Guess Who?

It's that time again.. time to play celebrity guess who!

If you can guess the celebrity voice in the following ad, you win a $10 Amazon gift card! (It's not going to be easy so put your thinking caps on.)



Check back next Saturday when I announce the results.

Paula Deen and the falling out

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the butter loving Paula Deen.

Let's recap her PR Nightmare:

• Type 2 Diabetes 
• Low ratings
• Discrimination suit 
• Racism filled deposition
• Bye bye food network
• So long Smithfield
• Then the rest of the endorsements fall: Kmart, Wal-Mart, Target, etc.

Interestingly enough, I don't think the public is outraged over the revelation that Paula Deen used a racial slur. (Maybe no one surprised?) I think people just didn't really like her in the first place. In my opinion, this is easiest and most cost effective way for corporations to her to drop her from the payroll.

Thinking about the direction that we're moving in society, people are becoming more obsessed with health, fitness, and eating right. Paula Deen's cooking doesn't appeal to the key demographic that every TV advertiser is hoping capture: 19-40. Being in the 19-40 year old demo myself, I can say with some certainty that these are people hoping to look young and fit,  who want to feed their children healthy meals, and who want to live well into old age. Those traits do not align with the fried buttery goodness that is Paula Deen.

Do you think it's an end of an era or good riddance? 

Guess Who?

Welcome to the Weekly "Name That Celebrity Voice" Challenge

Here's how it works: Watch the commercial below. Guess the celebrity voice, leave a comment below, win a prize. (Currently I'm thinking a $10 Amazon gift card!) 

 

Do you think it's worth it for companies to pay for celebrity voices? Do enough people recognize the voice to influence purchasing? Or is it something else a celebrity voice brings? 

Game ends Friday at Midnight PST. Winner will be chosen at random from correct guesses and announced on Saturday. So please check back! 

Emmy Noms are IN

I love the Emmy's. It feels like my best friends are the ones getting the awards. At the Oscars, it's all the popular kids.

Aside from the actors, hosts, and T.V. shows winning awards- everyone's favorite commercials are also up for the big prize. So I present to you, the emmy nominated commercials, videos and all. =)

Viral Mash-up

If you haven't already, check out this marketing video from Smart Water. It's title: Jenn Aniston sex tape. (Don't worry, it's complete SFW.)

The Birthday to End All Birthdays

My favorite part: "Below the line execution such as cake decorations and even the family dog."



Very Clever.

Doritos declared Superbowl Ad winner!

In an article from Brandweek, the Superbowl ad's are ranked according to ad tracker Ace Metrix.

Their top 6 are as follows:

1. Doritos' "Pug Attack"
2. Pepsi Max "Love Hurts"
3. Doritos' "House Sitting"
4. Pepsi Max "Torpedo Cooler"
5. Bridgestone Tire
6. Snickers with Richard Lewis and Roseanne Bar

I am surprised the Darth Vader ad didn't make it further up with list- it is ranked 8th. Apparently, the "Pug Attack" ad was very appealing to children. Maybe the Darth Vader ad just didn't appeal to a wide enough variety of people?

And the winner of Super Bowl XLV is...

Volkswagen! They had the best commercials and the best strategy. They actually released the Star Wars themed ad on-line the week before it aired. To date, it has 15 million views on You tube! Compare that with the Eminem/Chrysler commercial at 500K or the Doritos pug commercial at 625K. (I am partial to pugs though.)

Check them out below, in order of views:


1. VW - Darth Vader with 15 million views


2. Chrysler/Eminem Ad with 500K views



3. Doritos pug commercial with 625K views




Which ones were your favs?

Ad Campaign FTW

I recently came across this wonderful ad campaign in Daily Dawdle. The link to the original website is here.

It's aptly titled "Life's Too Short for The Wrong Job." For a promotion, it does a great job of conveying the message of what their company offers, but I'm not sure about the locations- it looks they were everywhere. I also think they were targeting hourly workers, but I can't be sure. It's a fun campaign. I just don't know if it did what they wanted.

You can catch the rest of them on the websites listed above.

Danke! (for visiting)

Apple is joining Facebook in Info Sharing

A recent Wall Street Journal article reveals that Apple apps are also selling users information to ad networks including Pandora, The Weather Channel, Dictionary.com, and Paper Toss. According to Bloomberg reports, "some apps are also selling additional information to ad networks, including users' location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation and political views."

The worst offender was found to be TextPlus4. The WSJ reports that it "sent the phone's unique ID number to eight ad companies and the phone's zip code, along with the user's age and gender, to two of them"

Ouch. We'll see if Android users catch wind of the lawsuit and file on of their own. Interestingly enough, most apps require that you agree to the terms and conditions, including information sharing. The problem is that 45 of 101 apps studied in the article, WSJ found that they did not have privacy policy.

The question is: how do marketers and advertisers get the information they want without violating user's privacy? And why weren't these companies following the integral rule of marketing to respect the user's privacy?

TED Talk for your entertainment - "Life Lessons From an Ad Man"

Rory Sutherland gives an excellent talk on intangible value that includes funny and clever examples.



If you're skeptical about marketing then this video is a must see.