My Thoughts on the Trends in Advertising Class

In the end I have to say that I really enjoyed the Trends in Advertising class. I liked the way the class was organized, with one specific topic looked at every week. I also found these topics to all be very interesting. There were a lot of things that I had no idea even existed before taking this class. Hell it was this class that really led to me discovering Twitter, as I hadn't given it much attention beforehand.

It's one thing to have an interesting topic, it's more important to make sure these topics are presented in an interesting way. I felt in this class they really were. I was never bored and the fact that this was an 8:00 AM class really says a lot right there. It's very rare that I make an effort to get to an 8 AM class, let alone one that is on a Friday morning, but I was never dreading having to come to Trends in Advertising. The workload was good too. Just enough to feel like you were learning something, but nowhere close to being overwhelming.

Overall I highly enjoyed this class. I actually learned some things, and was always geuinely interested in what was being presented. I don't really have any suggestions on how to improve the class, because I really do feel it's fine the way it is now.

Final Blog Post

It seems to me that these days just about every major (and minor) company is using media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc, in order to gain some publicity. Any company who has not started to use these forms of advertising is considered to be out of touch and is also missing out on a significant part of the market.

One large example that comes to mind right away are those bizarre free gifts that you can give to people on Facebook. They aren't always of branded products. Sometimes they are merely pictures of a dog or something. However often they are connected to something, like perhaps a movie that is being released. I still remember when Friday the 13th came out a few weeks ago how many of these Jason masks I received over Facebook. This is something that is very common. There are all sorts of branded Facebook gifts and it is a very smart and subtle way for a company to gain exposure. Some of the companies and products that I've seen take part in this include: Skittles, Ford, just about every movie studio (and often TV station) that exists, Hershey's, and many, many more.

Twitter is becoming bigger and bigger all the time too. It's a little strange because it wasn't even really on my radar until maybe a month ago. Now I've really started to notice just how many companies are involved with it. Just about every website I go to now I notice a link that says you can follow that company on Twitter. I've now started to do so and it's really amazing some of the things they can do. You can get updates on news storys from a variety of sources. You can keep up to date on movie and DVD releases, which is something that's great for me. Even Torrent sites are up on Twitter now, updating you on all the illegal files you can come and download. There's something pretty mind-boggling about that. Although I do think a lot more companies are using Facebook as a tool at the moment, you can really start to see how many have learned about Twitter and what it can do for them. I think Twitter is something that we're going to see start to grow and grow even more as time goes on.

I really do think that any company who is not using these types of sites for their advertising is really missing out a huge oppurtunity. There is really no reason to not use them because in addition to getting a great deal of exposure to a very large audience, it doesn't cost anything. Plus it brings in a level of interactivity with the consumer that you really can't get with any other medium. This is why so many companies have started to use these methods, and that number is just going to continue to grow.

Mobile Marketing

I'm not a huge mobile person really. Hell I didn't even own a cell phone until less than a year ago. Even now I only use the thing like once a week and it usually just sits there dead waiting for me to finally recharge it. Ergo I'm really not the target audience for any sort of mobile advertising. I can't deny that it's becoming a huge part of advertising though.

Even the mobile ads I do see, I'm not very receptive to them. Usually any text message I get that involves any level of advertising is immediately deleted. Half the time I don't even bother to read the entire thing. Offhand I can only think of one mobile activity I took place in that I enjoyed. Back when the movie Snakes on a Plane was about to be released, you could fill in something on the website, provide your cell phone number, and then you would get a phone call from "Samuel L. Jackson." I can't say it was really effective, I just thought it was well-done. I knew I was going to see that movie anyway.

I believe it's in Japan only but I did see one cool mobile feature where by taking a picture of a movie poster on your cell phone, you are immediately shown a trailer for that same movie. I can't even begin to understand how that technology works, but it's a great idea.

