Hasta La Creative!

To draw attention, controversial practices such as injecting sexual images will be condemned by most but it is relevant to the product or service being advertised, chances are they will be allowed to do so. Apparently, there are a lot of advertising and promotional practices used today that have had their share of being hit for their uncanny means of attracting attention.

It cannot be discounted that a lot of people have used these techniques to use controversy as an added value as far as attention grabbing is concerned. Some may not like it and even deem it as a dirty tactic. But in the world of business today, you just have to pull out all the stops even if it may be pointing towards risking morality issues we know of today.

“Naked people are wonderful, of course, but they have to be relevant to the product. You could have a naked person advertising shower gel or a cream, but not a woman in a bikini draped across a car.”

(Source) BBC News

Technorati Tags: advertising, promotional, naked, controversy, sexual images, business, techniques

Providing advertising support to marketing campaigns is not as easy as we all deem it to be. There are questions to be answered and expectations that are set. Set goals need to be achieved since investing heavily in advertising will surely have to come up with something.

Normally, advertising is aimed at producing sales and bringing in profit. But to be able to do so, tasked individuals have to take the necessary steps for these statistics to be a reality. It is not purely a hit and go itinerary. Set up your advertising campaign goals and be sure that they are achievable. Money invested on them should not be wasted. The result for the greater good of a venture is surely the one that most company honchos are looking for and will be expected to be achieved.

Technorati Tags: advertising, marketing, campaigns, sales, money

The Wall Street Journal had a pretty fascinating story today that I’d only heard bits and pieces of before. The story basically details how former AdAge reporter James Arndorfer is writing for the Miller Brewing Company-owned blog, “Brew Blog,” where one of the primary topics of interest is Anheuser-Busch news. He’s continuously breaking stories on A-B, which is getting under the St. Louis brewing company’s skin.

While A-B and Miller have been battling for years, the internet and the blogosphere have opened up new and creative doors through which the battle can rage on. Miller sponsoring a blog that paints A-B in a lesser light is certainly a non-traditional tactic, but interesting that such importance is being placed on internet sites. Something worth considering as the internet continues to grow.

And despite working on several A-B accounts in the past, I have to say that I’m fairly intrigued by the whole Miller-backed-blog and the way it’s playing out. I’m also eagerly anticipating more corporate tactical use of blogs in the future. Seems ripe with possibilities. Anyway, check out the WSJ article for more details and analysis.

With the 2010 Vancouver Olympics practically a year away, it would be wise for companies who are planning to get advertising slots towards this world-renowned event early. With practically the whole world watching, you can just imagine the number of companies worldwide jockeying for position for good slots in the expected expensive yet lucrative exposure that one can just imagine.

The strategy here is simple. It is all on a first-come, first served basis. You can expect giants such as Nokia and Sony to be at the forefront of it all in what is expected to be a circus of sorts since this meet will really hit the global target audience. Just look at Canwest which just closed the deal of their advertising pact for the 2010 Olympics.

Canwest Publishing Inc., the largest owner of Canadian newspapers, has signed an Olympic-sized deal to supply advertising to the 2010 Vancouver Organizing Committee.

The deal, which will be announced this morning, includes all 10 of Canwest’s regional newspapers, including The Vancouver Sun and The Province, but not the flagship National Post.

Vanoc is calling Canwest an “official supplier”, a category that generally is worth between $3 millon and $10 million. In a memo sent to staff Wednesday morning Dennis Skulsky, the president of Canwest Publishing, and Kevin Bent, the publisher of the Pacific Newspaper Group called it an “Official Regional Newspaper agreement”.

(Source) The Vancouver Sun

Technorati Tags: olympics, advertising, canwest, nokia, sony, global

Thanks to the two of the latest spots from ESPN (courtesy of Wieden & Kennedy) and the Cleveland Indians (courtesy of Brokaw), Yanks fans nationwide get to relive the horror that was last year’s infamous “Bug Game.” This is the game where my boys (eh hem, the Yanks) lost their cool due to excessive bugs on the field during an away game against the Indians. But hey, ESPN and the Indians have it right. Everything is part of the game – from the fans to the team and all the way to annoying critters. Bravo to making me hate and love baseball, all at the same time. 

