Public awareness ads and shock tactic

In the good old days, public awareness were raised through information flier, annoying (but dedicated, I'll given them credit where credit is due) volunteers standing on straight corners, public speaking advocates, and nice, good natured advertisement on the TV. Boy have things changed. I'm not quite sure when this happened, but apparently everyone got the idea that information alone is inadequate for raising aware. Instead, people must be shocked out of their mind with provocative ads, so much that they are forever burned into the back of our minds, and stir up huge amount of controversy. Case in point, a few weeks ago, new outlets and the Canadian Medical Association were heavily criticizing the Canadian government for moving away from "tough warning labels" on cigarette labels. And by "tough warning labels", they mean graphic, disgusting pictures of rotten teeth, terminally ill patients, and other scenarios depicting the worst possible outcomes of smoking cigarettes. Hmm... I can't speak for anyone else, but those label have zero affects on me. In fact, the most convincing argument against smoke I've seen came from the movie "Thank you for smoking", a hilarious, satirical film following the life of a PR rep for the tobacco industry.

What I'm trying to say is, there's more than one way to advocate a cause, but apparently the people in charge thinks shock tactic is the most effective, if not the only way to raise awareness. The results are these disturbing ads, taken from Adweek's most disturbing ad list for 2010. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

The following ad is to raise awareness for stopping domestic violence. I swear it was for something else before I saw the tagline at the end.



I thought the ad was a campaign against high heel shoes for woman. The ad ridiculously depicts many woman losing their footing walking down a flight of stairs, and fall, dramatically, in slow-motion to a stylized death. After watching this, I'm not sure if I learned anything about domestic violence, but I sure learned not to let my future wife wear heels!

This ad is shocking because it is totally unexpected, as if an ad about popcorn just got hi-jacked, terrorist style.



So, the ad depicts a theater full of people watching a montage of the history and evolution of popcorns on the big screen. Okay, It appears to be some sort of popcorn commercial. You see a modern family microwaving and eating popcorns in the comfort of their home, watching a movie. Then all of a sudden, the little girl on the screen chokes. She can't breath. She's dying. Her mom is hysterical. Her dad is, beside being helpless, utterly useless. The scene becomes more an more uncomfortable as the mom pleads for help from anyone as she watch her daughter dies in her arm. Then, the second plot twist of the commercial: a woman in the seats stood up, and goes behind the movie screen, into the scene. She performs basic first aid procedures to pump the popcorn out of the girl's throat, reviving her back to life. As the mystery woman walks out of the scene, back into the theater (and back into reality), the screen shows its a St. John Ambulance ad promoting basic first aids courses, with the message that you could save a life. Wow, who saw that coming? I was actually intrigued by the creativity that went into making this ad, employing almost another dimension. Nonetheless, I can't help but think this ad was made in a very distasteful matter, and what the Russians would call poshlost.



This ad is by far my favorite "screwed up, wtf" ad. The cause they are promoting is 10:10, getting people to make the commitment of cutting 10% of their carbon admission. The tag line is, "no pressure!" The actually underlining tagline is, "join us or die!" This message is not even subliminal. The people who made this ad seems to be making a threat. The ad shows three scenarios. In the first part, a teacher is talking about cutting carbon admission to a classroom full of high school (elementary?) students. After her pitch, she asks the people who will commit to cutting carbon emission to raise their hands. There are two persons who refused to commit. She says, "no pressure, just want to see a show of hands." Then she presses a button, and the two young kids blows to bits. I'm not going to describe the rest of the video, just watch it. But the point is, the maker of this ad is going purely for the shock affect. There is a thick, unmistakable line between passive-aggressive and pure psychotic; this ad rolls right over that line like Hitler rolled over France in WWII.

Personal Selling

The always hilarious Diego posted this fabulous set of analogies in his blog to describe different principles of marketing, originally taken from this blog. In honoring the spirit of personal selling, I would like to kick this dead horse some more.

Let's restate the original premise: You see a gorgeous girl at a party; you are rich, and you want her to marry you...

