Television ads for beer are typically some of the most memorable. They're entertaining, comical, and usually provide a little something for everyone:
Corona has some great ads with beautiful beaches and a somewhat subdued yet very obvious sense of humor. I love this ad featuring two women enjoying a day at the beach and once they get a bucket of Coronas they have even more appeal. Very clever.
If you're calorie-conscious and have a good sense of humor, MGD 64 provides a light beer option with a commercial featuring a man doing squats to burn off his calories from not drinking MGD 64. Always a good choice.
If you're into sports, Coors Light has been running a line of commercials that feature famous sports faces like Mike Ditka and Bill Parcells in press conference settings where Coors cleverly spoofs on their responses. This is my favorite one with Jim Mora.
All of these funny commercials really have me thinking, where can I go around here to get a quality beer at a place with a fun atmosphere and great food? Well, I have the perfect answer thanks to some of my fellow classmates. Their blog is called CHEERS!! and their most recent post was the best recommendation ever. A local brewery spot, The Harmon, is a great place to get a meal or appetizer with delicious brews they make in-house.
It's interesting to be able to draw comparisons between places you've actually been and commercials you see on TV. The atmosphere of the Harmon exhibits the same fun vibe that you get from Coors commercials. Coors isn't my favorite beer in particular but the good-humored nature of their commercials I find really appealing and I'm sure other viewers of these commercials feel the same way. Very effective ad campaigns I'd say.
TV networks have dropped 12% in advertising revenue since 2009. Internet advertising has increased due mainly to online TV becoming so popular. Why is this happening? With websites such as Hulu, you are able to watch TV shows on your own convenient time, with minimal commercials. Advertising is starting to catch on and shifting their revenue to online advertising because more and more people are spending majority of time on their computers and less time on the couch.
Recently as we’ve been discussing in class how advertising online is much more controllable. Marketers are able to control, manage, and make changes quicker. Online marketing can be managed by measuring clicks and views.
The costs of online ads are also cheaper. Instead of producing a commercial video, companies are able to make ads or banners that stand out to consumers, similar to the goal of commercials. Marketers are able to control how much they pay, when ad is shown both location on page and what sites, and determine the most efficient buys.
Why watch TV and worry about commercials you don't care about? Businesses are catching on to how consumers are thinking. Businesses are spending more time on their online advertising. But people are not only spending time online watching TV shows, but shopping as well. This is a graph of how often online shoppers shop online:
This is another graph showing how online users have reacted to online ads:
These two graphs are only two examples of many out there that show how well online advertising is working. Why inconveniently watch TV when you can watch shows online with less commercials wasting your time? Marketers are beginning to catch on and TV networks revenue is dropping.
Standing in the shadow of fast food giant McDonald's, Burger King is emerging as a leading innovator in the marketing game throughout the fast food industry. Burger King has found a way to come up with new, fresh ideas to generate a buzz about its products. Ranging from featured videos games and television commercials to Burger King Flame- the companies meat scented body spray, Burger king has found an alternative to boring sky high billboards of the past.
Recently in class, we discussed the use of interactive banner ads. Burger King has utilized this growing trend to grow its brand and separate themselves from the competition. And Burger King has made its website an interaction opportunity in itself. Toggling Fun, Food, and King meters create different interactive options customized to what each viewer wants to see.
McDonald's Ronald McDonald is as recognizable of a mascot as any in the world. It is hard to argue that BK's 'King' is on the same stage as Ronald. In the past few years, BK has made it a priority to develop the King- and it appears the strategy is working. Beginning in 2005, BK began to incorporate the King into NFL plays in order to create a commercial campaign that is memorable six-plus years later. Below are a few commercials coming from the 2005 campaign.
These commercials created quite a buzz for the organization and launched the companies push for marketing dominance. BK has blown competitors out of the water of late and they have been able to do it through innovative ideas and practices.
What do you think about Burger King's push for promotional dominance?
What are some of your favorite BK features the company has introduced to the market of late?
This topic poses an interesting question: Should a business choose to include personal tweets in their business feed or does that cross some sort-of boundary?
Cynthia Boris wrote an interesting blog for the Internet Marketing News : Marketing Pilgrim called Do Personal Tweets Make You More Credible? that addresses this exact issue.
Cynthia's blog describes a study that was done with college students and professors where there was three control groups: students who received strictly education-related tweets, students who received only personal tweets, and students who received a mix of both. The results showed that the students who received only personal tweets perceived their professors to be most caring and genuine. She draws an interesting correlation between this and marketing, and the decision to include personal tweets in business feeds seems to be an appropriate decision as long as there is a professional balance maintained.
Twitter has become a phenomenon in this technical age for marketing, self-expression, and basically for any purpose. I found a Verizon commercial that emphasizes the importance of Twitter today and how applicable it is for everyone today.
