Taco Bell shows us how to use Twitter...

Hello again,

Today I would like to bring to attention the brilliant advertising minds at Taco Bell, who have found a way to get past all the noise on social media and build their brand image through humor. Taco Bell is the world's biggest Mexican fast food chain, and one of the most recognized brand's among fast food competitors. So while raising awareness would be nice, Taco Bell has found a way to comedic use Social Media (especially Twitter) to get people turning their tweets viral. While other companies continue to push their tweets and promotions onto consumers, Taco Bell simply creates funny tweets and then lets the Social Media universe handle the rest. By really listening to consumers Taco Bell has been able to crank out some of the funniest tweets I have ever seen, and content that continues live on by being passed around from one consumer to another.


Below are some of the best examples I have seen:  

In closing, Taco Bell knows how Social Media and they know they personality of their brand. This kind of advertising would not work for every brand, but it works for Taco Bell and they are very good at it. By using Social Media companies can communicate with consumers in an instant, and it can be used however your company sees fit. Taco Bell decided to use it to add to the legend of the brand, and I believe it has paid off.

Until Next Time,

Andrew


Sources:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/the-best-of-taco-bells-twitter

https://twitter.com/TacoBell

Speaker Prep (Earl Cox)

Hello again,

Today I would like to discuss an individual that was scheduled to talk with our class but unfortunately we never had a chance to meet him. His name is Earl Cox and he is currently the Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at the Martin Agency in Richmond, Virginia. He is a graduate of  both Virginia Tech and University of Virginia.

The Martin Agency was founded in 1965 as a small advertising agency. Now it has grown to be one of the biggest advertising firms in the country. In 2010, Martin Agency was named Advertising Age's "US Agency of the Year". Below I have a few questions I have liked to ask Mr. Cox:

1.       Strategic issue the company/brand is currently facing: How do you attempt to gain new clients in similar industries without conflicting with existing clients? EX: Bringing in a new food client, while you currently work with Kraft Foods

2.       Current consumer/customer perceptions of the company/brand: An Award Winning Agency that is capable of managing both a successful big budget or smaller budget advertising campaign.

3.       Specific, current event question based on the insights you discover: How much can you tell us about the upcoming Oreo Superbowl campaign? Is there something special you hope to accomplish with this advertising campaign.

So even though I was unable to meet Mr. Cox I was still happy to learn about his success and the
success of The Martin Agency. I hope you enjoyed it also.

Until Next Time,

Andrew Haug

Sources:

https://secure.hosting.vt.edu/www.marketing.pamplin.vt.edu/bio.php?page=ecox

http://adage.com/article/agency-news/martin-agency-tasked-handle-u-s-creative-ideas-oreo/238526/

http://www.martinagency.com/client

The New Trend...Advertising At Individuals

Hello World,

Today I would like to talk about a recent trend I have noticed in advertising. Rather than advertising a product for the benefits or showing one person using the product, companies now try to appeal to everyone by showing a different individuals engaging with the product.  To further explain this new trend I have included a few examples:

Windows Phone:



- This commercial starts off with the opening sentence "We are not for everybody", then continues to list its for the food lover, movie lover, road tripper, etc. Showing by the end, that the phone basically is for everyone.

Google Tablet:



- This commercial ends with the phrase, "For Everyone" after showing a montage of all the different people that might be interested in purchasing the product.

Dr. Dre Beats Headphones:



- This commercial does not necessary state that it is for everyone, however by the end of the commercial you see pro athletes, rappers, dancers, rock stars, pop stars, and average people. This helps paint a mental picture that these headphones can be worn by anyone and good for any type of music. 

Overall, I wanted to show that companies have begun changing the way they advertise to the public. By showing a wide range of different consumers in a commercial the company has a better chance of grabbing your attention than simply showing one person using a product. While one person in the commercial may not appeal to you, there will probably be two or three others that remind you of either yourself, someone you admire, or someone you would see yourself becoming friends with. By offering this extra personalities in the commercials, companies utilize the ability to appeal to you emotionally as well as showing you there new product they are offering.

