Monday, April 16, 2007

Case Study

Cashing in on Memroies: The new strategy for the Coca Cola with their tag line of "The Coke Side of Life" is focused at drawing people back to the soda they used to drink adn the reasons for why they used to drink it. This message is being brought to the consumours by way of television commercials and radio advertisements.
Online Strategy: Coke has gone to providing a website that can be seen as a personal website that allows consumers to share files, blog about coke related themes with other consumers and watch commercials in various formates. This is one form of strategy that may not increase sales with in the nation as a whole, but it will at least increase brand knowledge and Coke product knowledge.
Strengths: been on the market for at least a century and their botteling formate allows them to not only be recognized all around the world, but it is a form that can be eaisly recreated with out many problems.
Weaknesses: not being able to easily translate their taglines and campaings into other languages and be esaily relatable to other cultures around the world.
Communication: Coke has done a good job of providing a way for customer feedback and providing information on what Coke is doing and what their furture plans are.

Failed Campaign...Or Lack Their Of

K-Mart Suffers Due To Lack Of Advertising...

Over the last ten years the list of common, everyday, affordable stores has slowly decreased day by day. While many of these stores were smaller and common only to specific regions of the United States, one nation-wide store has all but disappeared due to stiff competition and sadly, to stupid mistakes.
Not too long ago Kmart, feeling secure in their place in American society, started focusing at becoming a location similar to that of their competitor Wal-Mart, attracting customer’s with their every day low prices on quality items. This move forced the company to cut their spending costs in as many areas as possible. Sadly, one of the areas they cut back on was their advertising.
The store made the drastic change to cut back in their Sunday advertising by cutting their Sunday circular pages by 50% in the span of only two quarters. During the first quarter they cut their Sunday advertisements by 15 pages, and then in the second quarter they drooped their circulars by 75 pages. While this cut lead to an increase in the stores weekly foot traffic, the company experienced a $224 million dollar loss in the end of the third quarter in 2001 due to the decrease in the amount of Sunday traffic (Howell).
The problem, according to ceo Chuck Conway, was the mistake of cutting to much advertising at such a fast rate. The cut in advertising led to a cut in the promotion of merchandise that in turn, led to customers heading to the store’s main competition, Wal-Mart, and all other competing locations.
Clearly the problem with this campaign, or the lack of a campaign was not so much a problem with what was being advertised or the manner in which the advertising took place. It has more to do with the idea that if you are going to be offering the same product at competition prices, then you need to get the word out. With new competition arriving on the market everyday, a location that is “secure” in its market holdings cannot simply start to disappear off the face of the earth at such a rapid pace, they cannot expect to be “free” of any kinds of consequences.

Ad: Hershey

http://www.trojanhorseantiques.com/HersheyTray.jpg

Ever since Milton Hershey founded his beloved chocolate in the early 1900’s, little advertising has been needed to bring about the annual sales that Hershey Co. grosses on a year to year basis. For years parents have been passing on the tradition of Hershey chocolate bars from generation to generation, teaching their children the secrets of the dark, intoxicating sweetness.

The first nation wide commercial for the company was shown in 1969. It was designed to play on the emotions evoked from heart-warming scenes that focused on relationships, interaction between children with one another and other similar situations. Along with these scenes in the commercial, Hershey’s trademark jingle, “the great American chocolate bar”.

Over the last couple of years advertisers would have to come up with new ways of presenting these heart warming stories, but the overall slogan of the campaign would stay the same until the present day.

Among the products that the Hershey’s company produces are the Reese’s Peanut Bitter Cup, Reese’s Sticks and Jolly Ranchers. Along with these household names, Hershey’s produces non-chocolate confectionery and grocery products. The Hershey Company exports its products to over 90 countries around the world. While employing over 13,700 people, Hershey boosts a net sale of over $4 billion a year.

The success of this 40+ year old advertising campaign has led to numerous out of the way stops on the road for a quick bite of heaven. For years people have been pouring the trademark chocolate syrup on all flavors of ice cream and adding it to the milk warming on the stove during winter for hot chocolate. Traditions have been made and argued about when it comes to the proper way of eating a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.
No matter what the argument or the occasion, two things remain the same – Hershey’s advertising and the love of chocolate.