 

Technorati Tags: advertising, tv, sports, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, ESPN, Baseball Tonight, baseball

The creative part of people today depends on how well they can put together their company name and expound on that. We find unique names that can include out of nowhere names like perhaps Fizz or even Friendster. But with the proper implementation of marketing practices, you will be surprised at the impact that they can have when you talk about making them a household name.

We have seen a lot of them from past years. Names such as Carrier, Sony and Nokia were virtual unknowns back in the days. But thanks to the proper advertising and promotional campaigns, they are big names in the business today.

With that in mind, you can just imagine at how one crazy name can make a difference. Support that and build on it and you may find yourself counting your money before you even blink.

Technorati Tags: fizz, friendster, nokia, promotional, campaigns, business, money, advertising, marketing

A few months back, GoldRush wrote an interesting post on the Saturn “Anthem” spot and the potential that the “Rethink” mantra has on revitalizing a somewhat-lost brand. I’ve been watching the Saturn campaign with hope and anticipation over the past few months, and this morning, was media-blasted with the newest Saturn spot for the Vue, “Rethinking Everything” on broadcast TV.

This is definitely the most prominent presentation of the “Rethinking Everything” approach. It’s certainly an interesting stance, and this particular spot is a bit warmer and less in-your-face than the “Anthem” spot. While it’s nothing incredibly noteworthy in terms of creative, the visuals and the sound track do work well to communicate the feeling of hope and change. But at the moment, it still only seems like a corporate mantra. As Gavin insightfully commented on the Anthem spot,

I hope they also do something about the dealer network and the brand promise that it fails to deliver. Rebranding is not just for the aspirational part of your business — it should filter through all of your touchpoints.

Judging from much of the forum banter on SaturnFans.com, Saturn still has a long way to go before the Rethink mantra is fully implemented – and accepted with open arms. But there’s something about this re-brand that has me pulling for ‘em. We’ll see.

As far as advertising is concerned, you can expect some of them to exaggerate some stuff and even get to the point of misleading the consumer market with their practices. This is common and some people just fail to realize it. The exposure of ads are becoming aggressive and rather than analyzing and reading them closely, people are too involved in observing the images and scenes rather than what an ad is all about.

Consumers only get to realize a product once they have purchased one. While many are using the psychological warfare to sell their product, consumers don’t even have a clue that they are buying goods that may not even have all the necessities that were injected into the ad that they saw. And I guess you know who becomes the loser and the winner in the end right?

Just look at this example of misleading advertising:

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) criticized easyJet for its Easter promotional campaign, when the no-frills airline claimed that if was offering 25 percent discounts on nearly all tickets, including just about all routes.

(Source) Carrentals.co.uk

Online games are rampant these days and with the added advertising and promotions, they are bound to land more players for this growing popular game called World of Warcraft.

Any avid gamer who has been following the Warcraft Series are sure to be aware of this game through word of mouth. So with that said, you may ask why invest in television commercials? The fact is, the World of Warcraft is still a business and while they have saturated the market using the Internet, there are still untapped markets out there.

And what better way to market it in style other than with MR. T, a familiar figure in television who has an image like character representation in WOW.

One thing that television advertising offers is that you have to be wise as to what time slot you want your ad to come out. In events such as the Oscars or the closely watched sporting events such as boxing and the Super Bowl, slots will surely be packed and if you really want the exposure, you have to think ahead and get the ideal ad slot to get your money’s worth.

Often, you will find tough picking when you are up against the aggressive advertising giants who want maximum exposure. While they are preferred by most event organizers, the best you can do is find the next best slot to place your ad and get the required exposure your product or service needs.