In the end, not everyone company is advertising like this. I am just saying that more and more companies are adopting this approach, and I expect this to continue in the upcoming years. For all I know this might be a trend and fad out, or it might be here to stay.

Until next time,

Andrew Haug

   

Cuties (Made for All?)

Hello World,

Today I would like to examine the produce brand Cutie's and their attempts at bringing the brand into every home in America.

Background: Cuties is the name of a company that sells seed-less clementines marketed to children as a healthy snack alternative. Although Cuties has been successful, they now face many problems including other competition, consumer perceptions, and advertising to the right target market. These all sound like different problems, but with the right creative brief working off consumer's real insights these will all be solved with one successful advertising campaign. 




Consumer Insights: 1) Not everyone is set on purchasing a seed-less scientifically modified fruit
2) Cuite's brand name does not hold as much value as the company believes it does
3) Consumers complain about one rotten clementine spoiling the whole batch and Cutie's brand in general

Target Audience: Cuties is marketed to children and parents of children as easy to peel, but leaves out everyone else

Problem: Cutie's is a great product but currently it holds no more power than the other clementine brands. Children have no preference yet, and parents are not set on purchasing Cutie's. We must convince parents that Cutie's have an emotional connection and need to be part of their children's everyday life.

My Recommendation: Expand Cutie's advertising to show children of all ages, engaging in all their activities they are passionate about while eating Cutie's. Show the parents cheering on their children as they know the children are receiving the energy they need from a healthy snack you can eat on the go

.

By using this kind of advertising you now open the market to children of all ages rather than just small kids. Also we must show Cutie's being a partner with the consumer, helping you achieve your goals in life. We must make it feel as if Cutie's were removed from the picture the children would not feel as confident. This is the emotional element Cutie's needs to add to differentiate itself from other clementine companies.

Thanks for listening,

Andrew

Sources:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304373804577521241458781700.html

Julie Talbot (Speaker Prep)

Hello World,

The other day we were preparing to have a guest speaker for my advertising class. However due to circumstances out of our control (Superstorm Sandy) we were unable to meet Julie Talbot. So I thought I would go ahead and post my background and questions I had for here on my blog.



Background: Julie Talbot is Global Brand Manager for Burt's Bees Lip Category. She graduated from Virginia Tech in 2003 with a marketing degree, and later went on to receive her MBA from Rutgers. She currently works in Durham, North Carolina and manages the lip category which is estimated at over 100 million dollars. Here are some of the questions I would like to ask her:

1.       Strategic issue the company/brand is currently facing: How do you expand your brand into other hygiene products while staying true to your values as a company?

2.       Current consumer/customer perceptions of the company/brand: Burt’s Bees is among the leaders in lip balm, however when it comes to other products they are not yet considered the market leaders

3.       Specific, current event question based on the insights you discover: With the new manager coming in from Clorox and his experience he brings, how do you think this will help Burt’s Bees continue to grow?

Until next time,
Andrew Haug

Publicis (The Brand Managers)

Hello World,

Today I would like to take a minute to look into Publicis which is an international ad agency based in Europe. It does work all over the World, and is a major ad agency here in America working for such clients as Proctor & Gamble, Aflac, Wendys and Citibank. In my advertising class we were lucky enough to meet a gentleman named Chris Shumaker and he spoke about the process he conducts when creating a creative brief for a client. Some of the major points I pulled from his presentation are listed below:


Make an Emotional Connection: This is one of the most important factors when advertising, sometimes even when a company's sales are growing they still lack an emotional connection. By not having an emotional connection a company is vulnerable to competition taking away market share. Chris shared with us his experience with a Crest campaign. The problem was that consumers did not think about how important oral hygiene was in there everyday life. By presenting this as the problem to the creative team, they designed a whole campaign around "Your mouth is your portal to the World". This immediately made the product more relevant and put Crest into the consumer's mind when shopping for toothpaste.

Focus on Positive, Not Negative: Publicis does an amazing job on showing exciting events in your life rather than depressing times. Chris shared with us the advertising to change the way consumers viewed the brand of Bounty. Rather than viewing Bounty as the traditional "fix to the problem", they reinvented as "life happens and Bounty is there to help when it does". By changing the consumer's thinking process, they will now think of Bounty in a Positive light and become much more likely to gain an emotional attachment with it.



