This Is A Generic Blog Post

Kendra Eash recently posted the text entited “This Is A Generic Brand Video” to McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Within this poetic text, she poses a formula about how brands devise their advertisements. She discusses images, words, and other ploys companies use for our heads to associate with their brands and cynically shows how mindless society can be by latching on to these images and creating such a strong association with the brand. It is highly anti-advertising in my opinion, but also poses a viewpoint that advertisers should capitalize on: you need to deviate from this formula. You need to create something new and something different that will not perpetuate the stereotype of a “generic brand video.”

Even more interestingly, Dissolve Footage, a stock videography company, placed video with this text – in fact, the same generic stock video we have seen in ads in the past, ironically to the words of Eash’s text. I thought this was really funny and a great way of advertising for Dissolve to show how they can creatively apply their generic videos to make more “generic brand videos” for companies looking for footage for their ads.

Dissolve stated, “The minute we saw Kendra Eash’s brilliant “This Is a Generic Brand Video” on McSweeney’s, we knew it was our moral imperative to make that generic brand video so. No surprise, we had all the footage.”

I definitely thought that the video was spot on in the imagery it promoted. I also really found it hilarious how they remade this text into the video to really convey the irony and satire that Eash was channeling through her piece. I think Ad Week put it best, saying, “it’s great that a stock video house would so gleefully celebrate the soul-sucking manipulations for which its offerings are generally used. Watch below, and have a great self-hating rest of your afternoon.”

This video motivates me to think outside the box when creating advertisements. I don’t want generic stock videos; I want unique, interactive stories. This piece also points out the flaws in our advertising system: how easy it is to put together an impersonal ad with all of the resources available to us. While using symbols in ads that are represented in this video is acceptable in my opinion, I am of the belief that it is up to the truly innovative and creative advertiser to use these symbols in new and unique ways to draw in consumers.

 

References:

Dissolve Footage (2014, March 21). This Is a Generic Brand Video [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YBtspm8j8M

Eash, K. (n.d.). This is a Generic Brand Video. McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Retrieved from http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/this-is-a-generic-brand-video

Nudd, T. (2014, March 25). Everything You Hate About Advertising in One Fake Video That’s
Almost Too Real. Ad Week. Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/everything-
you-hate-about-advertising-one-fake-video-thats-almost-too-real-156525

Diversity is Spreading to Emojis

As an avid iPhone user, I love emojis. There are so many hilarious ways they can be used – to tell stories, to add emotion to thoughts, to illustrate song lyrics, to draw pictures, and many more! However, I do think the emoji collection could use some updates, especially because there are only white people emojis and no black. Finally, Apple has said they are coming. MTV emailed Apple after actor Tahj Mowry sent this tweet:

It makes me mad that there are no black emojis… — Tahj Mowry (@Tahj_Mowry) March 16, 2014

Apple responded and said that it is in the works, to the excitement of many iPhone users. It will take some time, however. Apple has to work with Unicode Consortium to update any emojis. Emojis are based on the Unicode standard, which is used by many programs, apps, and platforms. Unicode isn’t controlled by Apple, but by the Unicode Consortium, so it may be a while before any changes occur. However, Apple isn’t the only person who can submit emoji changes to Unicode. Anyone can fill out an application for a new emoji, it just needs to be in widespread use. Though, the Wall Street Journal recommends going through your favorite tech company to see if they can enable an emoji on your keyboard, as sometimes the emoji will exist, just not for your device’s platform. I found the history of emojis and how they got to be a part of the iPhone keyboards very interesting as well. Emoji symbols started on Japanese cell phones, and then Unicode picked emojis up so that the symbols would be unified across all platforms. Some emojis look they way they do because they were influenced by Japanese manga and anime. This is because emojis originated in Japan and were originally used as competition pieces between cell phone carriers in the ‘90s to see who could attract more consumers by adding unique emojis to their collections. iPhones adapted emojis when the iPhone 3G was released and it was popular everywhere- except Japan because it didn’t have emojis. Here are some fun facts about emojis. There are two camel emojis because there are different words for one hump and two hump camels. There are 845 emojis: of which there are 75 animals, 59 food and drinks, 5 mailboxes, two post offices, and 9 symbols for not allowed. Many emojis have a Japanese influence, of which you can understand here. Overall, I think the story of emojis is so interesting and definitely a fun topic to discuss and use in everyday conversation. I think the positive press that will occur when Apple adds more diverse emojis will increase the number of users substantially.   References: Douglass, M., & Keegan, J. (n.d.). Emoji. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://graphics.wsj.com/emoji/ Rodriguez, S. (2014, March 26). Apple working on bringing racial diversity to emoji icons. Chicago Tribune [Chicago]. Retrieved from http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/la-fi- tn-apple-emoji-racial-diversity-20140326,0,6784819.story

Ronald McDonald Loves Taco Bell’s New Breakfast – Wait, what?