Ad: Coal

http://www.cleanskycoalition.com/face_it.html

A new form of political advertising is taking place here in Texas and it is not your normal political campaigning. This past January TXU launched a state-wide campaign promoting its eleven coal plants it is trying to get approval for. In these advertisements and commercials, TXU claims these new coal plants will help clean up the air by 80 percent than the average U.S. coal plant, but they fail to back up those claims with their resources.
TXU also claims that they will be using state of the art facilities – these state of the art facilities being pulverized coal and not the actual new start of the art technology Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC). TXU says they are not yet using this new techonology because the technology has yet to be proven.
Their failure to provide clear, well documented information to the public has lead to the Clean Sky Coalition to running their own set of ads against TXU’s bring facts up that had been previously unlisted. The name of this campaign is “Face it. Coal is Filthy.” This campaign features a series of posters that show close-ups of smudged faces looking directing into the camera, catching the attention of the audience and other viewers.
Along side their face posters, Clean Sky ads are insistent in providing all the information, not just the facts. One example of this is when they claim on one of their posters (and website) that coal plants are responsible for 60% of sulfur dioxide, 33% of Mercury emissions, 25% of nitrogen oxide emissions and more than 33% of carbon dioxide air emissions, they tell you where to go on their ads/website to find the information to back up their claims. The lack of TXU to do this calls into question the motives TXU has for these new eleven plants they have plans on building.
TXU has since produced more commercials and ads in response to Clean Sky Coallition’s advertisements and continue to stand behind their claims. This new form of “political” and “business ethics” debate between two large companies is leading to a new form of advertising with in companies that could lead to many more of these business degrading, yet informative commercials.

Ad: Chic-Fil-A

http://andy.mooville.net/images/eat-mor-chikin.jpg

Since its original appearance on billboards and radios, the Chick-Fil-A “Eat More Chikin” campaign has found its way in to the hearts of parents and children alike, promoting a fun, healthy, family eating environment. The campaign has been going for several years, only stopping once during the mad bow disease scar in late 2003-2004. The reason for this move was to keep the company from being seen as one who would take advantage of the scare to increase their sales – a smart move. This temporary stop on their advertising lasted only a month, and was then back again.
While this campaign is considered to be flawless in its techniques by many, there are few who find the time to analyze it to the point of stretching their criticisms. One example of these pointless criticisms is the fact that the cows featured in the campaigns are not beef bows, but milk cows, evidence of this being their utters. While some believe this to be a mistake on the marketing departments part, others see it as having been done on purpose to aid in children being able to better relate to the personas of the cow. Either way, with the introduction of the new milk shakes by Chick-Fil-A, those criticisms have all been put to rest due to the fact that it takes milk to make a milk shake.
The advertising and marketing department has gone on to incorporating local humor into their advertising campaigns. For example, the billboards in the West Hills neighborhood of Knoxville, TN features the cows on an orange background, wearing a safety vest, playing off the never ending construction along I-40 since the early 70’s. The ability of a company to relate to its users in this manner allow it to have a more personal, caring feeling rather than just another fast food restaurant that wants you in and out as fast as possible.
Another fun form of marketing that has taken off since their first appearance on the billboards is the coupon “cow-calendar” the company puts out on a yearly basis. Each year of production, the calendar has a different theme with the cows dresses to match appropriately. Past themes include “Cow Supeheroes”, “Secret Agent Cows” and “The Cow Channel”. The 2007 calendar is said to have “The Good, The Bad and the Hairy” theme.

Ad: Geico Caveman


http://timhatch.com/db/posts/2006-02-17.01/up_with_cavemen.jpg

The new advertising campaign representing the car insurance company GEICO has quickly captured America’s attention with their sarcastic form of dry humor and the play on time periods found with in the commercials. This campaign started out with a caveman being a part of the filming crew where a commercial is being made for GEICO and the spokesperson says “so easy a caveman could do it”. From there the series goes on to depict the caveman being apologized to by the set director in a high end restaurant, then with the caveman passing a sign in the airport (again with the offending slogan), one with the caveman in a therapy session and finally, with the caveman at a party with his brother discussing the problem they are facing because of the slogans. It was these kinds of commercials that have led to the development of the ads that are now starting to appear in magazines and newspapers across the U.S.
The popularity of these print advertisements has lead to an increase in the amount of things that can be done with them. For instance, aside from the advertisements, GEICO launched a flash website entitled “Caveman’s Crib”. This site allows the fans of the caveman to go through their apartment, clothing, magazines and other such things. With in the site are things which refer back to the problems that the cavemen are having with the GEICO Company.
Another spin off of this popular print advertisement series is the new sitcom set to appear on ABC sometime in the 2007 – 2008 year. Several critiques have expressed mix views about how well this series will take off. Some are claiming that the idea of taking it into a series is pressing their luck enough, while others are saying it will be a hit.; other’s claim that GEICO, as an insurance company is taking the whole theme to far and that this might be their end.
One thing to point out is the good job the GEICO has done in creating to different brand images for themselves. GEICO has two current brand images – the caveman and the ever beloved lizard. GEICO’s ability to create two completely different images for themselves allows them to do away with one whenever needed while still keeping the other in for “safety’s sake”.

