Thoughts and Reflections

Being a transfer student and this being my first semester here at San Jose State I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of what the advertising program would be like. I must say that because of these blogs and lectures I am even more excited about the advertising industry than I was before. From learning about different ad agencies to learning how racial stereotypes affect the advertising industry. 

I think what I am most excited about is how social media is disrupting the mainstream advertising industry. With the introduction of Facebook and Twitter, companies are forced to connect with consumers on a whole different level. The consumer can now directly interact with huge corporations. This has led to increased accountability and transparency.

With advertising being my major I already had a passion for this type of work. Now, I am even more motivated to pursue a career in advertising. Not only because I have a distinct passion for it, but when applied properly, it can be used for great things.

Want to Join My Posse?

Loud and proud are the loyal customers of Harley Davidson. A group of people that has been known for shall we say, a little bit of trouble making. This stereotype is no longer associated with Harley anymore, as they have been able to re-brand themselves as a family company. 

Over the years Harley has tried a new marketing technique, they recognized they were imploring market myopia and wanted to change that in order to grow their company. Marketing myopia is when a company focuses too much on the product and not enough on the brand and experience they provide for their customers. 

As for the case study lets tackle question one. 

1. Do you believe brand communities like Harley Davidson result it greater involvement with the brand? To put it in one word, yes brand communities like Harley do result in greater involvement. It is important for the customer to feel connected to their brand and Harley has done a fantastic job with their Rallies and Posse Rides.

2. What elements of the Posse Ride do you believe enhance the meaning of the brand for the riders? I think the fact that Harley Davidson has allowed their customers to create their own traditions has really been a benefit for them. They have stepped back and allowed their customers to really take over and become the centerpiece. 

3. Should Harley Davidson get more involved in the ride or would that dilute the ride's meaning to the participants? I think that Harley needs to stay out of the way. Why disrupt a good thing? They have done an excellent job of balancing their brand messaging and letting the consumer "control" some of it.

4. In addition to the experiences such as the Posse Ride, what others ways could Harley increase involvement in the brand? I think it would be great if Harley provided rallies and rides that designed specifically for women. That way they could expand there brand even farther and reach a completely new demographic.

Would You Like Some Fail With That?

Consumer behavior in relation to whether or not a product succeeds or fails is intriguing to me. Why can a product take off for no apparent reason and another product fail miserably even when the company may have a pristine reputation? Consumer behavior might hold some of the answers. 

The product I chose came from a company that has experienced tremendous success over several decades and has branded itself so well that they own Christmas. They have experienced so much success that the name of the company...just the name is worth over 83 billion dollars. 

Yet this company introduced a product that was considered to be one of the single greatest flops in consumer history. The company was none other than powerhouse Coca-Cola and its introduction of New Coke. The year was 1985 and Coke was feeling significant pressure from other beverage companies like Pepsi. Coke decided they needed a boost and instead of trying minor re-branding techniques they decided to do a complete product change. They did an incredible amount of research and development and spent a ridiculous amount of money retooling their beloved product. In terms of innovation Coke did an excellent job, so what made everything go so horribly wrong?

It is simple really. They forgot about the consumer. The first mistake they made was during their release press conference. There was no mention of taste testing during their research and development stage. Even worse than that was they forgot to mention why they were even making a change, completely ignoring the consumer. They took the consumer for granted and they payed dearly. Pepsi recognized Coke's misstep and capitalized on it by releasing adds attacking Coke, including full pages in the New York Times. Coke was forced to completely drop the New Coke and revert back to Classic Coke within the year. 

When looking at why this product failed, considering it came from a prominent company, you have to look at the consumer. Coke failed to make the consumer feel included and alienated their fan base. This I believe is the sole reason the new product failed. 

The Surfrider Foundation

The Surfrider Foundation is a fantastic organization that is dedicated to preserving our beautiful California Coastline. Founded back in 1985 by Glen Hening, a history teacher and Ventura local who was inspired by the 1984 Olympic Games. He then founded the organization to "make a statement about the extraordinary character of riding waves and to provide a way for waveriders everywhere to take an active role in shaping the future of something we love with a passion". The Surfrider Foundation has now blossomed into one of the premiere environmental organizations that is doing some wonderful things to protect what is left of our coastline. 

This post is not however about the foundation exclusively but rather how they implement social media into their advertising campaigns. First off they have the usual suspects, Facebook and Twitter which they use to connect with their supporters and networking purposes. They also  have used platforms such as Youtube to create videos that inspire people to join there cause. Another platform they have used is Kickstarter to raise money for a documentary about preserving the last twenty miles of unprotected California coastline. Here is a link to the preview of the documentary. 

The Surfrider Foundation also uses more unconventional forms of  social media such as podcasts to further connect with their demographic. When analyzing why they use these platforms I realized it was because they are a grassroots organization and what better way to start a movement then to connect with your supporters through unconventional advertising platforms.

The Best Of: Semiotic Analysis

When analyzing advertisements using semiotics they are many things you have to take into consideration. Things like positioning, color and even font all play a factor. The best advertisements are those that can instantly deliver the brand message without having to using a lot of words if any. 

