How much do advertisers really know?

In the most recent edition of Advertising Age there is an article titled My life, seen through the eyes of marketers. The article goes in-depth about how much database-marketing firms know about consumers. With the rise of the Internet, private information is quickly becoming public knowledge. The article battles the fine line between serving consumers advertisements that are applicable and overstepping the sacred line of privacy.



Michael Bush, a reporter for Ad Age finds out first hand just how much information is out there for anyone to find, the results are shocking. To being, the database marketing company knew that he was a Republican, that one of his parents had past away, that he was a college graduate, that he was married and had, "a number of bank, credit and retail cards at "low-end" department stores". The article also stated that the company found out how long he had lived in his house, how much it was worth and how much more he had to pay on it.



Although Bush's result are jaw dropping and at first make me want to step back and something is not right about this my advertising side steps in. If this data is used correctly and with respect the implications are endless. Instead of opening your email inbox to find numerous amounts of junk mail, an advertisement for something important, even useful to you would pop-up. The advertisement may be for something that you are unaware you even needed but serves as a reminder. Instead of being annoyed by the advertisement you are appreciative. Although this scenario is somewhat an ideal case I think that if information, such as the one the database company dug up about Bush, can be beneficial not just to advertisers but also to consumers.

Colbert Report

A few weeks ago in my Advanced Media Strategies class I was assigned to write a POV about Quaker Oats becoming a sponsor for a cause. Today, I came across this video that pokes fun at the way brands sponsor different causes even though they may be harmful. For example, KFC is currently running a promotion where they donate 50 cents from every bucket of chicken purchased. However, KFC isn't the healthiest choice and can actually harm ones health, thus the question of whether KFC should sponsor a health related illness is brought up. 


The KFC part is toward the end of the clip.

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Although the clip is humorous, Colbert brings up a good point. Does it really matter that Campbell's Soup raises money for heart disease when it is loaded with sodium, or that Malboro is  a partner for Keep America Beautiful? Although it is great that companies are "giving" back, does it really mean anything or is it just lost in clutter? 

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

The commercial, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, produced by Widen+Kennedy for Old Spice is awesome. It has struck a cord among the desired target market and has allowed them to want to pay attention to the message. Currently, there has been almost 9 million views of this video on YouTube.

Roaming Gnome, where is he now?

Chatroulette, although at times disgusting, weird and downright crude has never the less recently become a worldwide phenomenon.  The site, which has been used during Ben Fold’s concerts, a segment of The Daly Show and on almost a million different computers, has received copious amounts of media attention in recent weeks. Travelocity has picked up on this attention and placed their Roaming Gnome icon on the site. “The gnome holds a sign encouraging chatters to consider taking trips. The idea is that folks sitting around video-chatting with strangers could use the excitement of travel[1].” This product placement is cleaver and hilarious.

Users of the social networking site click a “next button” and are given a new person to chat with. Imagine the reaction of a user clicking the next button and coming across the Travelocity Roaming Gnome. They would undoubtedly be taken off guard by the gnome and read the ad. If users were familiar with the brand icon they would fill in the gap and a lasting impression would be made. However, the creator of the site, a 17-year-old, has to be careful not to sell out and let the novelty of the Travelocity Gnome disappear with the addition of clutter.

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[1]http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/nontraditional/e3i539277d81ea4a9b15c1f3dc10e36ceb5

America the Story of Us comes to life

Horizon Media is teaming up with ArtLumiere, a New York Light Show Company to promote the History Channel’s new series America the Story of US. The outdoor campaign will place iconic images of America on three historic buildings in the United States.  The historic buildings are New York Grand Central Station, Washington’s Union Station and the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in L.A.

This is a great idea and is completely unique. It seamlessly incorporates the message of the story of America with the current environment of America. It also places the images in high traffic areas that will receive a lot of attention and publicity.

As a side note, my Advanced Strategies in Media class has been working closely with Horizon Media to come up with a media plan for a show on A&E. I think it is really exciting to see how innovative the agency is and how they are taking a somewhat boring product and bringing it to life. 

Glee + MySpace + Open Casting Call = Advertising Heaven

This week “Glee” seemed to be in the air. I watched the show last Tuesday, attended the Glee-A-Long at Alamo Draft House on Friday (it was part of a sorority retention activity) and I also constantly listened to addition tapes, uploaded to the open casting call by my roommates friends.

The open casting call, which is hosted by MySpace, has received 28 thousand audition tapes and over 85 million votes for the hopeful Glee-ers. The amount of impressions for the investment is borderline ridiculous. Furthermore, the impressions are not fleeting. Consumers are not flipping through a magazine and glancing at an ad, instead they are taking minutes and at times HOURS out of their day to either upload videos or find, watch and vote for their favorite potential Glee-er.