 

Taco Bell now serves breakfast. My hometown was one of the test markets for the new menu, and when the waffle taco hit the stores of Omaha, NE, I stayed far away. Taco Bell isn’t really my thing, but when I saw their newest line of commercials, the brand definitely caught my eye. When I think of previous Taco Bell ads, I think of “Think outside the bun” and “Fourth meal”. However, now, I think I’ll think of Ronald McDonald.

Taco Bell’s newest commercial features Ronald McDonald – actually Ronald McDonalds – recommending their new breakfast items. That’s right, various people from all over the country who are named Ronald McDonald are recommending Taco Bell breakfast. According to the Washington Post, “Taco Bell’s ad agency, Deutsch LA, found around 400 men and women with the name Ronald McDonald, Ronnie McDonald or some variation, Niccol said. A couple of dozen were selected to represent different regions around the country including Bossier City, La.; Chicago; Dubuque, Iowa; Kane, Pa.; and Worcester, Ma.” All of the Ronald McDonalds in these ads have very positive reactions to the breakfast, saying things like, “It’s not messy” and “Mmm, real good” and “It has everything I like.” Taco Bell President Brian Niccol said that while these men were paid to appear in the commercial, their reactions were genuine. This ad is the biggest campaign ever for the company.

I find it interesting that Taco Bell is still pursuing breakfast since McDonald’s is the number one company with breakfast, holding 31 percent of the category, and in test markets, Taco Bell’s breakfast only accounted for 4 percent of sales. But it’s hilarious that Taco Bell is blatantly poking fun at their number one competitor with this ad. I wonder if McDonalds will ever have a response for them. The strategy to turn heads and make Taco Bell stand out will be an interesting one. However, I do wonder if the ad will draw enough attention to Taco Bell, or will it backfire and put more on McDonalds? Will it be funny to consumers, or dumb, or just plain inappropriate? It will be interesting to see how the ad will be received. After all, if Ronald McDonald, the name of the number one fast food breakfast in the country, approves it, how can it go wrong?

 

References:

Choi, C. (2014, March 26). Taco Bell’s ads star real-life Ronald McDonalds. Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/taco-bells-new-tv-ads-star-ronald-mcdonald/2014/03/27/0709023e-b565-11e3-bab2-b9602293021d_story.html

Morrison, M. (2014, March 27). Taco Bell’s Breakfast Endorser: Ronald McDonald. Ad Age. Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/news/taco-bell-enlists-army-ronald-mcdonalds-breakfast-ads/292337/

Taco Bell (2014, March 27). Guess Who Loves Taco Bell’s New Breakfast | 2014 Taco Bell
Breakfast Commercial [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/PKAcOawiaNk

Is Technology A Blessing or a Curse?

We all know how much technology has improved our lives. Cell phones have made communication possible – anytime, anywhere. Laptops and the Internet have made information available in so many ways and forms, we’re practically overloaded by it everyday. New technologies in healthcare have made the average lifespan longer and are improving people’s lives everyday. However, what about the more negative side of things? How does technology worsen us?

The National Safety Council just came out with the latest injury and fatality statistics and trends. The NSC noted in what they considered “more surprising statistics” that cell phone use is not involved in 26 percent of all motor vehicle crashes. 21 percent of cell-phone related crashes involve drivers talking on handheld or hands-free devices, while 5 percent involved texting. These statistics are shocking. Without cell phones, nearly a quarter of motor vehicle crashes wouldn’t happen. This Injury Facts report was released on March 25, so recent that these statistics are more accurate than ever before. It’s scary that technology has had such an effect on our lives that it causes a quarter of automobile accidents.