Ad: iPod

http://images.apple.com/ipod/imaging/images/ipod-top.jpg

White ear buds. These words say it all – iPod. One out of every four people can be seen wearing the ear buds and listening to the music found on those slim, almost non existent in size media devices. This distinctive advertising campaign has become known worldwide and it only takes one quick look at their billboards and commercials to see what they are selling. Ever since iPod was made available to the public their commercials, billboards, posters and other print ads have always featured a single person dancing to the music that only they can here through their white, Apple ear buds attached to the ever slimming iPod. The use of the distinctive white ear buds allows for the proper, unique branding that many electronic players these days are lacking. No matter what medium of advertising they use, all the techniques are kept unified through their unique and consistent style. The only change that has taken place over the years is the change from a solid color background to a bright, multi-colored background that only enhances the white color of the white ear buds.

I think one of the interesting things about this campaign is that while it is promoting the iPod music player, the signature piece on their commercials and advertisements, that everyone knows, is the Apple ear buds. It takes a very good strategy to be able to brand something with an accessory, rather than with the object itself.
The amount of influence this product, and the commercials and advertising campaigns have had on society is phenomenal. Movies and TV shows such as “Series of Unfortunate Events”, “Family Guy”, “Something Awful”, “Weebl and Bob” and “The Simpson’s” have all featured the original silhouettes from the commercials along with the ever present white ear buds. It’s commercials have appeared on well known TV programs targeting those who care about their place in society and have an ever present need to have music go with them conveniently where ever they decide go.
iPod – it’s a symbol of status, wealth, popularity, a good music choice and being familiar with the times.

Ad: Lucky Stike Greene

http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/timeline-1941.html

http://www.wclynx.com/burntofferings/adsluckystrikegreen.html

A new form of print advertising took place during the years 1942-1943. No print ads were produced, nothing said over the radio and nothing printed on billboards. Only an occasional phrase was said from time to time, becoming one of the most hated commercials on the radio, but at the same time, one of the most successful during the war. Some say that it was the lack of large informative advertisements that made the campaign such a huge success, while others say that is was all due to the support of the war. Any yet others say it was all because of name recognition and popularity. The only advertisement seen for this product was inside the product’s packaging – a small insert inside the cigarette carton.
Six different drawings were placed inside different cigarette packages with the simple catch phrase “Luck Strike Green Goes to War”. These drawings were cartoons placed on cigarette cartons that included a tank and submarine, motorcycles, destroyers, fighter planes and a AA gun. All appeared on the inside of the cigarette cartons, while some appeared on the outside.
Not long before American troops invaded North Africa in November of 1942, Richard Boylan, head of purchasing for the American Tobacco Co. was informed that there was only enough green ink to continue printing their cigarette cartons green in full color (the entire box being green) for the following three months supply. In order to make the green ink last for the rest of the year, and to the end of the war, the company decided to change up the packaging and print the boxes white instead of green, while saving the green ink for the cartoon illustrations implying that like the soldiers of America, “Luck Strike Green Has Gone to War”. This move prompted a since of patriotism and pride just as America was going to war.
While the advertising company in charge of this expenditure did receive some hate mail, the sales for the Tabacco brand starting to rise. It was only after the United States invaded North Africa in November of 1942 that the sales increased by 38% in support of the war.

Ad: Marlboro Man

tp://adage.com/century/graphics/campaign_marlboro.jpg

In 1902, Philip Morris would open up a corporation that, 90 years later, would become one of the top ten most valuable brands, boasting a market worth of $32 billion. Though it would become popular, Mr. Morris cannot say that it was easy, in fact, Mr. Morris would have his own form of a Cinderella story.
Philip Morris started out making manufacturing three kinds of tobacco cigarettes – Cambridge, Derby and Marlboro. Originally the Marlborough brand was introduced to the market as a cigarette for a woman that was as “Mild as May”. A series of commercials was introduced as a series of advertisements targeting the high-end woman, with babies telling parents how safe the Marlboro was.
During the years following that campaign WWI and WWII, three more brands were put on the market – Camel, Lucky Strike and Chesterfields. These brands did everything except put Marlboro out of business.
During the years of 1942 and 1957 two articles were published that raised fear in the cigarette users about lung cancer and how all cigarettes were equally deadly. Seeing his opportunity to bring back his safer product, Mr. Morris decided to re-introduce his product onto the market place and this time, target the men and women who were stuck on their addiction, but were looking for a safer means of feeding it.
When re-introducing his brand, Mr. Morris brought out the character of a “Tattooed Man” in his campaign. Playing of the idea that tattooed men were romantic, had at one time worked with his hands and knew that was real and life and who deserved what kind of respect, Mr. Morris focused on those men who wanted to be seen as men, but wanted to be safe with what they were smoking. This appealed not only to men, but to the women of the time looking to be seen as equals to men in the eyes of society and men. Upon the introduction of this campaign in 1955, the Marlboro brand became the top telling cigarette in New York, with its sales increasing to 5,000 per cent in less than eight months. Right now Mr. Morris’ brands can be found in 180 markets, they are the top selling brand in the world and are considered the 10th most valuable brand product in the world – not bad for someone who was once about to go out of business.