One application a friend of mine is essentially a full recipe book contained right on the cell phone. There are hundreds (maybe even thousands) of recipes to choose from, each one broken down step by step. There is even a list of ingredients for each one, so you can just look at this on your phone while you are out grocery shopping. This is one of the cooler things I have seen in the world of mobile applications.

I think mobile campaigns have been integrated into just about all of our past projects, at least on some level. We did a campaign centered around Nokia that was very heavily focused on mobile. I won't lie I don't remember a lot of the details, but there was definitely texting involved.

It always seems easy to incorporate mobile devices into a campaign, even on a very basic level. Whether it's texting a number to enter a contest or taking a picture on the phone, it's an effective method and I feel has a place in just about every marketing campaign.

I honestly don't have a lot to say about mobile applications since they honestly don't interest me much. I do think it's an important part of advertising however since I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority with those feelings.

Broadband

My first year living here in Ottawa we didn't have cable. We got 2 channels that came in clear, Global and the Aboriginal Channel. We would sometimes get a very fuzzy CTV, but that's it. Needless to say we didn't spend a whole lot of time watching TV. Once I moved into my new apartment, not only did we get cable, but we got some specialty channels and a whole lot more. So to make up for first year, I now watch a ton of TV.

For the sake of this blog, I did take the broadband challenge and attempted to go a while without watching TV and just watching everything on the Internet instead. I won't lie, I didn't go a full week. Plus if I don't watch Lost when it first airs, bad things happen. But I gave it a pretty good shot and here are my thoughts on everything.

My favourite way of watching things online is using torrents, or P2P. Sure it's illegal, but damn does it ever work well. You do have to wait a little while after a show airs for that episode to appear online, but it's never more than a day at the very most. Then you just download it (which depending on the length of the show usually never takes too long) and watch it on your computer, completely commercial free. It's the exact same quality it was on TV, only someone was kind enough to edit all of the commercials out of it.

The only real downside of torrents is the little length of time you have to wait to get a new episode of something. Other than that, it's a great way to watch your shows online. Another thing about them I really like is that if you're really behind on a show, or want to start from the very beginning of one, torrents allow you to download complete seasons of shows. I find with many official network sites such as CTV or ABC, you can only watch the last few episodes of something and they very rarely allow you to watch the older episodes. Another huge advantage of using torrents.

If you are looking for a more immediate fix than the streming video sites work well too. Official network sites usually allow you to watch some of their shows on their website. Once they load up, you have to sit through usually just one advertisement (that you can't skip, try as hard as you might) before the show starts. However many of them (CTV included) divide each episode into clips instead of playing the whole thing straight through. Therefore you have to load each clip up to see the entire episode. Of course each time you load a new clip, there is that unskippable ad at the start.

The problem here is that it's often the exact same ad before each clip. So by the end of your episode, you hate that commercial. Not a very good strategy on the part of the advertisers. Sometimes the commercials do change which helps things. It's still shorter than having regular commercial breaks if you were watching these shows on TV.

The ads around the episode usually change as well, unless their is one specific sponsor, then it will be the same static image the entire time. Often you're so caught up in the show that you don't even notice these ads really. So I can't say they are particularily effective.

Overall there is a lot less exposure to advertising when you watch shows online but I'm sure that will change very soon. That one unskippable ad will turn into 3, the show will be interupted more frequently, etc. They'll think of other ways to get the messages out there I'm sure. In the meantime I will continue to watch TV on an actual television. The convenience is worth having to sit through more ads. Plus how else can I watch my Family Feud?!

Branded Utility

I really don't use a lot of branded utilities. I do own an Xbox 360 but it doesn't go online so I don't really see a lot of the advertisements. There are a lot of them on there though, I remember that. I especially remember the branded video games. There was one for the Yaris, and I know there was one for Doritos recently as well. They were free games so automatically people would download them. I mean why not? Even if it was terrible they at least don't cost you anything. The games were always subpar, if not flat out terrible, and were just a giant advertisement for the product. But it got everyone to pay attention. I'm not even positive that counts as brand utility, but it's still some clever advertising that needed to be mentioned.