The three different advertisements that I chose I believe are some of the best examples of how to apply semiotics to advertising.

Let's take a look at my billboard advertisement. This is a billboard advertisement for Formula Toothpaste. The first thing that caught my eye was the fact that the billboard looked broken. But the ad immediately led my eyes to the man's teeth. From this I was able to make the determination in my head that that man must have strong teeth because he is ripping the ad off the billboard. I thought this was brilliant because I was immediately able to make the connection without having to read any text. And with the small tube of toothpaste in the corner I can associate the message of strong teeth with Formula Toothpaste almost instantly. 

For my print ad I decided to go with an ad from Heinz. By using the tomato slices to form the ketchup bottle Heinz has created an "all-natural" image. In an ever-increasing health conscious culture it is critical that a company like Heinz is able to convey a message that supports a healthy lifestyle. They did an excellent job of delivering this message without using any words. 

While the previous two companies above have done an excellent job of applying semiotics to their advertisements, no company does it better than GoPro. In my opinion they have perfected the art of semiotics. What makes it so beautiful and powerful is the fact that no words are ever used in any of their commercials. It is just capturing amazing footage of amazing people doing amazing things. They don't try to sell you their camera, they let the camera sell itself. So let me leave you with this commercial from GoPro, I cannot think of a better way to end this blog post. 

Truth Well Told

When looking at different advertising agencies I wanted to find something that was different. Something that just wasn't about the clients they represent, but something that made the agency itself stand out. That is when I came across McCann-Erickson. Not only do they represent some of the most successful brands such as Coca-Cola, Nestle and Ikea, they have a campaign called "Truth Well Told". This really sets them apart from other agencies because they are finding new ways to connect to the consumer. 

McCann-Erickson has several different truth campaigns or studies as they call them that they are currently working on. I want to focus on the four of the most recent. The first study is called The Truth About Advertising. This is basically a study about learning what the consumer actually thinks about the advertising industry instead of the industry assuming what the consumer thinks about them. This research will allow them to understand what the consumer wants and in turn will help their brands cater to those wants and needs.

The second truth study is The Truth About Connected You. This is essentially a study to see how the consumer connects with the advertising agency through technology. In an age of social media and constant change in technology, the ad industry must stay ahead of the latest media trends so they can best relate to the consumer.

The third study is The Truth About Wellness. Of all the studies that McCann-Erickson does, this is my favorite. They surveyed thousands of people all over the world and asked them what wellness meant to them. This gave them information to help their clients reach a constantly growing market that is health conscious. With an ever-growing health market, it is extremely important for the advertising industry to stay on top of what the consumer wants and this study gives there brands an edge in this area.

The last study that I am going to look at is The Truth About Politics. This study is to see how people view politics today. They want to know if people trust the information they are getting from their leaders and news sources. And depending on the level of that trust they want to know that if the opinions of certain brands will change that trust level. This is all about the advertising industry trying to figure out where to cross the line and knowing how much is too much.

I'm sure other advertising agencies conduct research just like McCann-Erickson does, but what I like about McCann Erickson is that they made a campaign out of these studies. They are showing the consumer that they want to be in touch with them. This I believe gives them credibility and what makes them my favorite ad agency.

Suicide Advertising

Looking back at class a couple weeks ago, I remember discussing what our favorite advertisements are along with the most terrible ones we have seen. It got me thinking, why do companies actually put some of these advertisements on the market? Do they even realize that what they are doing is hurting their company or product. Someone in class brought up the General Auto Insurance ads. I would like to meet the person who designed those ads and just see what was there thought process behind committing advertising suicide for everyone to see. However, this horrific advertising is not completely useless. As an advertising major it is important to know what works and what doesn't work. So let's take a trip down awful advertising lane and learn what not to do.

First take a look at this awful ice chest commercial. After you stop laughing or throwing up let's look at why this ad doesn't work. Everything about this commercial screams "I'm out of date". The age of the cheesy infomercial is dead, in fact I can't remember it ever being alive. It is no longer convincing, much less funny to watch an overenthusiastic man show how great a cheap product is by hitting it a whole bunch of times. We understand, I can hit a plastic box and it won't break. What I hate most about these types of commercials is that it treats their customers like children, it is insulting really. Seriously, it reminds me of my grandma trying to get me to eat my vegetables when I was five years old.

Another commercial that committed suicide was, sadly an ad campaign that used to do it right. It is the most recent "Got Milk" commercial. I remember seeing Got Milk commercials when I was younger and being inspired by seeing athletes who I idolized drinking milk and getting that "stash". It was a brilliant concept, people could identify with their favorite athlete or celebrity. People would drink milk because people like Michael Jordan and Jennifer Aniston did. This new milk commercial however is just a disgrace to the Got Milk heritage. Here is the link to the new commercial. I don't know what was worse, the fact that the commercial made absolutely no sense or the lady making strange grunting noises as she is stuffing an omelet in a cup.

So next time you see a terrible advertisement, watch it and see what you can learn from it. Build a mental library of awful ads so that when you end up in the advertisement industry and someone proposes a less than ideal advertising campaign, you can help prevent another ad campaign from killing itself.