Ad: Obesity

http://www.adcouncil.org/files/obesity_newguy_ooh.jpg

Ever since the 1960’s when pre-packaged food, fast food and an over all lack of general health care became popular, obesity in America has risen at an alarming rate. According to statistics, approximately 60 million people in the Unites States are said to be obese. Of these 60 million people, one-third or more of them are either African American or Mexican American women between the ages of 20 and 74. Doctors and specialists are attributing this rise in numbers to the lack of caring, connivance of fast good and the less amount of time that is spent outdoors or doing other activities in which lots of motion is required. While these contribute to the majority of people being obese, there are other factors such as genetics, medical disorders and other health problems that lead people to being medically diagnosed as obese.
While many people believe that being obese mean being severely over weight, that definition is actually wrong. A person is said to be obese only when they have a surplus of body fat. Most doctors will go by the standards of a man being obese if his body fat is 25 percent or more, and a women being obese if their body fat is 30 percent or more.
The most common way of telling if you are obese or not is to look at your BMI (Body Mass Index). A person is considered obese if she or she has a BMI of 30 or more. A BMI of 40 or more is considered severely obese.
Some of the risks that come with obesity are the health risks of diseases such as high blood pressure, type II diabetes, heart disease and various types of cancer.
Over the last couple of years, doctors and other health professionals are trying to bring large amounts of attention to this growing problem in America. Commercials, advertisements and radio announcements have all been used to bring this problem to Americans. Restaurants such as Subway and Jason’s Deli have been taking part in this campaign by producing commercials and radio announcements focusing on the healthiness of their foods.

Ad: "Just Say No"

http://buttonstore.com/images/JS1S1big.gif

During the 1980’s and the 1990’s, a focus was places on the amount of children in the United States using drugs, the increase in violence it lead to and premarital sex. One of the main supporters of this focus was former First Lady, Mrs. Ronald Reagan. During her time as First Lady, Mrs. Reagan coined the phrase “Just Say No” and the school seminars and other educational programs in efforts to teach kids to “just say no” when faced with the above mentioned temptations.
While experiencing success during the beginning part of the campaign, “Just Say No” crossed over into Europe where it was popularizes by BBC, Europe’s version of CNN. This phrase went onto make appearances in American TV shows such as Diff’rent Strokes and Punky Brewster.
As time went on though, many people began to question the success of this popular slogan. No great reduction in drug trafficking took place during the time of the campaign, if anything, the amount of drug use has only risen. Child stars who were once involved with the campaign, (Drew Barrymore, Corey Feldman and John Alford) have all admitted to using the illegal drugs at one point or another.
Over the last ten years drug education, (including seminars, teaching manuals, research, etc) has become a $2 billion industry. $1.25 billion comes from federal grants used for counseling, “anti-drug” activities and paraphernalia. $750 million of that comes from local and state governments, along with corporate gifts. Despite the amount of money being spent, there is little to no evidence to show how effective these programs have been. Even with the lack of results, once the money from the government has started to arrive, it is almost impossible to re-direct the flow or to stop it once having been started. One reason for this – the lack of the school’s and program directors wanting to admit failure after the amount of money already spent.
DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), SMART and ALERT are all programs that have stemmed from Mrs. Reagan’s campaign of “Just Say No”. With so many other programs and educational seminars around the United States, many people claim that Mrs. Reagan’s simple approach to “Just Say No” was a form that reduces the complexity of the drug issue far to much. The “Just Say No” courses have become a 12 session seminar helps over a few months for sixth – eighth graders. Because of this simplistic approach to a growing problem, Mrs. Reagan’s campaign slogan has become a joke to the modern pop culture that we now find ourselves living in.