I use to have a couple widgets but I found them, at least the ones I had, to be more obnoxious than anything. They always seemed to be drawing attention to themselves. They would shake or make a noise and it would get so irritating that I just had to delete them. I think something like a widget should blend into the background. 

I do think it's a great idea for advertisers to use something like a widget. Take those countdown widgets for example. Nothing gets me (or any human for that matter), more excited about an upcoming product/release than a countdown. I think that is a fantastic way for advertisers to get people excited about a product. The key is to make it subtle, not loud and irritating.

The thing with branded utilities is that it's tricky to do it well. The ones that are a success are much rarer than the ones that really don't get any attention. It seems every company now has a viral video and I think viewers are now just immune to it. These videos are just so standard now that they've become almost boring. It used to be exciting and cool if a company had some sort of online viral video. Now there are hundreds (maybe even thousands of them) and the most intense reaction I can muster up for them is "meh". I would say maybe 10% of these videos are actually engaging, the rest just exist because companies feel they need to make one. Don't do it unless you're going to do it right!

The best way to go about it is to give the customer an incentive to use your utility. It shouldn't just be some video that tricks them into thinking they're involved. It should be something that draws the viewer in and lets them play a part in everything. It's like those online webisodes (god I hate that word) that I believe Dove is doing where viewers actually choose the outcome of the story, sort of like those old Choose Your Own Adventure books. Something like this is a great idea because it actually is interactive. I'm not sure if this is branded utility either though. Wow, I'm bad at this.

There really aren't any companies that couldn't do some sort of branded utility. Some of them might be a stretch, but I can't think of a single company where it would be impossible for them to do it. 

I think the same thing is going to happen to these online utilities that will happen to 3D movies. At first they're exciting and rare and worth talking about. But then there's going to be way too many and everyone is going to be doing it, and people are going to get burnt out by them. Eventually nobody is going to give a damn about these things and advertisers are going to have to latch on to something new.

I do think that the idea of branded utilities has a long life ahead of it before people get to the above stage. There are a lot of great ideas still waiting to be used, and as long as companies can come up with innovative ways to use these utilities, then people will continue to use them.

Social Media

Man do I ever miss the days of ICQ. Everything was so much simpler back then. That program was basically the only form of social media that we had. There was no Facebook and anyone who used MSN Messenger was an outcast. The internet wasn't flooded with advertising. Things like banner ads and what not weren't even on the table yet. *sigh* Simpler times.

Now there are about 1,000 different ways to communicate with people, and thus just as many ways for advertisers to reach all those people as well. I think it's great for advertisers, absolutely it is. It allows them to really narrow down their audience and target very specific groups of people with their advertisements.

As much as I love the Internet and would probably never stop crying if I couldn't use it, at the same time, it really scares the shit out of me. It's really starting to get a little insane how much I, and the rest of the world, depends on it.

For example, over the holidays I spent about a week at my parent's house where not only is there no Internet, but no computer at all. It was like being a caveman for a few days. I didn't talk to any of my friends really, and I overall just felt really lost without it. That was only for like 4 days too.

I don't even remember the last time I had a phone conversation with someone. I don't mean something quick like "wanna go to a movie?" "ok sure". Done. I mean an actual conversation where you take an hour or so and just talk about what is going on in your lives. Same thing goes for in-person conversations too really. Instead Facebook and MSN and all those other similar programs pretty much take care of all of that for you. There's really no need for phone conversations anymore except maybe to say "hey check your Facebook, I left you a message on there."

The Internet has made is possible to do just about everything without having to interact with

another human being, and like I said, that terrifies me a little. Everything is slowly shifting towards online, so as a person it's weird, but as a person going into the world of advertising, it's actually pretty damn awesome.

The idea of the Internet and social media as a whole has really changed the way advertising is, and can be done. I'm sure it's just going to continue down this road too. As mentioned earlier advertisers can down really be specific about who they are advertising too and can make ads that directly relates to that audience.