Show the Product in all Aspects of Life: This is another aspect of advertising that Publicis excels at. Rather than just showing one or two scenarios of a product, show how people will use it in any aspect of life. Publicis has done with this with the brand of Vicks, which is traditionally only thought of for the vapor rub. However, Vicks has a whole line of product that help breathing and recovering from the common cold. By launching a campaign that showed people going out into the World with the assistance of Vicks products they changed the consumers thoughts that Vicks should just be used in their bathrooms.

                                         

By using these three insights Publicis has reinvented many major brands and I am sure they will continue to succeed in the future. With great people working for them like Chris, I am sure that this company will not be going away anytime soon and I look forward to seeing their ad campaigns in the future.

Thanks again,

Andrew

*The three insights and everything stated above is all my opinions and thoughts. In no way are these the views or formula for Publicis when creating ads.*

Sources:

http://www.publiciskaplan.com/

NFL.COM Introduces the Next Big Game Changer

Hello again everyone,
(TL:DR available at bottom)

Background: Today I stumbled upon the future of reading websites. Similar to any other Monday, I like most men in America clicked on ESPN to check out the football scores and check our fantasy. Today however I wanted to check something else out on NFL.com, after clicking around for a couple of minutes I realized at the bottom I had accumulated some reward points. It was bright and engaging, so like any normal college student I clicked it. This is when I was introduced into the NFL.COM Fan Rewards program, which I have to admit blew my mind.

It seemed so simple to me, but yet I had never see anything like this before. A website offering rewards for the readers, creating an experience rather than just a one-way channel. I know the site worked on me today, rather than just reading a few articles as I would on ESPN.com; NFL.com tricked me into touring the whole site and watching countless videos on a quest to achieve badges and more reward points. That is the beauty of this reward program, NFL.COM rewards me for activities I would already be engaging in and on the other side, they can push products to me by offering extra reward points. Every week NFL.COM puts up challenges or what they call "Fan Drives", which is a series of tasks that if completed will offer some extra reward points. By using these "Fan Drives" NFL.COM can persuade the readers to check out certain content on the website.                    
                                                     
Real Example Fan Drive: Crucial Catch Campaign Drive           
                                                       
Task 1 - View the NFL Crucial Catch Campaign Page (10 Points)
Task 2 - Watch Video of Drew Brees supporting campaign (20 Points)
Task 3 - View the Donation and Registration Page (10 Points)
Bonus - Completion of Drive (5 Points)  

Just today I already earned over 700 points or about half-way to earning a cool pen with the NFL's logo on it. I know this sounds lame, but its a lot more than ESPN has ever given me. And now I am addicted to accumulating more points, so I will be heading to NFL.COM for all my football news and maybe even sometimes when I am bored to get my scores up.

Advertising Related: Basically this program got me to thinking. As every company struggles to find a way to stand out in the social media universe, NFL.COM has found a creative way to make a connection. I have seen this before on survey websites, but no one likes taking surveys without rewards. NFL.COM has used this same formula of rewarding points, and putting it on content that is valuable to the reader. Then by creating user leader boards, and encouraging readers to share these scores for extra reward points, NFL.COM has created viral content that people will want to share with their friends.

NFL.COM had a consumer insight that consumers had no brand loyalty when reviewing sports news. Whether it is viewing the scores on ESPN, Yahoo, or NFL.COM the reader has no incentive to picking a favorite. Although this is not an advertising campaign, creative teams for designing websites still face many of the same problems and issues. In this case, the creative team needed to add value to what you do online. They discovered it can be something as simple as a badge for viewing 5 videos that you can share with your friends. By building off these rewards the website creators made it simple to share these rewards and encourage readers to feel they are accomplishing challenges every time they log onto the website.

In class the other day we had a speaker who discussed the importance of creating an experience with the consumer, rather than a one-way channel. He said the biggest problem when offering a service online is creating a personal experience with the consumer on the other side. By using "Fan Drives" NFL.COM can lure readers into checking out content that would probably otherwise be overlooked. Now if NFL.COM can do this for sports videos and articles, imagine what CNN or Wall Street Journal can do to create an experience with their readers.


