Many of the advertisements I have seen lately are promoting "being you" and being different. This Audi advertisement follows that trend by placing a parking garage with all the same Lexus vehicles and then the Audi drives up to save the day. Its catchy and it goes with their branding theme of "different is beautiful."

Personalizing products...again...

So we talked about and looked at all the "my" ads that personalize a product by just associating it with a person. Here is another one for coke. I think that it is interesting that Coke would use this simple ad as mostly a viral method when it used to have very elaborate ad campaigns in the past...

Soap hops on the green band wagon...

It seems these days like every product has hopped onto the green bandwagon of conserving and reusing products. I found this product on a side ad on Facebook, it is a company that reuses old plastic pop bottles and turns them into soap dispensors. I think Facebook ads are taking over a very prominant viral market and letting people know about this product on Facebook is cheap and gets the word out quickly!

Penny Picker Upper!

CiCi's Pizza has launched a Guerilla marketing project where they are dropping one million pennies all over America, near various CiCi locations. These pennies are normal on one side and have a sticker on the other with special offers or cash prizes. This is encouraging customers to be penny picker uppers and to get the word out about Cici's which definately does not 'own' the pizza market. Genius!

Adidas goes viral

Adidas just launched a viral marketing campaign. They started a new website called the "Super 14 Jersey Swap" where they show five soccer players. You can click on any of the two players and they will swap shirts. Here is the link http://www.adidas.com/campaigns/campaigns_nz/content/popup/index.asp After the website was launched viral video started on youtube of people "swaping jerseys" or shirts with one another. It is slowly becoming a only phenomenon!

Intangible Services

I used to work at the Salish Lodge and Spa and during the lesson on intangible services and how we can not see them I got to thinking, that is all that Salish has going for it is its "image." The Salish sits on top of the Snoqualmie Falls thus it already has an image of tranquility which is what a spa needs. I went on their website and saw these pictures, even though the service is portrayed at exceptional here I know that it is not. However the marketing is good as it features the natural beauty of the scenery that is extended to the services (ie the "river rock" massage as seen above). It is easy to see the theme of this hotel is water and an "escape from real life" as we would tell customers...too bad we can hear the freeway from the hotel!

After talking about bonding and how Cheerios are bonded with love for family togetherness I was watching "The Biggest Loser" and realized the contestants have fallen for the crunchy cereal. Here is a picture of the contestants and their loving Cheerios. I think this is a genius way to combine a food that is good for you to fat people (and normal people too). I think it is motivating for viewers to watch these people dieting and exercising and seeing what they eat so they can be motivated and do the same thing!

Weight Watchers is Taking Over the Food World!

I have been noticing lately that Weight Watchers has been co-branding with everyone! Not only do they have their signature food products (such as the yogurt I showed before). I went to Applebee's tonight and I saw that Weight Watchers has endorsed many of their food items which conveniently have the points value of the food next to the item. I bought the endorsement so it must work! I found this advertisement on the weight watcher website where they even tied God into this co-branding, check it out!

Free PR for the northwest!

I have been seeing these "The North West" shirts all over campus as well as at my house in Seattle. The creators of this shirt have taken "The North Face" logo and replaced the words for their brand. I was trying to search for who makes this shirt but had no luck finding it, it is not made by North Face but it looks like it is a great type of co-branding without the licensing....

ITunes

When I was at the Dallas airport over spring break I noticed this ITunes snack machine. There are all sorts of products in there for your flying convenience. You can buy a ITouch by the touch of a button. I didn't see anyone using it but I imagine it would get business from a lot of mothers and fathers of screaming children! But wouldn't you want to test your product first? I would!

Yours and Mine

KY lubricant has released a new set of commercials which feature a whole new target market. Instead of the usual target market of the 18-30 year old woman the are featuring middle aged couples who have lost the "spark" in their physical relationship. This new product says it will ignite that spark again and will leave even the most busy of parents with an enjoyable night. I feel like these commercials are comical but I don't know if they will actually work. I guess they are trying to sell youth to the 80s generation just as we spoke in class!

Get the London Look

I saw the commercial for this mascara on tv today. Then while reading People magazine I saw another print advertisement for it. For some reason these two advertisements stood out to me and I remembered them. The commercial says "get the London look" which makes the mascara seem exotic. All of these advertisements feature Kate Moss a beautiful British model who is sort of cutting edge. I think all girls of the target audience 13-25 are looking to be exotic and original and how else to do that then have your lashes be from London.

Buying skinny

Spring break is coming up and needless to say I have started dieting. I saw (and bought) this yogurt at Safeway today and bought it merely because of the Weight Watcher endorsement. I have been doing Weight Watchers, however it does not require you to buy their products. I could have easily bought the cheaper generic brand but that 1 point value hooked me and it was love at first sight. I know I will not lose weight from buying this product, but it might help :)

Thin Mints + Ice Cream= Marketing Genius!

Today I bought Dryers ice cream which has combined with an assortment of girl scout cookies to make the ultimate ice cream. The first thing I noticed about the product was the Girl Scout emblem which made me reminisce of being a girl scout and my childhood. So yes, again I was buying my childhood back but I was also getting delicious limited time only ice cream! The limited time only also sold me on the product, making me panic and think this may be the last time I can get this product!

What is "G" anyway?

Today me and my roommates saw this commercial on TV and were wondering; what is G anyway? Its Gatorade but it got me thinking, why is Lil Wayne the voice of the commercial? He speaks about the traits in being an athlete, when he himself is not an athlete and probably does not even drink Gatorade. But it is his credibility that makes us want us, along with all the other star athletes in the commercial, how sad that we would buy it just because of that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGKAVAAHdWc

Nesquik means home

Today I purchased Nesquik chocolate milk. While I was choosing my milk mixer I realized there were several other options; store branded products (such as IGA) and a brand I had never seen before. Even though these brands were cheaper and probably all taste the same I still went with the Nesquik because of its familiar label and lovable bunny mascot. I was buying my childhood. I was buying familiarity and comfort that comes with drinking a powdered chocolate out of that yellow jar that I have been doing all of my life.