Social media even allows them to advertise to people, without those people even realizing they are being advertised to. This was sort of already covered when I was talking about blogs. It doesn't stop there. Facebook, MySpace, all these types of sites are great tools for companies to emply some very subtle advertising to their audience. Hell I'm sure I'm looking at ads half the time I'm on the sites and not even realizing it. It's a really great tool to use.

We talked about it a little in class but social media is also letting smaller companies and businesses market their products. That site we looked at which sells custom made t-shirts is a terrific example of this. You can sell your products, while also talking to those who purchase them. It adds a level of interaction that you don't find with a lot of businesses. These are the sorts of advantages social media can give advertisers.

I think online advertising is absolutely going to become bigger and bigger and becoming more and more innovative as time goes on. Soon it will reach levels of interaction that we haven't even begun to imagine. Be sure to check back in 20 years to see if I was right about this.

Guerilla Advertising

Personally I think guerilla advertising is a fantastic way for an advertiser to gain some attention, assuming it's done right of course. There are many ways in which it can backfire against the agency as well. The best example of course being the Aqua Teen Hunger Force bomb scare in Boston a couple of years ago.

We touched on it briefly in class already but there really isn't a better example I can think of for a guerilla marketing strategy that went completely wrong. To give a little backstory on the situation, in January 2007, little displays (similar to a Lite Bright) of a character from the cartoon Aqua Teen Hunger Force were placed in 10 major cities across the US. 

About two weeks after they were put up, there was a massive scare in Boston because of the devices. The bomb squad was called in, major roads and highways were shut down, complete chaos. As a result, the two guys who put the devices up were arrested and charged, Turner Broadcasting Systems paid $2 million dollars in damages, and the head of the Cartoon Network stepped down.

It is pretty interesting to note that it was the Boston Police Department who almost suffered a larger black eye than anyone involved with the actual cartoon. People criticized their overreaction and the fact that it happened 2-3 weeks after the devices were installed. 

On one hand, most people did recognize that the devices were either from the show, or clearly not a threat. If you see pictures of the device, it's pretty obvious right away. On the other hand, you have to be very careful with these sorts of tactics these days since everyone is still very sensitive after 9/11.

But the point of a guerilla marketing campaign is to get people talking about the product, and this one certainly accomplished that. So despite all of the fallout, you still can't write it off as a complete failure. That right there, is the power of guerilla marketing. 

Personally I feel the most effective campaigns are the ones that get people directly involved. It's one thing to witness a guerilla campaign, but to actually be a part of it is what gets people talking. A great example from some of the examples we looked at on friday is the one for Clue with the blood coloured soap. I loved this. It actually makes me a little angry that I will never get to take part in that. That's something that if it happened to you, you would tell EVERYONE about it. It helps that you are a part of the story.

It's a little less exciting if you just see a building that is painted a certain way. Sure it's cool to look at, but it's not nearly as engaging for the viewer if they don't get to actually interact with it. 

I find the more subtle ones work well too. The Clue soap, the cockroach being slid under an apartment door, the dentist papers designed to look like a mouth, these are all great examples of something a little more low key than say, crushing a car with a huge ping pong ball. 

I think people like to piece things together. I hate to keep going back to the Clue soap but damn do I ever love it. At first people would have no idea what the hell is going on and it would take them a few seconds to figure it all out. Once they got it, it's all the more rewarding for them. Simply seeing a display on building will get a "hey that's cool", and then that's probably it. It's a lot better for them if they have to work at it for a bit to figure it out.

Another great example is the pictures that made it look like the tires on someone's car had been stolen. At first they would be confused, and most likely angry, then once they figure out that it's all just a joke, they would appreciate it even more I believe. 

Overall I think guerilla marketing is a great way to grab attention, whether it's in a positive or negative light. If done right, it can be engaging and involving and will definitely get people talking. I don't think we'll be seeing the end of it for quite some time, or at least until there isn't a single surface left in the entire world without some sort of advertisement on it.