Toblerone Social Campaign

For our Toblerone social ad campaign we decided to mimic a campaign similar to the on run by Lay's chips which let the fans choose the next flavors of Lay's. Through a facebook application it allowed users to customize their own Lay's bag complete with stock picture, text, and bag color. Once you create your flavor it shares it to your facebook wall and gives you the option to instagram, tweet, or email your flavor. It also connected with your friends and allowed face off type voting to create flavor competition.




With this campaign Lay's effectively created a library of user created content that engaged and challenged other users to create better and better flavors which eventually lead to a final three fan-made flavors put into production.



Our campaign takes similar a similar stream of consciousness, forcing friends to compete against one another with their own custom Toblerone flavor. "Two is better than one" "We made a new flavor, now it's your turn."
The flavors will compete in a bracket voting system leading up to the holidays. The winning fan-flavor will be sold during the holiday season and share a special edition holiday box with our holiday Crunchy Salted Almond flavor.

Interruption Ads

The advertising industry is one that techniques are constantly evolving due to the changing attitudes of the consumer. Interruptive ads are a direct response to consumers 'tuning out' classical adverts. Unfortunately this has had even more extreme affects: I hardly even watch commercials anymore. With so many other media outlets as soon as my television program cuts to commercial my eyes go straight to my cell phone. This behavior is so prevalent that sometimes when I actually watch a commercial I recognize the audio but realize I have never watched the commercial in its entirety or really analyzed the message. Rather than creating simply gregarious and shocking ads to get attention, it is better to play off emotions and nostalgia while being original/artistic, most importantly with the audio and cinematography. The Levi's 'Go Forth' campaign was an example of unique audio and cinematography that immediately captured my attention and delivered their message as well as branding their aesthetic.

The web is perhaps the place where most interuptive ads are found, and unfortunately many sites allow advertisers many liberties with just how interuptive those ads can be, mostly because they are usually the sites only source of revenue. From pop-ups to ad-gating to ads that pause when you mute them the presence of online ads is becoming more and more interuptive. Just check out milliondollarhomepage.com

The problem with interuptive ads is that they aren't interesting to the consumer. This is why I am a huge advocate for advertisers to be able to use cookies to track your interests. I would rather see ads that were catered to me than ones I have no interest in. Unfortunately (as the method stands now) there is no way for the consumer to manage these interests. I would like to see more consumer control of what type of ads they want to see. I think this benefits both parties, the advertisers want to sell their product to consumers who are most likely to buy, and consumers don't want to see ads regarding products that don't interest them.

iPod Toilet Roll Dock Ad Campaign

The basic idea surrounding our campaign was to embrace the 'gag-gift' angle of our product by using iconic rock music to create a theme centered around the use of the toilet. The feeling we wanted to convey was that this musical device would give you the inspiration to poop.
Below was a rough timeline sketch we came up with in class along with our radio spot

Less Conversation
SFX: Elvis - A Little Less Conversation slowly fades in. Music cuts quickly during toilet flush.

Announcer: (Mr. Moviephone Deep Voice)
Claim your porcelain throne,
Be the King of your Bathroom,
with the Toilet Roll iPod Docking Station.

SFX: Song cuts back in to guitar solo.

Major Pumping Required

When it comes to marketing failures nothing can possibly be worse than Hasbro's marketing addition to its popular Supersoaker line, the Oozinator. The following video can only be described as a complete and udder marketing failure that should have never left the advertising womb.

Steve Hall from AdRANTS.com perhaps said it best:
"The people who created this ad are either living in a land far removed from current day culture, are completely clueless or, conversely, have a seriously twisted sense of humor. This ad for the Hasbro Super Soaker Oozinator features a gun that when pumped a few times shoots a white globular substance all over the faces and bodies of those in the ad. Sound familiar? We thought so. While we're sure it's fun to pump something until it shoots a bunch of gooey stuff, we can't help but imagine how this thing got created, reviewed and approved without a lot of snickering."WARNING: Viewer Discretion Is Advised.

Not exactly kid friendly, right? Even if your mind isn't in the gutter there is something clearly disturbing about this ad. The Oozinator and its advertisements were quickly pulled, most likely after several thousand calls from outraged parents.

I wonder what the storyboard looked like for this ad.

The biggest failure was not that this was a terrible product idea but rather, that the marketing team couldn't anticipate their target audience's reaction to this product and ad campaign. Parents buy kid's toys for kids. So not only does the ad have to appeal and be understood by children but it also has to be viewed through the adult consumer's perspective. The sad thing is this product idea could fly simply because it is a kid's toy and kid's toys are sometimes slimy/gooey/gross. A successful ad campaign may rename the product, the Galactic Slime Blaster. Instead of shooting unarmed children in the chest in the ad they could make it a space themed ad where the slime blasters blast evil aliens and stick them to the walls with goo in a comic fashion. This product was so bad that the few Oozinators that are in existence sell for hundreds of dollars as gag gifts. Maybe this would sell better as an adult toy. That idea is on the house. Your welcome, Hasbro.

Save the Whales

Sea Shepherd is a highly visible and well branded nature conservation group that focuses on protecting sea life around the world.

