Posts Tagged ‘advertising’

Advertising to the Unconscious Mind

Sunday, March 13th, 2011


(photo credit: e³°°°)

Humans are easy… right? Well, no.

  • It turns out that discovering whether a consumer actually likes a product has more to do with the unconscious mind than the one that tells market researchers what they want to hear.
  • Effective researchers have always tried to look “behind the scenes” for subtle changes in facial expression and tiny eye movements that reveal a subject’s true feelings about the product they’re viewing.
  • But today’s best market researchers are computers. Even something as simple as an Internet or iPhone app with a camera function can track and analyze your facial expressions – meaning the jig is up for product testers just trying to be nice.

Best Quote

“The trouble with market research is that people don’t think how they feel, they don’t say what they think and they don’t do what they say.” – David Ogilvy, late British advertising pioneer

>> What do you think?

Have you ever convinced yourself you liked a product even though you actually didn’t?


”Child Labor” at the Ad Agency

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

“JWT, a WPP ad firm that works for advertisers such as Unilever, kicked off a reverse-mentor program late last year where children ages nine to 14 of JWT executives are brought in to work on specific projects for clients, with the thinking that young people understand the digital world better than many in the work force.”

What do you think?

Is this cool or creepy?

Grounded Jets, Space Jets(!), and Misleading Celebrity Tweeters… TILE Two-Liners 1.10.11 >> 1.14.11

Monday, January 10th, 2011

MONDAY

  • “Cupcake leader” Crumbs (a chain of bakery shops) was just sold for $66 million, proving that the American epidemic of childhood obesity *can* be profitable. (The Wall Street Journal)

TUESDAY

  • Radiohead just keeps on flipping the music industry script. They’re allowing a group of fans to sell a bootleg concert DVD made up of clips secretly shot by 14 different audience members. The catch? All profits have to go to Oxfam. The concert was, after all, a benefit for Haiti. (BBC News)

WEDNESDAY

  • Someday, someone will literally fly you to the moon and let you play among the stars. For a price, of course. (BBC News)

THURDSAY

  • Don’t believe everything your favorite celebrities tweet: They may be on an ad agency’s payroll. (Bloomberg)

FRIDAY

  • If you thought this winter’s snowstorms were annoying for your family, think about the airline industry, which lost over $100 million because of cancelled flights. (The Wall Street Journal)

Your New Apple Gadget Might Be Selling You Out

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

evil-marketing-rays.jpg
credit: Unhindered by Talent

On the night before the night before Christmas, a disgruntled fellow named Jonathan Lalo decided to drag Apple Inc. to court. Why? He says that the UDI (Unique Device Identifier) built in to iPhones and iPads allows apps to collect data on their users without their permission. (He called out some of these apps right in his complaint: Pandora, Paper Toss, the Weather Channel, Dictionary.com.)

Why is that a big deal? Well, appmakers can do pretty much anything they want with the information they collect about you. They can make their products better, customize offerings, or, you know. Sell your most intimate details to the highest bidder.

The suit says: “Some apps are also selling additional information to ad networks, including users’ location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation and political views.”

JLa wants to make his legal challenge into a class action suit – which means that he wants to sue Apple on behalf of everyone who has downloaded an app from the Apple Store in the past two years. If he wins, or if Apple agrees to some kind of settlement, everyone in that “class” (or category of people) would share in the settlement benefit.

Groupon Will Not Be Googled

Monday, December 6th, 2010

They can probably find a better deal anyway.

  • Google allegedly offered $6 billion for the popular online coupon company – the most expensive acquisition in Google history. The initial offer was between $3.5 – 4 billion.
  • Online coupons have never been more popular, and Google was eager to get a piece of the action. They think that advertising locally is about to become really, really big.
  • Groupon is currently owned by a private group of investors, but it may go for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2011.

Facts & Figures

  • Over 33 million people subscribe to Groupon’s daily emails
  • Google is currently sitting on $33 billion in cash and other assets
  • Groupon made $500 million in sales this year – it’s growing at a faster rate than Google or Amazon did

How To Sell The Modern Home’s Most Boring Accessory: Paint

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
A fresh coat of interior paint is a manageable, recession-proof way for homeowners to spruce up their homes. Just make sure you don’t show the product in action.

  • The paint company Valspar has designed a unique advertising campaign that appeals to the imagination and emotions of consumers.
  • While most paint advertisements feature flannel-clad men and women rolling a brush across a blank wall, Valspar decided it’s best not to remind people that painting your wall is actually a chore.
  • Valspar commercials features exotic locations, a soothing voiceover, and impressive colors that pop onscreen. There is also a 16 x 30 foot wall that stands abstractly in meadows, on beaches, or near mountains.

Facts & Figures

  • Valspar spent $35.2 million in advertising in 2009. Sherwin-Williams (one of few household paint names) spent $52 million.
  • The revenue for exterior paint fell 12% from 2007 to 2009. Interior paint sales slipped just 3%.

Best Quote
“Consumers talk about what they feel when they finish the project, and that’s a sense of pride and accomplishment. They say, ‘I feel like an artist,’ and ‘I feel a sense of freedom and joy.’ They ladder up to a lot of high-level emotional benefits, and that’s what we’re trying to tap into through this campaign.”  - Susanne Champ, Director of Marketing At Valspar

Does Hummus Really Even Need To Advertise?

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Apparently there are people out there for whom hummus is uncharted food territory. PepsiCo is targeting those people. You’ve been warned.

  • Sabra, maker of popular hummus and other pre-packaged dips and spreads, is one of several food companies that plan to spend significantly more money than usual on advertising this year.
  • In leaner economic times, marketing for affordable products like food tends to overshadow ads for flashy cars and other symbols of conspicuous consumption.
  • Sabra intends to entice “adventurous eaters” who haven’t tried hummus yet with a media campaign including television, print, online, and in-store advertising.

Facts & Figures

  • The Sabra Dipping Company is owned by PepsiCo
  • Sabra fits into PepsiCo’s “good for you portfolio,” which is responsible for $10 billion (or about 23%) of PepsiCo’s $43.2 billion in revenue last year
  • Sabra Dipping spent $3.3 million on advertising last year; this year it will spend “significantly more” than that

Best Quote

“We use the term ‘epicurious’ to describe the target audience.” – Chip Walker, Partner and Head of Planning at StrawberryFrog New York