Step 1: Generate and Qualify Leads

She's gorgeous, OK? That's all the qualifications required to be considered a potential wife. Up to this day, she is the most gorgeous girl you have ever met, and you are convinced that she will remain to be the most gorgeous girl you will ever meet. 'Nuff said.

Step 2: Preapproach

What are your qualifications? Oh, right, you are rich, filthy rich to be exact. What kind of gorgeous woman doesn't want a man with money? Think about it. Breakfast in Moscow; take a plan to Paris; lunch, then attend a fashion show; buy some expensive haute couture; fly to Barcelona for dinner, and enjoy the Mediterranean sunset in style. Yep, life is beautiful with lots of money available.

Step 3: Sales presentation and overcoming reservations

Go up to her and propose. Yep, it is just that simple. There is no such thing as obstacles. Resistance is futile. Who could resist a man with money (and no shame)? Okay, so she's taller than you. No problem, it worked for TOM CRUISE. And you may not be the best looking dude around. Plastic surgery can fix that. That's right, money makes the world go around. That is all the justification you need to ask her hand in marriage.

Step 4: Closing the sale

Get her drunk! Get her to VEGAS! And before she wakes up next morning, get her married, The Hangover style! Remember, she doesn't have to remember that she said "I DO",

Step 5: Follow-Up

As they say, "It ain't over till it's over." How do you make sure that it's really over? Make sure you get her PREGNANT while she is drunk and had said "I do". Once you get a baby out of her, there is no going back.

Hey, this is marketing related, right?

License to laugh

Recently, I was trolling on Brent Carpenter's boBlog and found this gem.

Hey All!

I’ll start this post off with a joke:

“A man is exhausted after a long day. He decides to go to bed and right just as he slides into his bed he hears a knock at the door. After getting up to answer it he sees that it’s a snail who then says to him “Hello, would you like to buy some magazine subscriptions?”

Furious that his sleep has been interrupted he winds up, and kicks the snail with all his might.

Two years later.

The man is sitting at home, watching television when the doorbell rings. He gets up to answer it, and it’s a snail who says to him “What the f@*k was that about!?”

His post was about how humor in advertisement makes us remember the ads better. Well, likewise, I remembered his otherwise run-of-the-mill post because of this joke. That is to say, I agree with his post and think humor is quite affective. For example, my favor ads are the ones for the French premier movie channel, Canal+

But humor isn't everything. While I agree that humorous ads makes the brand memorable, it takes more than a good joke to entice people to buy a product. In my opinion, a commercial needs, more than anything, an assertive image that is desirable. An ad that is merely funny would only place the product in the invoked set of product in the consumers' minds, but it wouldn't be in the retrieval set. While browsing on Youtube, I saw a funny ad from Mercedes that played on the stereotype of a dumb blonde, with a tagline that goes, "Beauty is nothing without the brain", then it cuts to a new Mercedes car. The message is clear: a Mercedes is not only beautiful, but also has powerful technology and engine. But does this message do what it set out to do, that is, to sell a car? I think not. In my opinion, this ad adds no value to the brand. It may provoke some cheap laugh from first time viewers, but it doesn't stimulate any deeper emotions or attachment. This is another ad from Mercedes. It is funny with a great sense of irony, but more than that, it sells on a certain lifestyle - dangerous, out of bound, adulterous, excitement.

The rise of Alpha Male commercials

So, I'm not quite sure which company started the trend of promoting their product or servicing using a fictitious alpha man, but boy did it open a huge can of worms. Nowadays, it seems like every other company is hopping on this, shall I say, ridiculous bandwagon.

For example, FedEx's newest commercial features an exec who creates a sculpture of himself, operates a open-heart surgery, and beats two chess masters simultaneously while giving himself a tattoo on his lower back, all while regurgitating ridiculous lines such as, "FedEx? I thought they just did argent shipping." "What, you think being amazing at one thing means they can't be amazing at other things too?" The idea of this ad seems mostly a knee-jerk reaction to the many other ads of similar natures popping up all over the place and going viral over the internet. It has very little intrinsic qualities (not really that funny or original), but relies solely on a popular trend going around at the moment. This would seem strange, because FedEx's target audience should be businesses, not the average young people or internet junkies who may find this ad amusing to talk about between friends during a commercial break.



