out of the blue

When searching for controversial commercials today on YouTube, I was initially surprised to see Burger King’s “I Like Square Butts” commercial.  But only for oh, maybe .2 seconds.  Then I stopped to think about it and thought, “Hey, what were they thinking??”  But now I realize, maybe Burger King is smarter than all of us (well, all of you…).

If you haven’t seen the commercial yet (and by the looks of things, you may not because it is in danger of being pulled and understandably so), it basically is a spoof remake of Sir Mixalot’s “I Like Big Butts” music video of the oh so lovely 90s.  The difference?  The girls in the video are shaking square butts with the King watching them and rapping.  The point?  Burger King is advertising for their 99 cent kids’ meals that currently have SpongeBob Squarepants toys in them.  If you want to watch it before continuing on with my rambling, click here to see the YouTube video.

I guess the controversy that this commercial brings up pulls in the whole element of audience.  Is Burger King advertising to parents, children, or a different crowd entirely? If the answer is parents, they are clearly barking up the wrong tree.  Burger King is not this stupid.  They know children will think the video is hilarious, as well as childless adults.  So even though the commercial is supposedly for a kid’s meal, this is not really Burger King’s goal.  They are following the lead of Victoria’s Secret…advertising their product, not necessarily to the intended audience, but with the same outcome- more customers.

Think about it.  If you are a 20something childless adult (in the legal sense anyway), and you see this commercial, first thing you do?  Laugh.  Next thing you do?  Think, I want Cheesy Tots (or a Whopper, Chicken Sandwich, Burger Shots, etc).  Then you drive your ass to Burger King without a second thought about the commercial EXCEPT to maybe sing “I Like Big Butts” or call your friends and reminisce about Sir Mixalot.   Burger King’s goal-met.

If you’re a kid and see this commercial, it may go over your head or not, but either way you a) want Burger King b) want Burger King or c) Burger King.  Although your parent may be slightly peeved over the commercial, you know, as a child, that only a slight amount of pleading will get you your Burger King.  Particularly if you sing the Square Butts song until your mouth is occupied with the sweet success of fried food.  Burger King’s goal- met.

So, either way, parents are not the direct audience but they are nonetheless reached.  They will be pulled in by their children to the Burger King drivethru despite their proclamation that they “will never visit that restaurant again.”  Please, spare me.  We all know that they’ll forget about this commercial the very next time something remotely controversial hits the land of media advertising.  Burger King will survive… and prosper.

One of the most effective marketing techniques on the web in today’s world is email marketing.  Email marketing is simple:  obtain a list of prospective or current clientele and send them an email (duh) with current special product features.  Such emails can include links to websites or contain exclusive offers.  There was a time when you could send anyone anything without consequences (ah, the glory old days of the internet) but that time is long gone.  SPAM, thank God, is being reduced by law.  Therefore, it is important that you follow the strict guidelines set by the government in regards to spam.    To read more about email marketing and the laws to abide by, click here:  Intro to Email Marketing.

Keep in mind the following tips when creating an email “blast”:

*Short and sweet

*Don’t overload your email with graphics; many people have them turned off on their email

*Be conscious of what time of day you are sending the blast out at.  Different times of days will affect if your blast is immediately deleted or not.

Lastly, it is important to use a professional company when sending out email blasts.  If you’re going to put a lot of time and effort into this form of advertising, it’s best to use someone who knows what they’re doing so you can maximize the success of your campaign.

When building your company’s first website, it’s important to keep the old KISS in mind…keep it simple stupid.  The reason? The answer:  The economy, of course!

Now, we both know that your company is going to take off with flying colors and sell more products/services than ever…but in today’s lovely unpredictable economy, it’s important that you stay based in reality and not sink all of your money into a website that no one will ever see besides your mother.  It’s of course important to build a website, but remember, websites can always be expanded upon in the future. Build a simple, professional website.  It’s a good base to have.  In the future when you sell a million of those legged blankets, you can have the all-out site that sings and dances and even emits smells from the screen….but for now you don’t need that much!

For your simple website, just make sure you have the basics. The basics would include:

*A clean, attractive homepage

*Working links/navigation throughout the site

*Enough information regarding your company to entice potential clientele

*Contact info

That’s it! That’s all you really need!! Just get your product/company out there and see if you have the stuff to move forward (alright, I know you do, see if people have the intelligence to recognize this…better?).  Once your website takes off and you’re rolling in money, THEN you can shell it out to build the amazing website.  But WAIT until this moment has arrived for you.

DPro has a good program for starting a basic website: BizWebMachine.  It allows for the quick and simple creation of a website that is not necessarily customized to the tee, but rather designed in a general manner allowing for the look and feel of your company but still allowing minimal cost.  In short:  it’s easy to build, but still looks amazing.

Check out one of our BizWebMachine sites:

Valhalla Lodge BizWebMachine Site

Ahh….it’s that time of year again. Nope, it’s not tax season, not Christmas, not the Victoria’s Secret fashion show, but rather the end of football season. I’ve been informed it’s not officially the end until the “All Star” Game, but I still feel a small tinge (ok, fine, maybe a LOT) of excitement when the Super Bowl is finally over. This year, I went and saw “Revolutionary Road” during the game much to the relief of my liver. Anyway. The point of all this babble? The one good thing that football/the Super bowl does have to offer? Commercials. You love them, I love them, we all love them. So, for a nice little break from your monotonous workday- here’s a link to the 10 best and 10 worst commercials of 2009. My personal favorite- The Mr. Potato Head commercial. I actually emitted an “LOL” upon viewing it. So without further delay-

FoxSports.com 10 best/10 worst Super Bowl Commercials 2009

 As mentioned before, part of the genius of Victoria’s Secret marketing and advertising lies within its subtlety.  Consumers don’t always initially realize they are being advertised to, and therefore are more likely to buy from the company.  This week, however, when I was researching the latest trends in marketing, I came across a website that begs the question, Can you ever be too subtle in your marketing campaign?.  As of right now, I am still undecided as to the exact answer to the question, but I’d like to share a few thoughts.