Glee has definitely hit a nerve. The show took into account who their audience was and that they were constantly online frequenting social media sites. They made it easy for people to upload their audition type and watch others’ videos. I don’t think it will be any surprise when advertising rates for the show start to skyrocket.

Coca-Cola Going Mainstream with the World Cup

Coca-Cola has been an avid sponsor of the FIFA World Cup since 1978, however, most mainstream Americans have thus far been unaware of that fact. That is about to change. Coca-Cola is shifting their targeting in regards to the World Cup from primarily the Hispanic market to the general American population. This is consistent with the sports recent popularity among Millennials in America. Millennials grew up playing soccer as well as playing the latest version of FIFA from EA Sports. This exposure has allowed Millennials, myself included, the ability to grow an interest and passion for the sport. According to Reinaldo Padua, assistant vice president of Hispanic marketing for North America, Coca-Cola is running The Longest Celebration Contest in addition to numerous other advertising touch-points to reach out to the new market. “The contest is an opportunity for fans to upload their soccer goal celebrations to a continuous stream of videos from around the world,” says Padua. As a mainstream American in the Millenial generation I think this is a smart move. I have witness the growing passion for soccer over the years and think that Coca-Cola has picked up on the interest and potential vast exposure to a difficult to reach target. 

Connon O’Brien and TBS, an unlikely pair

Connon is making the move to TBS, a channel very different than NBC. For starters TBS is  a cable channel that airs re-runs of one time hit shows like Friends and Seinfeld. The channel change will attract TBS’s remarkably young audience. TBS, according to a NY Times article, “Is the number one cable channel among viewers 18 to 34.” This audience is inline with O’Brien’s core viewers; however, its 11pm time slot will pit O’Brien against John Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Chelsea Handler. Being a member of the 18 to 34-age bracket and an avid watcher of the Colbert Report and Chelsea Lately I am slightly peeved. Why can’t everyone just be friends? My DVR will only allow me to record one show wile watching another live, therefore, someone is going to be squeezed out. Who will it be? I guess I will just have to wait and see.

Grocery Store Moves to Text Coupons

A&P, a grocery store chain, is expanding to mobile coupons via text messages this month.  I think this is a great idea. Personally, I have sat at home on a Sunday and clipped coupons then gone to the grocery store, left the coupons at home and forgotten what the deals were even on. However, if my cell phone is permanently glued to my hand, if I forgot my cell phone on the way to the grocery store I would turn around, run home and grab it. This would allow me to remember what items are running specials and actual be able to receive the special. On the flip side, I do believe that A&P has to be careful to not bombard customers with coupons. I think that using a Bluetooth sensor so customers only receive the coupon while in the store may be extremely useful. 

Facebook > Google or Equal to Terminator

Facebook, which I started using the summer going into my senior year of high school, is continuously bettering itself. Since joining the site in 2006 it has grown substantially. Facebook went from reaching strictly college students to integrating young professionals, adults and even the elderly. Google on the other hand has been around for as long as I can remember and has always had a large and diverse following. The simplistic system that Google offers allows users to easily search for information and be geared toward websites that best match what they typed into the search bar. At its core Facebook is a social networking site, and Goolge a search engine. However, what if Facebook took the copious amounts of personal information it has and applied it to a search engine or a different website. Ian Schafer of AdAge discusses this topic in a recent article. The article notes that Facebook has the power of becoming more powerful than Google. He gives the example of going to Pandora and having it already know the songs you enjoy listening to. If you don’t frequent Pandora, what about CNN or other news sights, imagine visiting one of these sites and having articles that you are interested in pop-up automatically.

Upon first ponder the idea seems genius. From my advertising side, this would greatly increase click rates and overall reception of ads. Advertisers would have the ability to extremely target consumers. They would be able to place an ad in front of people who actually want to see it and would be likely to respond to it. From my consumer side, however, I am split. Part of me agrees that this is a great idea. Why bother searching for interesting articles when they can simply be presented to me, yet, the other side is a little scared. As a human I like choose. I like going to CNN and being able to decide what ads I think are relevant to me. When someone or something (in this case) tells me what I like part of me wants to rebel. In addition, there are numerous privacy concerns that I have. The first of which is that my profile is no longer just my profile. It has turned into a public moneymaker for the site and taken on a life of its own.

As a side note, Schafer makes an analogue between Facebook and Terminator the movie. He comments that if Facebook becomes too powerful it will turn into the movie Terminator and try to, ‘remove the possibility of human error and slowness of reaction time to guarantee fast, efficient response to enemy attack.” At the end of the article he comes back to the analogue and says, “Please don't annihilate humanity, Facebook. We wouldn't "like" that.” In addition, he adds a pretty funny conspiracy theory,  “Former Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly is running for California attorney general. California's governor is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ahnold was The Terminator. Circle. Complete.”