Over at Forbes.com, they have put together a slide show of 25 “Best Loved Advertising Taglines” (May 29, 2010). Some great memorable taglines here from “Where’s the Beef?” (Wendy’s) to “Can you hear me now?” (Verizon Wireless) are shown – with brief background info. But these “slideshows” are so slow and annoying to page through — making it hard to justify showing them in class.
It is not very often that we find an interesting or clever online banner ad. Pringles put this one together and I think it is pretty funny. Link through to the ad and keep clicking on the ad as the text changes.
As we all know, Toyota has had a pretty rough year. A long-term problem for automakers — how do you make a minivan cool? As a Sienna owner, I must admit I make my wife drive it. This campaign has ben running on TV since February but the long version recently worked its way to the top of the AdAge Viral video chart — with over 1.4 million views per week. This could be fun to show to class — starting with the question, “How do you make a minivan cool?” and ending with, “Do you think this does it?”
I find that students enjoy hearing about “non-traditional” marketing examples. I just listened to a story on NPR’s Morning Edition that describes the use of a “speed dating” format to connect doctors with patients – “Hospital Attracts Patients with Doctor ‘Speed Dating,’” (May 18, 2010). A follow-on story was critical of the use of advertising by hospitals, “Tip: Hospitals Try PSAs Before Spending on Ads,” (May 18, 2010).
CNN is on a roll with the global green consumer. Earlier today I posted an article and video clip about a store in London. Now we have an interesting story from China, “Would Chinese consumers ‘go green’ — if given the choice?” (CNN.com, May 4, 2010) including, to my surprise, the following revelation:
Landor recently conducted a brand survey that shows consumers in China are actually more concerned about green issues than consumers in the United States or Europe. For example, 45 percent of those surveyed in China said they consider it very important that a company is green when thinking about which brands to purchase, compared to 23 percent in the United States.
This video clip could be shown along with the earlier one to try to get a better handle on how green affects consumers. I have seen other studies which suggest Chinese consumers can be very price conscious — one study we cite in our text books indicated a willingness to pay a premium of only 2% for branded products they purchase regularly (as opposed to unbranded products). In the U.S. and many other developed countries the premium is typically 20% or more. There can be many reasons for that of course.
The aricle and video clip raise interesting issues around sustainability, consumer behavior across cultures, and international marketing.
WARNING: Some of these ads are very disturbing set of public service announcements. I debated whether to even post it for you guys. So if you have a weak stomach, do NOT click through. You have been warned. These are “30 Terrifying PSAs” (Trendhunter, May 2010) and includes video ads and print ads. I think the research is mixed on whether these types of “scared straight” programs even work. You can decide if this is useful for your classes.
Zynga publishes the extremely popular Facebook game FarmVille. I am not sure how popular it is with our students, but some of my adult friends love this game. Anyway, this short article, “Zynga Offering ‘On Game’ Ads,” (Brandweek, May 3, 2010) suggests Zynga is looking to advertising “on game” as a source of revenue. Advertising everywhere!
It is difficult to find good articles on market research. This one offers an interesting take on advertising research from an experienced researcher. It appears in Brandweek “What Do Consumers Think? Don’t Even Bother Asking” (May 3, 2010). This could provide fodder for a discussion with students about what can market research do? How can market research be designed to address some of the questions in the article?
It is amazing that companies come out with 2:31 versions of their ads and then have people forward them to others. And if the ad is good enough, it works. I think this is good enough, I hope you do as well. The ad showcases the wide variety of Honda products from motorcycles to cars to airplanes to boats to robots to…
Hmmmm. This could be an interesting in-class discussion on a variety of levels. There has long been a debate about the ethics of advertising to children. Then there is the issue about the role of government. Now the Bureau of Consumer Protection of the Federal Trade Commission has developed the Admongo website (www.admongo.gov) and game to teach kids about advertising. The article in The New York Times, “In a World of Ads, Teaching the Young How to Read Them” (April 26, 2010). The article notes…
The initiative seeks to educate children in grades four through six — tweens, in the parlance of marketing — about how advertising works so they can make better, more informed choices when they shop or when they ask parents to shop on their behalf.
While I could review the game and site, I know that good market research should be done with the target market. Well I happen to have a fifth grader — right at the heart of the target market for the government effort. So I asked Mallory to play the game and offer a brief review. I know, bad marketing research to use a sample size of one. After about 10 minutes — she had to get ready for school — it got a tentative thumb’s up. She said it was “pretty good.” When I asked if she would play it again if her dad did not force her, she said “Probably, maybe it would be more fun if I got to the higher levels.” I asked about how fun it was compared to other online games, and she said, “I guess it is almost as fun as Bush Hot Dog” – I figured that was an endorsement. I will let you know if she really goes back for more on her own.
In our text books the last chapter evaluates marketing from a micro- and macro- perspective. This article could be used to discuss the ethics of advertising to children and the role of government.
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