Ad: Coca Cola Polar Bears

http://nalts.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/coke-bear.gif

In 1993, Coca-Cola presented a their new advertising campaign that introduced a commercial that would be come the most popular and loved symbols of Coca-Cola; the “Northern Lights” and its polar bears. This advertisement was a part of the “Always Coca-Cola” campaign created by Creative Artists Agency and Edge Creative that would run along side the famous polar bear commercials. This campaign included 27 commercials, all designed to appeal to different yet selective audiences, that included new technological approaches, such as computer animation. These posters would be shown in countries and locations around the world, appealing to all age groups and cultures.
These advertisements were created by Ken Stewart, whose inspiration came from two places: his dog (who resembled a polar bear) and the idea of drinking coke while watching movies in the theater. Mr. Stewart combined the ideas into one, with the polar bears drinking coca-cola and watching their own form of movies – the Northern Lights.
The creation of the posters was completed by the animation company Rhythm & Hues, the same company who produced the commercials. Ideas and themes for the posters all come from the original commercials that were played. Some posters include just the two main polar bears with the coca-cola bottle(s) while the others include the baby polar bear and penguins. Despite the fact that the penguins are not the main focus of the advertisements, they have still won their place in the hears of millions around the world.
Mr. Stewarts campaign were considered a success and went on to design a line of collectables including stuffed animals, serving trays, posters, music and movie clips and other miscellaneous items. 17 years later people can still purchase these items at novelty and antique stores.
Believed to be one of the best Coca-Cola advertising campaigns of all times, “Always Coca-Cola” is a slogan that still pops into the minds of people today when asked to say the first thing they think of when shown a bottle of Coca-Cola. This goes to show the impact of the traditional Coke and the value it has in the hearts of millions around the world.

Commercial: Ebay

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2767471/collection/18211/channel/commercials

$37, 375 for a month, that’s $9, 343.75 a week, $1,245 a day and $51.44 per hour. That’s not too bad until you remember what you are being paid for. Andrew Fischer, from Omaha, was faced with that reality every time he looked in the mirror after having auctioned off his forehead to the highest bidder on EBay. Everyday for a month, Mr. Fisher (only 20 years old), had the name of a snoring remedy, SnoreStop, stamped on his forehead as a form of advertisement for the company. It would be interesting to see what kind of results were brought from this advertising campaign other than name recognition and articles in newspapers around the world.
“I look forward to an enjoyable association with Andrew – a man who clearly has a head for business in every sense of the word,” SnoreStop CEP Christian de Rivel said (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6867209/).
Cashing in on the idea of people paying attention to that which is not ordinary, or weird, SnoreStop agreed to pay Mr. Fisher $37, 375 to go along with this deal for a month; and it worked. Newpapers from around the world caught wind of the story with articles appearing around the world on sites such as MSNBC.com and BBC.CO.UK. His sales pitch, “Take advantage of this radical advertising campaign and become a part of history”, left the field open to people picking what they choose to put on his forehead with the only limitations being no mark of the beast (666) or anything similar to a swastika, radical or anything related to adult entertainment. Not bad when it comes to limitations.
So what did he do with all the money? He planned to use it to pay tuition for college where he wants to study graphic design. Reportedly, when he spoke to him mom about it, she was not too thrilled, but was proud that he was thinking outside the box.
Would a stunt like this work again? Would it get as much attention or sound it fail miserably? Would it take another brave sole to try this again to find out? We shall see.

Commercial: Wendy's

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2423864/collection/15178/channel/collections

This commercial was created by Joe Selemaire as a part of the advertising cmpaign for the Wendy’s hamburger chain. The campgain created by the advertising company Dancer, Fitzgerald, and Sample’s included several commercials and slogan at the time geared for radio, tv posters and billboards; but not became as famous or as loved as the orginal “Where’s the Beef?” commercial.
The “Where’s the Beef?” commercial first aired on January 10, 1984 to the American and Canadian televsion viewing audiences. This commercial featured three elderly ladies looking at a giant hangurger bun topped with barely any meat. These ladies go through mentioning different aspects of the bun, such as its fluffiness and largeness. Once exhausting all examinations of the bun, one of the three ladies makes the simple comment “Where’s the Beef?”. That comment would go on to become famous for years to come, making its way in the to hearts of millions of Wend’s customers.
This once famous commercial for Wendy’s soon experienced a new kind of political success when Senator Gary Hart used the questioning Vice President Walter Mondale’s new plans and ideas saying, “When I hear your new ideas I’m reminded of that ad, ‘Where’s the beef?’” From that night on a guring battle of the wits and slogans took president in the campaigning strategy. This use of the phrase led to it being used in many other radio announements and TV shows, such as The Simpsons and other popular cartoon shows at the time.
Though the chain has since moved on to new commercials and different slogans, “Where’s the beef?” has become known from generation to generation, still being used to question ideas, events, projects and even campaigning ideas. It would become an all-purpose phrase that would never go out of style and never leave the hearts of those who know and love Wendy’s best.
In 2002, this commercial was named to the top ten commercials of all time by USAToday internet readers at their USAToday.com website. Later that year the History Channel, along with the American Association of Advertisign Afencies, showed the top ten commercials on TV for all to see.