After reading Chris Reidy’s article, “Nuance Website May Leave You Tongue-tied” in the Boston Globe, I was curious to check out a website recently launched by Mullen ad agency for Nuance Communications, Inc.  Nuance Communications is creator of the DragonNaturallySpeaking products, a line of programs that afford you the convenience of putting away your writing instruments and your typing fingers- basically talk to type programs where the program magically knows what you are saying and the words appear on your computer screen, in your email, etc.  Mullen has created frozenpole.com, a website so seemingly-pointless, you don’t even realize you’re being advertised to.  But will it work?

Frozenpole.com is simple.  Basically, you upload a picture of your face, pick an outfit for your little skier to wear and then attach yourself to a place in a ski resort that has metal.  Once attached to something metal, you can pick a holiday greeting and customize it.  Your skier will then “say” your greeting as though his or her tongue is attached to a pole.  You can send this animation greeting to anyone via email.  It sounds bizarre, I know- you really have to check it out yourself to understand what it is.  The only hints of this frozenpole.com being an advertisement come with the tiny little icon that says “DragonNaturallySpeaking” on the bottom left hand corner of the animation or in the email that your recipient receives with the link to the animation.   You can click on this icon and it will take you to the company’s website. That’s it!  There is no other way to know why this website is up- it could be some creepy old man in a basement with too much time on his hands.  

The pro of frozenpole.com or subtle advertising is that you keep your consumer entertained.  Even while I write this article, I am tempted to run home, upload a picture of my face, and send it to all my friends.  I really just might do this too.  I, the consumer, am endlessly entertained by frozenpole.com.  If I were in the market to buy talk to type software, I just might consider DragonNaturallySpeaking.  I’m not, however, and I can tell you what- I would still compare prices and if someone boring offered me the same program for less, I would use it.

So, that leads me to the obvious con of subtle advertising-inability to reach an audience that cares.  With frozenpole.com, you’re probably going to get a bunch of kids who don’t have any interest in your product going to make skiers with tongue-tied greetings. It will snowball (hah, pun intended) and soon more and more kids will receive this message and pass it on to more and more kids who don’t care.

Of course, I have to look at the fact that this website has already drawn nation-wide attention. So companies/individuals who are interested in talk to type software have inadvertently just been advertised to.  So maybe it is working?

Overall, it’s best to consider your budget when thinking of taking subtlety to the extreme when marketing your product.  If you have money to blow-go for it! Otherwise, I‘d recommend being a little more straightforward in advertising your product. Sure it’s good to be subtle, but the consumer needs to know why a website is up. It’s nice to make life fun for people- but do it for yourself too- by putting a little extra green in your pocket. 

Sources: http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/12/nuance_website.html

              www.frozenpole.com

Ahhhh….it’s that time of the year again….snow falling, Christmas music on the radio, women parading down a catwalk in sexy underwear….wait-what?! (For all you men out there, wipe that drool). Yes, we’re not talking about the coming of Christ, but rather the annual sex parade of the Victoria’s Secret models. I gotta hand it to Vicky- she knows how to market her bloomers. In an economy that’s rapidly declining, women and men everywhere are still running to Victoria’s Secrets in groves with hopes of discovering the secret.

This is the genius of advertising and marketing. Taking a product and making it appealing not only to your customer, but also your customer’s partner in good times and bad. Women want to be sexy so they’ll buy the product, and men want their women to be sexy, so they’ll also buy the product. Everyone wants to be and see sexy no matter what the economy. Pure genius. I don’t see any guys in line at the store in the Hanes section, unless they’re buying for Grandma Ruth.

Not only is Victoria’s Secret at a place where their product can literally sell itself, they also get paid to advertise. Take the fashion show that airs tonight. People on Ebay were paying thousands of dollars just to attend this event. Of course, it is a star-studded event and Usher will be performing, but when you stop and think about it- I’m sure Vicky is actually profiting off of this event. Not only are her sales on all these panties and bras going to sky-rocket, but the events coming alongside this event are never-ending. Parties, parties, parties. Charitybuzz.com was selling two tickets to the show and an after-party for an estimated cost of $25,000. It’s jaw-dropping.

So, I guess what we should learn from Vicky seems easy. Take your product and make it appeal to ANYONE no matter age, sex, or whom it truly is intended for. I’d be willing to bet that thousands of men have bras in their closet just because they had to buy something from that catalog-and no, they don’t have girlfriends. Also, if you can figure out a way to get other people to do your advertising for free (or even for a profit), go for it! YouTube is teeming with “sneak peek” videos for the show tonight.

Of course, this is all easier said to done, but with this extreme example of genius marketing, we can really learn a lot. I’m impressed. Girl power! Way to go Vicky! I need to learn your secret….

Oh, and for the curious: I’ll go ahead and play into the free advertising:

Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show airs tonight 10/9c on CBS.

Happy Viewing.

New Bud Light commercial

Read the rest of this entry »

When researching the average cost of any creative work it can get a little overwhelming. Many things have to be taken into consideration, such as experience of the designer, quality of work, and the time spent. The areas that I researched were commercials, web design, logo design, and corporate identity. To make it easier to grasp I’ll break it down into the most common price ranges for each area.
Read the rest of this entry »

Do you have it? Or, do you need it? Experience is everything.

Read the rest of this entry »

What a great example of giving a “thing”, a persona.

Read the rest of this entry »