TL,DR: NFL.COM has created a reward points system that gives you points towards prices and sweepstakes for interacting with their website. Points are earned by watching a video, reading an article, commenting, or sharing with friends. This has changed my new favorite website for football from ESPN to NFL, and I can see other sites adding in these programs in the future.

By using this reward points system NFL.COM has created an experience for the reader rather than just a one-way channel. This program encourages readers to share the content with friends to earn tangible or real rewards outside of the internet.

So I ask you, who would not like to earn rewards for things you do on the internet anyway???


Thanks again,

Andrew Haug

Sources:

http://www.nfl.com/

Less is More. Bars of Soap?

Hello again,

It was today in my class that we discussed how far body wash has come in the last 5 years and how it has replaced soap in many households across America. So does this mean that soap will one day disappear from the hygiene isle?

Of course not...in fact soap sales have actually increased from 1.1 billion in 2010 to 1.2 billion dollars in 2011. But why is this? What has Soap done?

In fact soap has done something brilliant, by reminding everyone why soap is so great in the first place. Rather than stressing the benefits like a body wash company might portray soap companies have decided to remind consumers about their experiences with bar soap and now offering fragrances similar to those in your body wash. Soap was trying to stress the new fragrances before body wash ever came out, but its almost like the consumer forgot. In a way consumer's have hit the "turning point" and decided to make bar soap trendy again.

Many might believe that the increase in sales my be due to the economy and bar soap being much cheaper than body wash. That is not true either, because the greatest increase in sales is hand-made or specialty bar soaps. Leaving us to believe that for whatever reason America is turning back to the bar of soap, and putting down their "poufs".



When dealing with a commodity, anytime you can create an experience or connection with the consumer is essential. I believe soap has done this, whether on purpose or not consumers are remembering how much they enjoy soap and looking to get back that experience they have lost with the body wash. I believe it is safe to say that although soap did not do some crazy advertising campaign it is on a comeback and will continue to be in our hygiene isle for years to come.

Thanks for reading,

Andrew Haug

Sources:

http://adage.com/article/news/soap-cleans-raising-bar/237596/

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyR5RrtvsmX5jzQkCvYodOBXRpTpfTHgs3Vp7SpJ5JUt_LisFLqDtFq03_h00GiYd2Fi4WQP0_20JgskVt2KK3SSu4srGL6GnICH1rqMF8hJZTy7fx562k3_vPu0tY7vsE1Lve8ZbhqWI/s1600/dove+soap.jpg

http://img.ehowcdn.com/article-new/ehow/images/a05/te/ao/make-homemade-soap-bar-800x800.jpg

Dr. Pepper 10 The Man's Drink

Hello Everyone,

Today I thought I would look into a controversial advertising campaign that continues to go strong almost a year after its creation. The product is Dr. Pepper Ten, a diet soda marketing to exclusively to men. In fact it is marketed so much to men that its tagline for the product is "Dr. Pepper Ten  - Not for Women".  Although this has been done in the past by Coke Zero and Pepsi One, they never changed the perception of the consumer on diet soda and eventually failed to attract the amount of consumers desired.



At first you may say this is a bad ad because it immediately eliminates women, 50% of the World's population. However as we talk about in my advertising class, to successfully position a product in a consumers mind you must also deposition from the normal consumers thought process. In this case, Dr. Pepper is attacking the norm that diet sodas are strictly for women. Then by using the can design and emphasizing that it does have calories and taste, the brand tries to reach out to appeal to men seeking a low-calorie soda.

Below I have listed some of the brilliance of the campaign:

1) Recognized a need for a diet soda that appeals to men - Similar to five gum which realized teenagers were no longer purchasing gum. So they created a brand that made gum chewing an experience.

2) Used Perceptions of Diet Drinks for Women to Create Shock Factor - Right away you realize this is not for women, offended or not it forces you to read the rest of the print to learn more.