Commercial: Monster.com

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2423870/collection/15178/channel/collections

When Monster.com first showed its “When I Grow up” commercial during the 1999 Super Bowl, little did they know that it would be the only commercial named to Time Magazine’s list of the “Best Television of 199”. Or that it would lead to 14.6 millions users visiting the website or that they would eventually employ over 5,000 people in 26 countries around the world.

Monster.com was started in 1994 by Jeff Taylor, president of Adion, Inc., after receiving a large amount of pressure from his clients to offer solutions to their growing personnel problems. Mr. Taylor set up the site with only 20 clients about a little more than 200 job openings – it was the 454th commercial website in the world. Monster.com had a rough beginning because not many people were too sure about a job search engine that was named “monster”. That did not last long though, now days it is considered to be one of the largest job search engines in the world with 14.6 millions visitors in July of 2002.

The main product that Monster.com offers is job listings, and serves as a host site for employers wanting their commercial websites listed on the search engine. This site allows people to post their resumes, no limit as to how many; and allows employers to search resumes, contacting potential job seekers for possible employment.

Some other products offered by Monster.com includes experts who are willing to provide information to college job seekers, and Monster Premium. Monster Premium is a package deal offered to Monster.com users for $7 a month with serves that include: Career Fit Indicator, Resume Enhancement, Job File, Job Search Tutorial and a Harvard ManageMentor “Manage Your Career”.
In 2000, Monster.com opened up a new vital tool that has taken off among college and alumni job seekers. Monstertrack is a new tool that allows college and alumni job seekers to more easily search for and save job appropriate to their college degree and job desires.
Monster.com opened first for employers and job seekers in America but has then since opened up its market basis to European websites and only recently expanded into the Indian Market Place. Monster.com is in 26 different countries world wide with more than 5,000 employees.

Commercial: Calvin Klein

http://meems.imeem.com/g2Fpiz0V/video/Z8ZdQMjn/brooke_shields_calvin_klein_jeans_commercial_1980/

Brooke Shields and her Calvin Jeans…nothing can come between them; nor can anything come between them and the designer. Ever since filming this commercial at the age of 15, Brooke Shields has become synonymous with any Calvin Klein marketing and advertising expenditures. The controversy that arose from this commercial and other print ads that she modeled for led to the formation of a new brand name, a multi-billion dollar a year industry and a name that would become familiar around the world.

Always being one to test the waters and push the limit as far as possible with clothing, Calvin Klein’s jean and underwear line has become one of the most sought after clothing lines around the world. His feature of Brooke Shields in the then provocative commercial in the 1970’s was his final leap to stardom. This commercial forever linked his name to designer jeans, the all-American look, tradition and provocative ads she was involved in.

Raised in the Bronx, Mr. Klein got his start as a coat designer with Bloomindales before getting his big break. His stardom was increased again when he offered to exchange the ransom money for his daughter, for which he received international acclaim. After designing for the last 30 years, Calvin Klein is considered to be the most powerful and influential people in the fashion business.

Another one of the biggest benefits of the Brooke Shields commercial was the branding it gave Mr. Klein’s clothing line. Having a high-end model caught in the middle of an advertising controversy only heightened the status of the clothing line, thus bringing in customers such as Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Helen Hunt and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Calvin Klein’s minimalist, yet high-end approach to fashion has made him appeal to both men and women from around the world, of all ages. His knowledge of trends, psychology and fashion image has made him into a $5 billion sales industry each year.
Despite never studying marketing, his basic knowledge of psychology and fashion trends has opened him, his brand and his company into being the study of many colleges and designers over the years.

Commercial: iPod

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4-QBoNE9Gs

White ear buds. These words say it all – iPod. One out of every four people can be seen wearing the ear buds and listening to the music found on those slim, almost non existent in size media devices. This distinctive advertising campaign has become known worldwide and it only takes one quick look at their billboards and commercials to see what they are selling.

Ever since iPod was made available to the public their commercials, billboards, posters and other print ads have always featured a single person dancing to the music that only they can here through their white, Apple ear buds attached to the ever slimming iPod. The use of the distinctive white ear buds allows for the proper, unique branding that many electronic players these days are lacking. No matter what medium of advertising they use, all the techniques are kept unified through their unique and consistent style. The only change that has taken place over the years is the change from a solid color background to a bright, multi-colored background that only enhances the white color of the white ear buds.

