change the pig but keep the name.
If the company was to positioning to a younger audience such as college going women, they should defiantly keep the nothing is impossible theme. They should also position the message: Flat Earth gives you that healthy boost you need during your studies. I think that it would attract the target.
