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