This ad shares similarities to Sony's Playstation 3 "It only does everything" campaign. In Sony's ads, a fake executive, Kevin Butler, is a douche, chauvinistic, arrogant alpha male who answers "fan mails" in a satirical, belittling manner. For example, in one particular ad, a fan girl calls in about his boyfriend ignoring her due to the recent release of 'God of War 3", and Kevin gives her the exact treatment, not even speaking to her, and only says "thanks for coming" at the end without looking at her. The PS3 ads, however, are all pretty funny, and the jokes are original in their set up and delivery. It is also highly "copy-able", which I am sure is intended, in hope of inspiring other amateur copy-cat videos to make the campaign go viral.



The most famous and successful marketing campaign of late is the Old Spice campaign, featuring the Old Spice guy, played by Isaiah Mustafa, Terry Crews and Ray Lewis, all NFL football players. This campaign DID go viral, and it it plays deeply with young people's psyche of wanting something different, over the top, and stupidly funny. The image of a hyper-sexed, ridiculously over-the-top self-idolizing Mustafa "Look at your man, now back to me, now back to your man, now back to ME. Sadly, he isn't me." plays on the imaging of a sexy, chauvinistic asshole that is irresistible to women. The guys at Old Spice understands that their viewers consider this over the top and stupid, but they do it so blatantly and boldly that it somehow justifies itself. For example, at the end of one such video, Mustafa, out of nowhere, is randomly sitting on a horse, and states "I am riding a horse." This image is complimentary to Crews' ultra machoness (abs that can talk) that appeals to young men's inner machoness.


It seems to me this entire trend was started by the guys at Dos Equis, with their "Most interesting man in the world" ads.  God knows where their inspiration came from, possibly ripping off another ad of the similar nature, but as far as I can tell, they were the first to start the "fake ridiculously awesome alpha male producer endorser" trend. ( I'm guessing their idea came from the millions of Chuck Norris jokes and watching 007 over and over again). This ad campaign is particularly intriguing, however, because it is very psychological in nature. It targets' consumers' need for self-actualization (Marlow's hierarchy). The character they create is so ridiculous, non of his deeds make sense, but they all are somewhat awe-inspiring in an irrational sense. "He can speak French, in Russian." This character embodies everything a young person might dream of (be it a boy or a girl) - smooth, impossible, charming, experienced, weathered, suave, mysterious...

Farewell, Get a Mac campaign

For those who don't know, Apple ended their long-run series of "Hello, I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC" commercials this past May. It was definitely one of the more impressive run of TV advertisement in recent memory. So, as a tribute to Apple and their awesome ads, I will dedicate this post to them by dissecting Apple's marketing strategy.

BTW, for those who haven't seen all of them, the good people at AdFreak.com has them all packaged neatly on one page, here, http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/get-a-mac-the-complete-campaign.html.

Mac has long since given up the fight to compete head to head with Windows, and has embraced the role of the underdog. It they adopts a differentiated positioning strategy to market itself as the cool, hip, fun computer as oppose to the robust, nerdy, uncool Windows. Whereas the giant Microsoft tries to create a system that would fit everyone's needs in one package, Macs target specifically the young and the artistic crowd with its easy and intuitive features that simplifies a lot of the mundane tasks required to navigate the operating system.

