today in ads we see perfection in every aspect of the brand ambassador. we see the perfect moms and the perfect kids - all happy together in the perfect house and car and everything else.
this perfect little happy family makes some people quite angry. are we aspiring to become clones of each other, all in search of the unreachable goal - perfection? do ads celebrate diversity and even just the ordinary? what about the underachievers?
when Avis created the "we try harder" campaign what made it a success was the it was the underdog. the guy who doesn't come first. and people could empathize with that feeling. are there any commercials out there that today bring about the same feeling?
i know Dove makes the real women commercials which are very popular with the students of this class simply because they can relate to the imperfect real person.
this article titled "that supermom in your ad? real moms can't stand her" in the advertising age is a great read. and the website the article refers to can be accessed here .
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Thursday, October 4, 2007
We are a marketing class in the Consumer Apparel and Retail Studies dept at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. And we've assessed many brands and marketing strategies.
I wanted to give the students an assignment that would use their apparel, design and consumer behavior knowledge to give suggestions to an web application that is not very well known among the college audience.
The millennial generation grew up on AIM and have moved on to Google. They use Gmail not Yahoo. They use Facebook and not Yahoo messenger to keep in touch with their friends and family.
While Yahoo may have a large market in Asian countries - it hasn't found a way to connect with the American teens at home. So, the assignment was for students to create their own avatar and write about their experience and what Yahoo can do to improve this service and make it more college student friendly.
The posts are on the blogs links on the right.
And here are my two bits on the avatars:
So I'm a very loyal Yahoo user (i bet if they check their demographic information - they'd notice that a lot of their users are from Gen X) and have had my avatar for a while. But like many of my students i agree:
Yahoo should tie up with Facebook and Myspace to let Yahoo users put up their avatars on the websites.
If Yahoo wants to appeal to the college going student - it needs to get cooler. They're not talking the language. And will lose out eventually to Facebook at the rate Facebook is adding new users.
Yahoo's avatars need more categories, there are too many backgrounds and you have to go through each one of them, remember your favorites and its just too much work. categorize them into school/ outdoors/ cities, etc.
And finally - I have short hair and i haven't found a single Yahoo avatar for women that allows me to be me! and so I'm stuck with choosing the male sex to truly show how i look.
I wanted to give the students an assignment that would use their apparel, design and consumer behavior knowledge to give suggestions to an web application that is not very well known among the college audience.
The millennial generation grew up on AIM and have moved on to Google. They use Gmail not Yahoo. They use Facebook and not Yahoo messenger to keep in touch with their friends and family.
While Yahoo may have a large market in Asian countries - it hasn't found a way to connect with the American teens at home. So, the assignment was for students to create their own avatar and write about their experience and what Yahoo can do to improve this service and make it more college student friendly.
The posts are on the blogs links on the right.
And here are my two bits on the avatars:
So I'm a very loyal Yahoo user (i bet if they check their demographic information - they'd notice that a lot of their users are from Gen X) and have had my avatar for a while. But like many of my students i agree:
Yahoo should tie up with Facebook and Myspace to let Yahoo users put up their avatars on the websites.
If Yahoo wants to appeal to the college going student - it needs to get cooler. They're not talking the language. And will lose out eventually to Facebook at the rate Facebook is adding new users.
Yahoo's avatars need more categories, there are too many backgrounds and you have to go through each one of them, remember your favorites and its just too much work. categorize them into school/ outdoors/ cities, etc.
And finally - I have short hair and i haven't found a single Yahoo avatar for women that allows me to be me! and so I'm stuck with choosing the male sex to truly show how i look.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
what do condoms promote?
The latest Carolinian (Oct 2 - Oct 8) has a story about Trojan Ads called Evolve on page 6 titled "I want your sex...and your medical history", here is the ad:
The staff writer Ms. Conley believes that since most committed couples 'rely on hormonal and nondisposable forms of birth control because sex is, for the most part, a fairly regular occurence' hence condoms are targeting their commercials and product offerings for to those outside of relationships. And in this specific case, for one night stands.
Well, first of all, the ad is advertising Trojans being available in a dispenser/ vending machine in bars and nightclubs. And since the primary usage for those products would be one night stands, it would make sense that Trojan advertise for that particular eventuality.
Do you think Trojan is encouraging one night stands? Or simply acknowledging that they happen and that you'd rather be evolved in your choices?
Here is another ad i saw while i was looking up Trojan - this uses men's fear of committment and having children and takes it up a notch. Is this ad unethical? I wonder what would the pro-life organizations think of this commercial?
The positioning for the Trojan ad i believe is that be a better man, use condoms. The positioning for Zazoo on the other hand seems more like - avoid mishaps use condom. One ads uses positive reinforcement (though i wonder how men would percieve being called pigs in the ad) and the other uses fear.
Which do you think works better?
The staff writer Ms. Conley believes that since most committed couples 'rely on hormonal and nondisposable forms of birth control because sex is, for the most part, a fairly regular occurence' hence condoms are targeting their commercials and product offerings for to those outside of relationships. And in this specific case, for one night stands.
Well, first of all, the ad is advertising Trojans being available in a dispenser/ vending machine in bars and nightclubs. And since the primary usage for those products would be one night stands, it would make sense that Trojan advertise for that particular eventuality.
Do you think Trojan is encouraging one night stands? Or simply acknowledging that they happen and that you'd rather be evolved in your choices?
Here is another ad i saw while i was looking up Trojan - this uses men's fear of committment and having children and takes it up a notch. Is this ad unethical? I wonder what would the pro-life organizations think of this commercial?
The positioning for the Trojan ad i believe is that be a better man, use condoms. The positioning for Zazoo on the other hand seems more like - avoid mishaps use condom. One ads uses positive reinforcement (though i wonder how men would percieve being called pigs in the ad) and the other uses fear.
Which do you think works better?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)