3) New can design - Simple, strong, masculine colors. Looks similar to the colors used for the Axe body wash campaign. Red, Gray, and Black



By using these three insights Dr. Pepper already had an advantage on the competition. Now nearly a year later Dr. Pepper Ten sales continue to grow, and just goes to show you that sometimes these advertisers know what they are doing.

Until next time,

Andrew Haug

Sources: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/story/2011-10-10/dr-pepper-for-men/50717788/1

Dove For Men. Creative Brief

 Hello again,

Today I would like to look at the success of Dove, and more specifically Dove for Men. How did a company that was so focused on women's hygiene products change their image to serve men's needs too?

That's where the advertising and marketing teams come in.        
                                                                                                           
By using an advertising agency, Dove created an amazing advertising campaign that changed how the average consumer viewed the Dove Brand. The advertising agency did this by starting off with a great creative brief.

A creative brief is created by the account planner, it is a simple statement that inspires the creative team and portrays the purpose of advertising campaign. A successful brief brings together inspiration and focus. Some things to consider defining a creative brief:

1) "The bridge between strategy and execution" - Henrik Habberstad

2) "Creative without strategy is called art. Creative with strategy is called advertising" - Jef Richards, Courtesy of Anis Khan

So although I did not find the exact Dove for Men's creative brief, I thought it would be fun to imagine what creative briefs they pitched to the creative team. To start we must think of the problem or mission at hand:

                         

Mission: How do we make Dove appeal to Men?

To show how they created the creative brief, I will show some bad examples and finally a good example.

Bad Creative Brief: Create an ad with a handsome man using our products in the shower

-This is a bad creative brief, because it does not inspire the team and it also limits their creativity by making them work within the parameters.

Better Creative Brief: Create an ad showing the benefits of our new products
-This is better because it does not limit the creative team, but again it does not inspire the team and there is no focus for the creative team to go off.

Best: Create a television ad demonstrating the numerous benefits of this ground-breaking new product line that equips your everyday average man with the confidence he needs to take on the World.

-This is the best creative brief because it has inspiration to help your everyday average man take on the World. It also has some focus with the television act and emphasizing benefits, but not too much like the first one limiting the ad to the bathroom.

Overall, a great creative brief is all about communication from the account planner to the creative team. Each side must have respect for the other, and work together to create a great advertising campaign. All of these briefs were simply things I imagined, but I do believe they pitched something similar to these when they started the campaign.

Dove for Men has been a great success, and in a lot of ways I would credit it to the advertising team. That's all I have for now, but I look forward to writing more later.

-Andrew

Sources:

http://www.unilever.ca/brands/personalcarebrands/Dove_mencare.aspx

Professor Jane Machin - Powerpoints

 

Kraft Mac N Cheese...Not to be Wasted

Hello again World,

Tonight I would like to bring up an important issue happening in homes all across America; WASTED MACARONI USED ON ART! While kids all over the World are going hungry, we are using perfectly good macaroni for art work rather than food.    

While this sounds like an huge exaggeration, the marketing geniuses at Kraft have taken this idea and made it real. Kraft is currently celebrating its 75th birthday this year, and along with its clever commercials involving children getting back at there parents, as the Officer Dan commercial seen below, they are also starting up a Social Marketing Campaign with Feeding America.

Officer Dan:




Using clever commercials, social media, and the website www.dinnernotart.com/#home Kraft has created awareness about a new app available for I-Pads and desktop computers. This App allows you to create macaroni art on your computer so you do not have to waste good boxes of Mac n Cheese. Also for every picture submitted, 10 real noodles will be donated to Feeding America. As of today over 12,609,690 noodles have been donated by Kraft. Here is an example of a picture from the app:



Using this App, Kraft is creating a Social Marketing Campaign in which consumers feel good about donating without having to actually donate money. All consumers need to do is draw a picture and Kraft does the rest. From Kraft's point of view, consumer will share good word of mouth about what Kraft is doing, and how great their app is. Overall, this is a brilliant marketing campaign and I am hoping it will really take off for Kraft in the next couple of months. Finally before I saw goodbye, here is one more funny Kraft commercial to go along with the "Dinner Not Art Campaign".