From celebrities, to corporate CEOs, and even to parents, everyone appears to be "tweeting," and the Verizon commercial I found highlights this fact. Questions often arise regarding this new trendy social networking website's purpose and the answer can be tricky. On a professional level, it is up to PR managers, social media consultants, and marketers to decide how to handle the business's image on twitter.
All in all, after reading Boris's blog and formulating my own opinion, I'd say the best approach is a balanced one: a winning combination of both business and personal tweets to ensure your followers on twitter don't think you're a robot.
An interesting blog post caught my attention while bringing up a interesting topic...The evolution of YouTube has been very interesting over the years. When I first remember hearing and beginning to use YouTube, I remember it as a way to watch funny homemade videos. Today YouTube is used to watch music videos, 'how-to' videos/lessons, business advertising, commercials and more.
The blog that brought this to my attention and made me begin to think more about this evolution was:
This post by David Edwards, brought up a great point about commercials. YouTube not only is where my group and I have watched and retrieved all the commercials we've blogged on, but where most users can and do review commercials after seeing them on TV or hearing about them through the grapevine.
YouTube has benefited most companies by allowing their videos or commercials to be seen through this website. This has become a popular form of marketing and way of reaching viewers and consumers. This is an interesting video about what YouTube has turned into through this tech savvy generation we live in today:
Personally YouTube has become part of my daily life, along with my cell phone, Facebook, email, and Google. Websites like YouTube have allowed people to view almost any video posted or shared to the public. I found this an interesting topic to think about while reading Edwards post about the "hidden potential" smaller sites are serving businesses with.
A couple of weeks ago in class we had a guest speaker, Arden Clise, writer of the Clise Etiquette blog. This etiquette aficionado gave us helpful tips and points regarding blogging, knowing your audience, and basically the ins and outs of running a successful blog. This encounter granted me substantial knowledge, and also (and I'm pretty sure most of the class were in the same boat as me), my first web conferencing experience.
To be honest, I was a little nervous about it. After getting over the initial awkwardness of knowing that she could see us through a web cam but we couldn't see her, (we didn't have a two-way video feed for some reason), I began to see how web conferencing is truly a vital technology in today's world. Marketing and business especially, but also that web conferencing allows for ANYONE who may be thousands of miles apart to speak as though they are in the same room, bridging the technological gaps in communications that were an issue in the past.
However, this experience also got me to thinking, where do the limitations on web conferencing etiquette lie? I guess it is similar to the way you should think when you're posting anything online:
Don't put anything out there that you wouldn't be okay with your bosses, professors, or anyone seeing for the matter (unless you're some type of critic and that's your job, obviously)
Don't talk bad about the company you work for
Remember that potential employers could be looking at your Facebook page, Twitter, etc.
That's just to name a few.
But what about things you can't control and you didn't predict happening while web conferencing? One slip-up could potential ruin the chances of getting that client you were hoping to sign. I found my point encapsulated in a TV ad; a funny, European commercial that Sony launched a couple years back regarding their web conferencing technologies and capabilities:
This commercial is hilarious and reflects the potential disasters that could occur while web conferencing your work on a professional call. Obviously this man had no idea what was happening and couldn't have prevented it, but it's a funny/scary ploy by Sony to demonstrate their product.
I'd say it's a successful commercial though as far as keeping the viewers attention: sex, technology, and attractive actors, what more could a TV watcher want? You even learn something from this man's experience:
Don't web conference in a potentially problematic environment that could end up compromising your professional integrity instead of complementing it.
In today's world, the use of social media is a concept that is developing into a leading tool for organizations across the globe. Lee Odden, who writes for Top Rank's Online Marketing Blog, looks into the integration of social media and search engine optimization (SEO). Odden discusses four steps to optimize SEO success through the means of social media.
To view the full article looking into the integration of social media and SEO, click here.
Odden's ideas of mixing an already established marketing practice (SEO), with a new and upcoming marketing trend (social media), had me thinking of how else social media has been incorporated into our everyday lives. More specifically, when looking at TV and online viewing programs, it is becoming increasingly clear that social media is a growing trend that is here to stay.
Our blog looks at the noteworthy news and ideas surrounding TV commercials. But something that we have not looked at is the online viewing experience. Many companies that we know as giants in the TV commercial industry are beginning to establish large commercial campaigns through online videos.
The major players in online viewership have been selling advertising space for quite some time but now the implementation of social media is one that is further connecting viewers to the programs they are viewing.
ESPN's online viewing site ESPN3.com is an organization pairing up with social media giant Facebook to further grow not only their firm, but also the social online community watching their programs. ESPN3.com shows games from a multitude of countries on a day basis streaming live worldwide.
While viewing a game, fans are able to post on a chat board located on the right side of the screen. Using their Facebook accounts, fans can chat, agree, disagree, and debate with others watching the game. ESPN's ability to integrate this feature has given fans a way to further connect using social media.
The mix of online viewing and social media is one that is here to stay and is something that firms need to look into when trying to grow their name.
