Catch and Release Online Viewers

So I noticed today that a lot of companies that advertise on Youtube and Facebook (two sites that are pretty cutting-edge on the internet right now, you may not have heard of them) don't direct you to their own websites. Instead, they take you to that company's own profile page. Since the idea is just to get the product or brand name in your head, there's no sense in taking you away from what you were doing in the first place. If you're going to spend some time on Facebook, but you click an ad and it takes you away from Facebook, you'll exit that window right away and go back to what you were doing. However, it it takes you to a Facebook profile, you might look around for a bit. That's what you were going to do anyway.

Don't Change the Product, Just How It's Advertised

This may come as a surprise to you, but I'm a huge fan of video games. I've got a SNES myself. The best thing about games is that no matter how stupid of an ad you make, they sell themselves. Looks like ads have gotten better, though. At least, better than this one.

I've been seeing a few commercials for the Xbox 360 lately. After looking up some of their previous ads online, I found something surprising.




So that ad is obviously showing it off as a system that's great for shooting games. The large number of people hints at internet multiplayer. (Man, seems like just yesterday when multiplayer meant "grab that controller over there.")

But then the Wii came out, and it's the one that the whole family gets together and plays. So, what is the Xbox 360 now?



The family system! Smart move.

Soooo...I might have dropped the ball on my latest client. I mentioned at the bottom of my last post that I had been commissioned to do the Elko, Nevada school district's logo. Naturally, that's not the type of high profile customer I was accustomed to pre-recession, but I'm not afraid to take what I can get. It's been a while since I last made a logo, but after dusting off my Macintosh (OS 6, of course) and popping in the Photoshop floppy, I found that it was just like riding a bike.

However, through a MINOR miscommunication that was NO FAULT OF MY OWN, despite my FREQUENT REASSURANCE that what I had presented to the parents was only a PROTOTYPE for the final design, I have been informed that my services are no longer needed.










Because APPARENTLY they are the Fightin' Mustangs, not the Bitin' Mustangs.
Hey, ya win some, ya lose some.

New phone ad approach

So I caught this ad the other day. Have a look -- it does a great job of showing how the cell phone has become a part of everyday life nowadays. Compare that to the Centel ad from 1989, which focuses on the glamorous side of owning a then-new-fangled device.

On a side note, the Elko, Nevada School District asked me to come up with a slogan and logo! I knew this whole blogging deal would pay off! WHOOOOWEEE!!!

Maybe I'm just a little old-fashioned here, but I've always been under the impression that a huge ad campaign should consist of at least somewhat good ads. You know...like ads that are in some way clever, or at least very loud.

So I'm a little confused every time I see these Kentucky Grilled Chicken ads. Apparently there is some sort of "Grilled Nation," which we ought to be a part of. And you become a member of this nation by -- you guessed it -- buying Kentucky Grilled Chicken.

Holy crap. How long did it take those guys to think of that? Was their original idea to make the "Kentucky Kool Kidz Club?" But wait, to be a Kool Kid, you have to go to KFC! Bravo to them, I see they put your heads together on that one.*

*Reliable sources tell me that the KFC marketing team's official greeting is, in fact, a headbutt.

It gets better, though. Check out the Grilled Nation website and click the "Grilled Nation" icon at the top. Here they've come up with a bunch of interesting points on a map to do a terrible job of photoshopping in a bucket of KFC. How fun is that? Only slightly more fun than watching paint dry.

Coincidentally, if you're in the mood for a little paint-observation action, you can check out their "Times Square Webcam," which is fixed on a billboard. Unfortunately the paint is already dry, but you can still watch the paint maintain a constant viscosity.

Sheesh. And here I'm the one with no clients.

OK, found a pretty permanent place for the MADBUS now. It's shaded, quiet, and the neighbors haven't noticed that I've been stealing their cable. Cool thing is, they just immigrated from Japan, so they have the international TV package. Have a look at these; bet you've never heard of Pepsiman before!



Then again, some companies decide not to change tactics overseas.

Let's take a spin around the internet today, to see how one company presents itself in different parts of the world.

Go to pepsi.com. Notice how the site is big, bright, and flashy, with multiple windows being shown at once. You can scroll across different windows by using the arrow keys on your keyboard. (You may have to click on an empty space in the background of the site for the arrow keys to work.) Despite having the obligatory Rock Band and NFL tie-ins, they're also trying to make themselves look like a very post-material company -- they have some kind of Goodworks campaign, an "Eco Challenge," a link to the DoSomething and City Year websites, and an ad campaign geared towards deaf people. Also note the emphasis on social networking: they have a Facebook page, twitter account, and Youtube channel. Pretty much every current trend on one webpage.

