Target Christmas Commercial

These Target commercials are so funny that have been airing lately for Black Friday and for Christmas. I feel like these commercials are really great and hit a pretty big target market- Mom’s and women in general. I feel like a lot of mom’s and women can kind of relate to what the woman in the Target commercial is going through. Definitely not as extreme as her, but definitely pointing out that shopping for Christmas and the holidays certainly is a race against time and is a tedious task. Every year these commercials really grab my attention, and of course I always get a call from my mom asking me if I’ve seen it yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uE-EfEXHk8&feature=related

Advertisements

United Colors of Benetton

I found out about United Colors of Benetton about this time a year ago. I didn’t know what is was and had never heard of it before my Creativity class. The first ad from United Colors of Benetton that I ever saw was a man in a hospital bed dying of AIDS and his family by his side holding him, and his mom and sister in the room holding each other crying. When I saw it, I asked myself “what the heck is this for???” and I started looking at their clothes thinking it was all about color, but when I found out the ad had nothing to do with what the company actually sold, it really turned me off. I realize that they were trying to raise awareness and cause a stir, but I don’t care for it at all. I’m all about raising awareness in appropriate ways, but not in ways like that. I would expect that if it’s a clothing company, they will show their clothes. NOT a picture of a woman breastfeeding. I think United Colors of Benetton has good intentions with their advertising, but It does not make me want to actively seek out their clothing, it just makes me think about the ad of the man in his deathbed. This kind of advertising just isn’t my cup of tea. I’m more of a humorous person, and these types of advertisements just puzzle me, and some (depending on which ones) gross me out.

http://www.benettongroup.com/en/whatwesay/sottosezioni/campaigns_photo_gallery.htm

Car Wars

I’ve noticed recently ever since my last post that car advertisement are getting pretty competitive, but then again in this economy, it’s necessary. I found an article about BMW, Audi, Subaru and Bentley all competing to be the best in the magazine advertisements. They’re pretty funny and entertaining, but to be honest, doesn’t really make me want to buy any of those cars, I just find it hilarious.

http://deanhunt.com/advert-wars/

Billboards

I recently read and article about BMW vs. Audi billboards and how they are constantly in a race with each other. I think that billboards should be brought back and made more creative. For instance, the first time I remember seeing a billboard that actually caught my attention was the Chick-Fil-A Cows that were posted up on top of billboards making it look like they were rebelling and trying to show that people need to eat less beef and more chicken. Genius idea. I think bilboards are a great way to advertise, I just think that people sometimes forget how it can be done right to the point where people will actually notice. This article about BMW vs. Audi proves my point about billboards and how they can actually make an impact on people.

http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/04/13/billboards-war-bmw-vs-audi/

Social Media

Advertising on social media has become this huge thing that a lot of people are doing now. You can find it on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. I think that this is a great way to advertise, but I also think that it has it’s setbacks. For instance, when I’m on Facebook, I find it kind of annoying that there are ads on the side that I happen to accidentally click on and it will navigate me off the page, OR it will have some ridiculous ad that has nothing to do with me and what i’ve been searching online. One time, I was in class and was on Facebook (keep in mind, this was BEFORE class even started) and the person next to me looked over at my screen and goes “what have you been searching??” and I asked why and he pointed out that the ads on facebook track what you do and what you search and try and cater advertisements to you…WELL, this particular ad happened to be an Egg Donor ad. Needless to say, since people don’t know for sure if that’s really what i’m searching for or not, that’s embarrassing! People don’t need to see things like that, and neither do I.

Clean Advertising

Being in all these advertising classes, I’ve noticed that one particular type of advertising that I found extremely interesting. This is “clean advertising.” What this is is a company will put stencils down on the ground and power wash over them and create and advertisement. I found one company that does this and they are called CURB. They said that clean advertising is:

“A highly targeted natural media which works by literally cleaning your advert into almost any high footfall urban location. Using custom made equipment we create crystal clear messages by selectively removing dirt, to create a stark contrast between the dirty surface and original as-new colour of the pavement.”

I think that this is a great way to advertise and pretty interesting. It’s a great way to grab someones attention and a “green” way of advertising.

http://www.mindthecurb.com/what-we-do-clean.asp

Alternative media- Projections

I had to do a report on alternative media in one of my classes and found some very interesting stuff on wall and floor projections for advertising. I found that many companies like to use these projections to attract consumers attention. For instance, one video that I found was for Travelers Insurance where a person is walking by this screen that has the Travelers Insurance logo on it (an umbrella), but it is made up tiny umbrellas and when someone walks by, their image pushes the umbrellas around. I noticed that a lot of people have posted videos about interactive media such as these wall and floor projections and they have gotten a good amount of hits. I also noticed that a lot of companies do this out of the U.S.

I couldn’t find examples of people using this kind of advertising in the U.S., but maybe that’s something that will become the new craze.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP-x0L605I0&feature=related