I think one of the interesting things about this campaign is that while it is promoting the iPod music player, the signature piece on their commercials and advertisements, that everyone knows, is the Apple ear buds. It takes a very good strategy to be able to brand something with an accessory, rather than with the object itself.
The amount of influence this product, and the commercials and advertising campaigns have had on society is phenomenal. Movies and TV shows such as “Series of Unfortunate Events”, “Family Guy”, “Something Awful”, “Weebl and Bob” and “The Simpson’s” have all featured the original silhouettes from the commercials along with the ever present white ear buds. It’s commercials have appeared on well known TV programs targeting those who care about their place in society and have an ever present need to have music go with them conveniently where ever they decide go.
iPod – it’s a symbol of status, wealth, popularity, a good music choice and being familiar with the times.

Commercial: Geico Caveman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H02iwWCrXew

The new advertising campaign representing the car insurance company GEICO has quickly captured America’s attention with their sarcastic form of dry humor and the play on time periods found with in the commercials. These commercials started out with a caveman being a part of the filming crew where a commercial is being made for GEICO and the spokesperson says “so easy a caveman could do it”. From there the series goes on to depict the caveman being apologized to by the set director in a high end restaurant, then with the caveman passing a sign in the airport (again with the offending slogan), one with the caveman in a therapy session and finally, with the caveman at a party with his brother discussing the problem they are facing because of the slogans.
The popularity of these commercials has lead to an increase in the amount of things that can be done with them. For instance, aside from the commercials, GEICO launched a flash website entitled “Caveman’s Crib”. This site allows the fans of the caveman to go through their apartment, clothing, magazines and other such things. With in the site are things which refer back to the problems that the cavemen are having with the GEICO Company.
Another spin off of this popular commercial series is the new sitcom set to appear on ABC sometime in the 2007 – 2008 year. Several critiques have expressed mix views about how well this series will take off. Some are claiming that the idea of taking it into a series is pressing their luck enough, while others are saying it will be a hit.; other’s claim that GEICO, as an insurance company is taking the whole theme to far and that this might be their end.
One thing to point out is the good job the GEICO has done in creating to different brand images for themselves. GEICO has two current brand images – the caveman and the ever beloved lizard. GEICO’s ability to create two completely different images for themselves allows them to do away with one whenever needed while still keeping the other in for “safety’s sake”.

Commercial: 1984 Political Apple

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJklyhWniDQ

With 2007 getting underway, the year before presidential elections, a rise in political campaigning, debates and fundraisers has begun. Any newspaper, news channel or radio program will, with out fail, will make some sort of comment as to who is raising the most money, who has good standings in what state and who is most likely going to pair up, be left out or fall on his/her face during this presidential race. One thing is for certain though, the stakes are high this year and both sides are striving for new ways to gain the attention on the younger generation.

During every campaign though, fanatics and die-hard supporters appear doing their best to present the world with their view of the candidates – such is the case with Peter Leyden. Mr. Leyden has recently taken it upon himself to recreate the 1984 popular Apple commercial, who’s basic message was that Apple was going to be coming out with a new computer that would change the way people look at computers. In his commercial Mr. Leyden substitutes the symbols representing IBM computer for Democratic, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, portraying her as the “Big Brother” figure in the commercial, leaving the implication of Barak Obama being the person who comes in “frees the zombielike followers” (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/18/MNGHNONEPS1.DTL).

Though it was not funded by Barak Obama or his campaign, it is these types of commercials that could have the capability to change the way the nation view’s these political candidates. The website www.youtube.com is a video publishing site that allows anyone to anonymously post a video, or a link to a video, that is made available to anyone in the world to see. This capability is not only leading to new forms of advertising, but it is also giving way for regular people to bash, criticize and publicly speak out against those people they don’t like.

Experts fear that this freedom could lead to new forms of politically attacking campaign opponents, especially when this homemade commercials leaves the viewers with the following message from the announcer, “"On Jan. 14, the Democratic primary will begin. And you'll see why 2008 won't be like 1984.".