Sea Shepherd Logo/Flag:


They have often been criticized for the extreme and sometimes militant tactics they use against Japanese whaling vessels. Leader of the Sea Shepherd fleet Paul Watson was a former Greenpeace member and left because he felt Greenpeace's tactics were too passive. There is even a show on Animal Planet documenting the antarctic battles between Sea Shepherd and their sworn enemies the Japanese whalers. This militant dramatic style also plays out in their advertising which aims to be shocking and move you to act on those emotions.


"Predatory fishing also threatens life outside the oceans."

This ad is photo manipulated in order to show the effects of fishing on wildlife in a violent, shocking way. This is a slightly more uplifting and inspirational ad yet it doesn't stray from Sea Shepherds militant routes:





 
"Until they can defend themselves, we will do it for them."

This next ad raises an interesting point that really gets at the heart of Sea Shepherds specific mission:
To help protect our oceans.
And in the ad below they point out the simple fact that we treat some animals, especially cute, furry, hard to eat animals better than ugly, delicious, scaly animals. Perhaps because we don't live in the water we feel as though we are removed from the oceans and therefore we don't care about its inhabitants. Sea Shepherd's advertising mission is to make you think about your relationship with the ocean, and I believe their ads have done that successfully.

"Why do we treasure one species but slaughter another?"

"Respec, boss man" - VW and Stereotypes

The recent VW Superbowl commercial is one of the most racially controversial commercials in recent memory. The highly visible commercial has been heralded by Jamaica as a boost to their tourism industry.

But is this positive or negative stereotyping. Is it racially ethical? Is it wrong to promote someone else's culture through stereotypes? If so is it wrong to promote one's own culture through stereotypes? The actor in this ad, Erik Nicolaisen, attempted to downplay the controversy:

"I am an actor, I was hired two days before this commercial was made. It was written long before. I am just an actor, I was just out there representing an accent that I can do. As for the controversy, I am not in a position to affirm or deny how it makes people feel. Race is an issue, but racism is a part of American history and you can't discount it... But personally, from my end, as a fan of reggae music and Jamaican culture and also international reggae culture, I am familiar with people of all different cultures and origins, speaking in patois or singing reggae music."

We can all agree that negative stereotyping is bad and has no place in modern society. I think the issue with positive stereotyping in advertisements is that although the actors or company might say they are trying to positively portray a culture or lifestyle BUT they are ultimately selling a product. VW and all advertisers have an ethical responsibility to make their advertising inclusive and to not promote negative societal aspects like racism. Advertisers are trendsetters and tastemakers and need to be ethically conscience to what they are promoting. One opinion is that this ad wouldn't make sense to a society that doesn't have the preconceived stereotypical context that tells us all Jamaicans talk like that, that VW has the right to free speech and therefore has no ethical responsibilities. Does VW have the right to play off racial stereotypes in their ad? Yes. Is society to blame for having the stereotypical context? Yes partially. But advertisers are to blame for the perpetuation of these stereotypes from generation to generation. This is their ethical responsibility just as it is our ethical responsibility as a society to speak out against racism and stereotype in the aspects we have control over: our workplace, our children, our friends. Advertisers have to be conscience about their impact and the areas they have control and attempt to be ethical in their decisions.

Big Bowl of Brand Flakes

Me

I think what frustrates most people about brands and being anti-brand is that there is a certain level of hypocrisy in everyone. Take clothing for example. I personally try to avoid brand name clothing, however that doesn't mean that I completely avoid brands in other aspects of my life. My personal clothing preference is to buy cheap comfortable essentials (plain t-shirts and sweatshirts usually from "cheap" stores or wholesalers). My closet also includes many shirts made by local artists and anything Sharks, Giants, or Niners.  For me individuality is an important quality. That's why I tend to avoid fashion trends and anything "swag",  "in", or "hip".

Judgement and Stereotypes

Whether you like it or not people judge you based on your appearance, on the brands you are wearing, the kind of car you drive, the way you carry yourself. That's why it is important to study, understand, manage, and embrace the stereotypes that are associated with you. Brands are reliant on stereotypes, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, stereotypes exist to help define us in good ways too. We can use stereotypes to our advantage to create a interesting and individual narrative to help advertise yourself.

DJ attire:
 
Hipster Fashion:
 
Anglophile dress code:

Lumberjack uniform:
   
And finally....me.

An Experiment

In one afternoon write down every brand name you consume or use. Whether it is the GQ magazine on your table, the Coke your drinking or the Xbox your playing. Then next to it write down the first word that comes to mind when you think of that brand.
Mine looks like this:
Coke can - Thirsty
GQ Magazine - Men's Fashion (Beyonce was a close 2nd)
Xbox - Bored
MacBook - Work
Honda - Drive
Apple earphones - Sound
etc.

Now imagine you are wearing a suit with all those brands on it, like this guy:

When I realized that there were cheaper alternatives to get my thirst/fashion/boredom/sound/working/driving fix, I truly understood the amazing power of brands. The majority of these brands I only consumed because of the lifestyle and ideals associated with their advertising campaigns.

The most egregious yet understandable of these illogical choices is my recent purchase of a new MacBook.
Reasons for purchase: Designer, Ease of use, Rebellious
Cost: $1,800
Hell there is a Samsung laptop for only 1/3 the cost with almost the exact specs. And yet Apple has done a great job of marketing so I believe Apple products are more reliable, powerful, and cool and I'm willing to pay for that belief.