Goodbye World, I will be in touch soon

-Andrew

Sources:

http://www.dinnernotart.com/#home

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/kraft-kids-stop-wasting-those-noodles-macaroni-art-141806

Old Spice Shows Us How to Go Viral

Hello World,

Today I thought I would give a shout out to one of the most successful Viral campaigns of all time. The Old Spice Guy. His real name is Isaiah Mustafa and his first commercial for Old Spice has now been seen by over 42 million viewers on YouTube, not to mention how many saw the Ads on television.

Although all the videos received rave reviews and were shared by millions, the true genius of the campaign came when Old Spice began to send personalized messages to users. The campaign made over 180 videos, thanking users for sharing the original videos. The users ranged from big name celebrities such as Ellen Degeneres, Alyssa Milano, and Perez Hilton to average consumers on their twitters. Here is an example of a video to Ellen Degeneres:



These "Old Spice Responses" have tallied over 5.9 million views and even more impressive over 22,500 comments. Below is the fastest growing Viral campaigns of all time, and as you will notice Old Spice Responses is #1.




The agency responsible for all the success is Wieden and Kennedy. They came up with the idea of making the Old Spice Guy not just a funny video, but a real character that can communicate with his consumers. This is the brilliance of a great viral campaign as you must create something that the users can share that holds a personal connection. Then once the personal connection is created it will hopefully, transfer to the Brand name and identity. I believe Old Spice has done this with the Old Spice Guy and the campaign of Old Spice Responses. Although now retired, we can still look back at this campaign and learn what to do right when it comes to creating a ground-breaking viral campaign.

Hope you enjoyed the post and I look forward to writing again soon,

-Andrew

Sources:

http://mashable.com/2010/07/15/old-spice-stats/

http://www.oregonlive.com/idahosportugal/index.ssf/2010/07/wieden_kennedys_old_spice_guy.html

This is SportsCenter!

If you watch any sports, or even have basic cable I am sure that you aware of the sports news program called "SportsCenter" which is a staple on the network of ESPN. Now if you take a minute, aside from Internet websites, can you name 3 other sports highlight shows???

                                                   

1) Fox Sports Show       
2) No Idea
3) No Clue 

-Don't worry the average person can not, I am sure that I can not even think of one other sports highlight show on basic cable.

Now how did SportsCenter come to such a monopoly on sports highlights. I often find myself complaining that SportsCenter does not show enough highlights and it has become too much expert opinions, yet every morning I still find myself watching. I know that every guy reading this can agree with me; that they have laid in bed one morning and watched nothing but SportsCenter despite having seen the same highlights 3 times already.

So why do we love SportsCenter so much???

In my opinion SportsCenter by using its commercials, original Sports anchors with unique personalities, and offering a constant product of sports highlights finishing each episode with everyone's favorite Top 10 plays section they have built a valuable brand.

This is where the genius of "This is SportsCenter" comes in. Using SportsCenter anchors mixing with Sports icons, the commercial show a comedic view into life at the ESPN headquarters. By using these commercials, ESPN headquarters is portrayed as a fantasy land, where celebrities, sports stars, and ESPN staff all hangout  in an environment similar to high school. In a way, the commercials remind me of ESPN headquarters as a magical place similar to what Willie Wonka's factory is to chocolate.

So in honor of the "This is SportsCenter" commercial campaign that I believe helped SportsCenter eliminate all other sports highlight shows I have listed my Top 10 below:



10) Tiger Woods & Stuart Scott - Classic; one of the first commercials back in 1994.



9) Lance Armstrong & Dan Patrick - Power goes out, but Lance doesn't stop...



8) Mark McGwire & Assorted Sports Anchors - Y2K is coming.


7) David Ortiz, Jorge Posada, & Stan Verrett - Wally is not what you think!


6) Lebron James & Scott Van Pelt - King's Chair.


5) Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, & Stuart Scott - Boston 3 Party.


4) Ladainian Tomlinson & Steve Levy - None of this mail is mine.


3) Dwight Howard & Hannah Storm - You were lucky Superman was so close.


2) Dwayne Wade & Neil Everett - Add some more defenders.


1) John Clatyon & Stan Verrett - Bringing the commercials to a new level


Hope you enjoyed these commercials and now understand why SportsCenter is the industry leader in sports highlights.