Commercial: 1984 Original Apple

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8

This 60-second commercial was written by Chiat/Day and directed by Ridley Scoot. It was shot in London and to this day remains one of the most popular, most viewed and most talked about commercials of all time. It was influenced by the characters “dystopian future” and “Big Brother” in George Orwell’s book Nineteen Eighty-Four The Apple commercial was shown for the first time to a large audience in October of 1983 in Hawaii, and then later broadcasted during the 3rd quarter of the 1984 Super Bowl.
Though shown only once during the Super Bowl, and occasionally in movie theaters, this commercial reached 46.4 percent of all American households that year; making it the first example of event advertising in history. Apple’s “Big Brother” Commercial is credited with starting the yearly desire/trend of showing “event commercials” during the Super Bowls.
Not only did this commercial lead to new commercials for future Super Bowls, but it also lead to the decline in IBM market share. Due to the fear caused by this commercial in the PC market, people started switching from IBM PC’s to Apple’s cheaper, yet more popular PCs, leading to IBM eventually leaving the PC market.
The popularity of this commercial lead it to being named the “Commercial of the Decade” by Advertising Age and in 1999 it was names as one of the “50 Greatest Commercials of All Time” by US TV Guide.
When Steve Jobs commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Macintosh in 2004, he opened his speech with the same commercial only slightly updated. In his version, the heroine had an iPod attached to her shorts with the signature white earplugs in her ears. This is a classic example of how the original commercial has been parodied in numerous days since its first showing in January of 1984.
Apple’s “Big Brother” commercial originally aired on January 22, 1984 changing the way America looked at and purchased computers. This commercial played on the idea of IBM dominating the PC market place and stated in a not so sublte way that they were coming in and had plans of taking over. That was clearly understood in their closing line of the commercial, “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984’”.

Commercial: Budweiser

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVcbasIb8lQ

Budweiser’s 1990’s frog commercial is one of the most well-known Alcoholic commercials world-wide. The three frogs, affectionately names “Bud”, “Weis”, and “Er”, appeared in the first commercial in a long advertising campaign that introduced several swamp animals and their quests for their beloved beer. Among the other animals are two lizards’ names Louie and Frank, an unnamed ferret and an alligator. Off all these commercials though, the frogs are still the most well known.

These beloved frogs were created by Greg Gorman with the commercial being directed by Tom DeCherchio. Their commercial quickly rose to fame and is now listed among the top five best Super Bowl commercial advertisements, according to MSNBC.

Though this advertising campaign was loved by many, there were those who wanted to see the end of it. Many critics believed that this campaign was to relatable to younger children, thus forcing the Budweiser Company to defend its actions on many different levels. The Center for Science in the Public Interest is among those who waged a campaign to block and censure the company’s many commercials and advertisements.

Another situation in which the Budweiser frogs were attacked was when the Budweiser Frogs screen saver was made available to the general public. Some claimed that the file had a virus in it that could delete a computer’s entire hard drive while others reported it was only a hoax. One other situation in which the frogs had faced television extermination was on the Simpson’s show when the last frog goes up to say “Er” a giant alligator rises from the water, eats the frog, then simply says “Coors”.

Aside from the general love of the commercials and the publicity generated from them, the frogs and lizards have gone on to bigger and better things such as appearing in several sitcoms, on the sides on company trailers trucks and even to being painted on the sides of NASCAR race cars, of which Budweiser is a large contributor and supporter.

While this commercial may be controversial to an extent, it is nice to see a beer/alcohol commercial that does not rely on nudity, from either sex, to sell the product.

Commercial: Coca-Cola Polar Bears

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnY6LCubqRI

In 1993, Coca-Cola presented their new advertising campaign that introduced a commercial that would be come the most popular and loved symbols of Coca-Cola; the “Northern Lights” and its polar bears. This commercial was a part of the “Always Coca-Cola” campaign created by Creative Artists Agency and Edge Creative. This campaign included 27 commercials, all designed to appeal to different yet selective audiences, that included new technological approaches, such as computer animation. These commercials would run in countries and locations around the world, appealing to all age groups and cultures.
These commercials were created by Ken Stewart, whose inspiration came from two places: his dog (who resembled a polar bear) and the idea of drinking coke while watching movies in the theater. Mr. Stewart combined the ideas into one, with the polar bears drinking coca-cola and watching their own form of movies – the Northern Lights.
The creation of the commercials was completed by the animation company Rhythm & Hues, each one taking approximately twelve weeks to produce. This production state included storyboards, scripts and state-of-the art technology and computer programs that were just beginning to make their way onto the market place. While the commercials were in the production stages, Mr. Stewart turned to another important aspect of the commercials – the music. Mr. Stewart enlisted the help of Glen Rueger from Outside Music to create an original piece of music that would continue on the magical, surreal feel of the commercials.
Mr. Stewarts commercials were considered a success and went on to design six more commercials, two of which would premier at the 1994 Olympic Games. A total of 27 commercials staring the beloved Polar Bears would be created, all making their mark in history and on the hearts of people around the world.
Believed to be one of the best Coca-Cola advertising campaigns, “Always Coca-Cola” is a slogan that still pops into the minds of people today when asked to say the first thing they think of when shown a bottle of Coca-Cola. This goes to show the impact of the traditional Coke and the value it has in the hearts of millions around the world.