Another not-so life-threatening but still negative result of technology is the effect it has on how we use words. Limited to 140 character tweets, quick BRB text messages, and replying to 100-plus emails a day has us using larger words less and less. The Wall Street Journal reported on this, saying “Technology is largely to blame for big words’ fade out. We are being conditioned to communicate faster and in shorter bursts. There isn’t room for big words in a text or a tweet or even a quickly dashed-off email. We’re communicating across so many different channels that, by sheer necessity, our language is becoming abbreviated (“R u with me?”).” As someone who has always valued long words (When I was in sixth grade, I got to design my own spelling tests because the standard ones were too easy. I once chose “deoxyribonucleic acid” as a word on my test.), it is difficult for me to see our vocabulary dwindle away. And much of it, I know, is because of technology and Twitter and texting.

While technology is so valuable at times, sometimes it is necessary to take a step back and look at how it really affects your life. Is it a time-suck? How often do you use it? Are you communicating properly with it? It’s good to look at it retroactively so that you are able to realize the impact of your technology usage and how you may be putting your vocabulary or your physical safety in danger.

 

References:

Bernstein, E. (2014, March 24). Big Words Are Fading, But People Still Love Them. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304179704579459232432887244?

Lane, K. (2014, March 25). NSC releases latest injury and fatality
statistics and trends. Retrieved from
http://www.nsc.org/Pages/NSC-releases-latest-injury-and-fatality-
statistics-and-trends-.aspx

MH370: In Tragic Times, Does the Media Help or Hurt?

The story of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 is one the world latched onto over the last few weeks. From the moment the flight was lost to the moment Malaysian Airlines declared the entire crew and all passengers lost, the world was watching. The world was listening in, reading, and watching on TV the updates of any new debris found that could possibly be a sign of MH370. The “Lost”-like story of this flight drew people in, as they asked how today’s technology could lose an entire flight of people and not locate them even after weeks of searching. I too have been tuned in with the media to see if and when this flight will be found. As the world has been watching, however, they’ve also had to sift through coverage “filled with rumors, false reports, and ambiguous information,” according to The Guardian.

This confusion is due to the fact that there are 12 nations participating in the search, the huge number of officials who are telling various stories and recommending conflicting leads, and the complicated way airplane searches are. The fact that everyone is continuously speculating as the search drags on is also a major factor.

One of the biggest problems I’ve noticed is that when news outlets report on this disappearance, they have a lack of citation of where they got their information. As a result, media outlets are not held responsible in finding the facts and have been reporting on any possible speculations that exist.

The news outlets are also taking it upon themselves to explain how airplanes work, including their “black box” satellite system, which is supposed to report a signal upon a plane crash or failure. These explanations are all generally confusing and make it even more difficult for the public to understand.

I especially think that in these situations, the media makes it worse on the families and also tends to treat the victims with a lack of respect. It almost seems like a competition to see who can find the downed plane first instead of a search to find the bodies and remains of the victims. Multiple media sources also present new information at varying times, which prolongs the exposure of this news to the public, including the families of the victims.

The discrepancies in what various media sources report and what is actually going on is common when tragedy occurs. This type of misinformation also occurred when the Boston Marathon bombing happened and especially when 9/11 took place. It just goes to show that one should not depend solely on the media in instances like these and that people trying to stay informed should expect misinformation.

 

References:

Yuhas, A. (2014, March 13). Malaysia Airlines flight MH370: clarifying conflicting media
claims. The Guardian. Retrieved from
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/13/malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-media-claims

Discrete Advertising: “First Kiss” a New Trend?

 

A YouTube video entitled “First Kiss” had 20+ shares on my Facebook newsfeed the week of its release on March 10. This video had over 42 million views on YouTube within the first 48 hours it was on the web. Many comments I saw reflected on how creative the piece was and the uniqueness and “cool factor” of the film. It was well produced, and claimed to show 20 random strangers off the street, put in front of a camera, and asked to kiss passionately in front of the camera. The black-and-white video seemed to have been produced for the creative, artistic element it shared with viewers. It was a unique experience to watch 20 strangers kiss. However, news got out – this work of art was actually an advertisement, and these random strangers off the street were actually actors and models who were paid to kiss on camera.

This advertisement, commissioned by Melissa Coker, the founder and creative director of a clothing company called Wren, was designed to showcase her clothing line’s fall collection. The ad also had many parodies made of it, including “First Handjob” , “First Sniff” (a dog version), “Real First Kiss”, and more that can be found on this Buzzfeed article. After the news broke that this artsy video was actually an ad, some people were mad. Personally, I questioned the ethics of this situation.