Although I liked the Get a Mac ads for its humorous and clever ways to exploit PC's weakness, I also disliked it for pretty much the same reasons. The routine of Justin Long poking fun at John Hodgman gets old. It is like watch a smooth talking music kid repeatedly making fun of the nerdy keener. What seemed tongue-in-cheek fun slowly feels more and more like mean-spirited, passive-aggressive bullying. The problem with the ads are, Mac embraced the role of underdog too much, and almost seems to use PC users' frustration with Windows as an competitive advantage over Windows, which is not a good idea. Hey look, Windows is complicated. Hey look, Windows has viruses. Hey look, this Windows feature is useless. At first, the ads were careful not to mention Windows specifically, even though it is obvious who they are poking fun at. But later on, the brain trust behind the campaign seems to lost all humility as the ads became more and more popular. In the very last group of ads, they were as bold as to attack Windows 7 directly, just before its release, as if to launch a preemptive strike. They either got really stupid, or risked on a huge gamble. Either way, they lost the bet, because Windows 7 is everything that they have to offer add more. Sure, there are some minor lingering issues, but they are minor, and Apple can no longer capitalize of people's frustration of Windows.

The Get a Mac campaign was a success in sense because it generated a lot of publicity and interest in Apple computers. However, it was also a failure, because the message it sends across deviated from what Apple stood for. Apple stands for innovation, creativity, simplicity, and fun. I rather see an add that is pro-Apple as oppose to anti-Microsoft. Instead of spreading a positive message about why buying a Mac is in your best interest, the campaign felt more like a smear tactic about why Windows sucks.

Paranormal Activity

ACK, it's been three weeks since I last posted. So, I am going to make this post, and the next, and the next...with EXTRA EXTRA CARE.

Paranormal Activity II just released in theater last week. For those who don't know what the series is about, it is basically the lovechild of The Exorcist and The Blair Witch Project. The premise is that a couple experiences "paranormal activities", and captured them on home video. I haven't seen the new one, but I saw the first one, and it is more creepy than most of the recent horror flicks released. But...whatever.

What is really interesting about Paranormal Activity, is not so much about the movie itself, but rather its promotion campaign which generated $193 million in gross revenue from a budget of  $15,000!!!  This is a movie studio's wet dream coming true - a movie that made more than 10000% profit. So now I have your attention, ask me, how did they do it?

Well, there are several things that the promoters did differently and hit home-runs on. First of all, they targeted college students. Okay, you'll probably say, "that's not unique." But you see, not only did they target college students, they opened it in thirteen college towns only. Now, this would only be effective if their product is superb, and it is. People were walking out of the theater midway because they were so frightened. And, let's see, what do college students looove to do? They love to communicate - facebook, blogs, emails, etc. Soon, the phenomenon that is call Paranormal Activity is going viral over the internet. Fueling this viral sensation is the trailer for Paranormal Activity, which didn't focus on the movie itself as much as the reaction video (in night cam) of the audience scared shitless. The director of the film, Oren Peli, invited users to "demand it" that this movie be shown in their town. After twelve of the initial thirteen openings sold out, PA was opened in twenty major markets, such as L.A. and N.Y., and they sold out. Within two weeks of the initial release, the "demand it" campaign received over 1 million hit. This movie, which was initially thought of by movie studios as useless and only salvageable through a complete remake, soon received wide release then international release. The rest is history.

NHL Marketing Campaign

In short, I am very impressed by the marketing guys sitting at the NHL headquarters.

First, they come up with the brilliant idea for the "History Will Be Made" ad campaign for the 2010 Playoffs, which became instant classics, and spun countless home-brew parodies of every single shenanigans that happened in the NHL, past and present. Dan Boyle's embarrassing own goal? Check. Dion Phaenuf falling on his ass? Yep. Sidney Crosby diving? You got it. It was a rare gem of a marketing campaign that got fans to participate in the creation of the advertisements. Now that, is impressive.

And they are not done. For those who hasn't seen the "Questions Will Become Answers" ads that promotes the upcoming season, I'll tell you this much: they are intense. No gimmick, no stars sitting in a chair talking about their passion for the game, no bullshit. Each ads shows a star training furiously, increasing the tempo as the ad progresses, and finishing emphatically.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D0BlEDLuL0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUOVw9HKOZw&p=A2F06B0E94F26BD1&index=2&feature=BF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ410r-y-_o&p=A2F06B0E94F26BD1&index=4&feature=BF