-Andrew

Sources:

www.youtube.com

http://www.coastalfans.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/top-10.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/SportsCenter_logo.png

http://www.goodlogo.com/images/logos/espn_logo_3299.gif

Does Your Doctor Really Recommend 5 Hour Energy???

So I was watching TV the other day when I saw a commercial for 5 hour energy shots. I'm sure most of you have seen this commercial or if not I have attached the link below:

http://needenergy.com/commercial.php

In the commercial they make the claim that over 73% of 3,000 doctors surveyed recommend 5 hour energy drink. However upon further review and simply reading a line or two into the fine print, you begin to realize that they have done a great job of rewording the claims to their benefit. Below are the true stats from the survey:

• 73% of Doctors said they would recommend a low calorie energy supplement to their healthy patients who use energy supplements.
• Of that 73%, only 56% said they would specifically recommend 5 hour energy to healthy patients.
• 47% of all Doctor's surveyed would specifically recommend 5 hour energy to healthy patients.

When looking at this numbers they are not bad, but 47% recommending 5 hour energy compared to 73% is a huge drop. As we learned today in class, this advertisement is not illegal however I would consider it to be deceptive advertising. To a reasonable consumer the commercial tries to express the claim that over 73% of Doctors recommend this product, when only 47% specifically recommended it. In addition upon further research I could not find any sources of who these doctors were or how they were selected. Both major flaws in traditional marketing protocol. Finally, just to add to more uncertainty about the product it still has not been FDA approved; despite being on the market for more than 5 years.

Overall Facts:  

1. 5 Hour Energy paid for this survey and did not realize the doctors information
2. 47% not 73% recommended 5 Hour Energy specifically 
3. The FDA has still not officially approved the health benefits of this product

So overall I consider this ad to be acting in deceptive advertising. Despite all I have just said I do like 5 Hour Energy shots, I use them time to time and probably will continue to use them in the future. However, I have never linked my decision of purchasing a 5 Hour Energy shot with what my doctor would recommend for me. If anything I become slightly angry that 5 Hour Energy would try to fool consumers into purchasing their product by using unidentified doctor testimonies. In my book, it puts their brand at no higher of a reputation than an infomercial for a weight loss supplement.

I thank you for reading my post and look forward to addressing anymore deceptive advertising in the future.

Thanks,

Andrew

Sources:

http://www.doctorsreview5hour.com/index.php?utm_source=NeedEnergySite&utm_medium=weblink&utm_content=CommercialPage&utm_campaign=DoctorsReview

The First Post

Since this a blog dedicated to analyzing television commercials, I thought why not start the first blog post with a little research of the industry and money dedicated to television advertising. Everyone knows that it cost millions to run a commercial during the Super Bowl, but did you realize that it cost over 3.5 million dollars for a 30 second ad last year? That is more than many of us will earn in our whole lives of working, and spent just to get your companies name out there.

Below is the average cost of television ads over the last 10 years.



It is said that the average American watches over 4 hours of television a day. So what do you really get for advertising on television, can you reach the consumer in that short 30 second commercial?

Here is a snapshot of average advertising costs in the United States:



In this day and age, your commercial must stand out. Companies do this in many different ways working to use their medium across the television to create an emotional bond with the consumer watching the advertisement. Of these emotional ties, my personal favorite and seems to be the fastest growing appeal of targeting consumers is humor. Companies are now heavy depending on the consumer having a sense of humor, and using it as a way to make your commercial stand out from others.

As the year goes on I will look into all sorts of commercials and point out what the companies are doing right, wrong, and anything I believe they should do differently in the future. I hope you look forward to reading my opinions, as I will look forward to writing them.

-Andrew Haug

Sources:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2011/story/_/id/7544243/super-bowl-2012-commercials-cost-average-35m

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-07-07/tech/30048336_1_ad-spending-online-advertising-ad-business

http://www.tv.com/news/how-much-television-do-you-watch-per-week-24833/

http://i.marketingprofs.com/assets/images/daily-data-point/super-bowl-ad-rates-and-spending-kantarmedia.jpg