Pepsi's Canadian page is almost identical in style, but it lacks the charitable parts and swaps our favorite sport for theirs. This pretty much encompases the interests of our hockey-stick wielding Neanderthals to the north, so no surprises there. But, the Canadian website keeps the links to Pepsi's social networking sites. (Fun fact: Neanderthal tweets limited to four characters.)

The UK page has a darker motif (matches the food and weather), but it's still very flashy and shooting for the eighteen to thirty-five age range. Heavy on the sports and music tie-ins. Though it uses a different style, Pepsi's Mexican site has a similar focus: strictly sports and music.

Now let's go for a swim and see their Australian website. They've gone in a completely new direction here. The website has a much different style, and the only things prominently displayed on the front page are their oddball commercials. Here they seem to be making themselves out to be the crazy, young person's soda. Strangely, no mention of Facebook or the others.

Let's contrast that to their German page. Notice how the content is aligned with straight lines. Definitely nothing crazy about this soda, it's just for people that like football. Er...futbol.

Last stop is Japan. Remember how the buttons on the German site barely flashed when you put the cursor on them? Check out how the rectangle icons move on the Japanese site. That seems pretty standard for Japanese websites. For example, compare sega.com to sega.jp. The japanese site has more vivid colors and attention-grabbing graphics.

Phew! So there you have it. Just showing how companies cater their appearance to different tastes. Now, I need to find somewhere to park the Mobile Advertisement Business (or MADBUS, as I've taken to calling it). You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find places with unprotected Wifi.

What's that commercial saying?

So apparently the advertising world is always evolving. In the 90's, you may have noticed a very "in your face style" of commercials, featuring voice-overs that yell at you, explosions, and awesome rock jingles. (You're welcome, you're welcome, and you're welcome.) From what I can see, though, today things are more subdued. Looks people got tired of all that, and now minimalist ads lead to maximalist sales. And, in a commercial with less noise and visual action, there's more room for things to be in the background.

For instance, you may have seen this KFC commercial. There's a dollar bill hidden edited into the lettuce of the sandwich. That's a smart move by KFC -- they want you to associate a dollar bill with their sandwich. That way, every time you notice there's a dollar in your wallet, even though you don't realize it, you subconsciously think of KFC. Kudos, colonel.

Here's another example. It's an Orbitz commercial. Unlike the KFC one, though, I don't think there's a positive association here. Many groups are upset about this, and I understand why. From my perspective, it's just a bad marketing move. Check it out below and see if you can catch it.

Did you see it? Don't feel bad if you aren't as keen as me. I'll break it down for you. Here's a screen capture at fourteen seconds in.

Bang! Right there, plain as day, on the right guy's polo shirt, is a blue square with a yellow equal sign. You know what that symbolizes?

MATH.

Now, no one likes math. No one. Why would a travel site -- which is supposed to take the number-crunching out of things -- want you to associate them with math? Everything else is right on: the palm trees, the golf course, and the hovercraft. They're all good things. Unless you've got a thing against argyle sweaters, there are some really solid positive associations here. But math? I don't know. It seems like math has recieved a boost in the last few years, though. In fact, it's everywhere.





In this videogame, you play as a pie chart.

As if hospitals weren't depressing enough already, this one has a plus sign.

These frat guys probably don't even know that an irrational number is right outside their house.









Why Orbitz wanted to sneak math in their commercial, I don't know. But the point is, you have to know how to keep your product on people's minds and get them to associate your brand with something.

OK, here I am in the blogosphere. Gotta market myself now, but fortunately for me, I know how to do just that. Before you know it, I'll be back in the game.

I guess I should fill you in on my condition right now. Despite hitting a rough patch, which I'm not afraid to admit that I have, my living situation hasn't changed much. When I was on top of the world, cerca 1996, I had a home, an office, and a vehicle. Then business started to head downwards, and I had to ditch the office location. So then I worked from my home-office, and I still had a vehicle. Business slid a little further after that, though, so now I'm all set up in a home-office-vehicle.

My integrated living situation.

Just to show that I can still get an Eskimo to buy an air conditioner, I'll be showing some examples of ads that are just doing it wrong, so you can see why the industry needs the Mustang back.