While Wren did note that they produced the video, they did not disclose who they were. That alone is an interesting angle to think about – should it be necessary in advertising to make it clear who your company is when you are creating an advertisement? Another aspect I thought about was that the company told viewers that the people in this video were strangers off the street, giving the illusion that they were not actors or models and were not getting paid for this but were just random normal people who agreed to be a part of this art project. Things like this are seen in TV ads as well though – testimonials and the “people on the street” you see on many commercials are actors and getting paid to participate in the ad. Other examples of these aspects in other advertisements helped me to come to terms with the ad more. At first I was annoyed and almost upset that I had been duped, but the more I thought about it, the more brilliant I realized it was.

According to the New York Times, Coker said there has been a significant bump in sales at Wren and the background song, “We Might Be Dead by Tomorrow” by Soko sold 10,000 copies in two days after the video was released. It turns out that incognito ad was actually really successful and I predict that many more companies will turn to this advertising strategy soon.

 

References:

Bagg, A. (2014, March 13). A Definitive List of First Kiss Parodies. Buzzfeed. Retrieved from http://www.buzzfeed.com/abagg/a-definitive-list-of-first-kiss-parodies

Koblin, J. (2014, March 13). A Kiss Is Just a Kiss, Unless It’s an Ad For A Clothing Company. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/business/media/a-kiss-is-just-a-kiss-unless-its-an-ad-for-a-clothing-company.html?_r=2

PimmsGirl (2014, March 12). FIRST HANDJOB (First Kiss Parody) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAnjUhQvGi0w

Pllievia, T. (2014, March 10). FIRST KISS [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpbDHxCV29A

Welkombijeen (2014, March 12). The Real First Kiss [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc3DsD7RpMc

Target’s Data Mining

All retailers gather data about consumers and the patterns that come with them each time a shopper checks out at a register. This information helps show consumers relevant ads and collects data for any research Target may need to know about their consumers. Target assigns a guest ID number to every customer, tied to their credit card, name, or email address, which stores every product they’ve ever purchased and any demographics that Target has collected from primary research or other sources. Based on these purchases, it’s easy to predict what you’ll need next. Maybe you buy toilet paper every two weeks, or you buy milk every five days. However, sometimes changes in life happen and that means changes in purchases. Target has been able to nail down these purchases so exactly that the store can tell if you’re pregnant before your friends and family know.

Andrew Pole, a statistician for Target, discussed several patterns noted when a woman is pregnant. Women buy larger quantities of unscented lotion at the beginning of their second tri. Other purchase measurements, including soap, cotton balls, and vitamin supplements, helped to predict that a pregnancy was in sight. Because of these purchase trackings, Pole was able to develop a system of “pregnancy prediction” that even allowed the analysts to predict when the woman’s due date was. As a hypothetical example, the NYTimes piece used this: “. Take a fictional Target shopper named Jenny Ward, who is 23, lives in Atlanta and in March bought cocoa-butter lotion, a purse large enough to double as a diaper bag, zinc and magnesium supplements and a bright blue rug. There’s, say, an 87 percent chance that she’s pregnant and that her delivery date is sometime in late August.”

Based on this data, Target is able to start sending coupons for baby items to these customers, and based on the colors the mom-to-be buys, they can even gender specify or gender neutralize them. This information is so creepily accurate that a man went into a Target and was upset that his high school aged daughter was receiving coupons for baby clothes and cribs. A few days later, the manager called to apologize and the man told him his daughter actually was pregnant and he was unaware. I think this is amazing and so scary at the same time.

Because of that incident, Target started sending personalized booklets to these people instead. So it wouldn’t be a completely baby-themed book, but would mix some random ads in with the information. Target found out that as long as the woman doesn’t think she has been spied on, she will use the coupons.

Personally, I think it’s really incredible that so much data can be pulled from simply collecting information. It’s also really scary and seemingly dangerous. People are often scared of the depth of information they put on the internet, but what happens when someone hacks into the data of what you purchase? When you visit the store? This data essentially defines who you are. After all, we are what we purchase. Scary isn’t it? According to the Forbes article, some consumers are purchasing with cash because of the extremities that data mining has gone to anymore. Is it worth it?

 

References:

Duhigg, C. (2012, February 16). How Companies Learn Your Secrets. New York Times [New York City]. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp&

Hill, K. (2016, February 16). How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/?utm_campaign=forbestwittersf&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

The Latest Photoshop Fail

The one thing about new media is how apparent flaws in our societal values can become when it’s used the wrong way. Target is the latest brand to have abused their Photoshopping privileges, as Jezebel first noticed. Target’s website featured a teen model wearing a junior’s swimsuit with a square “thigh gap” poorly Photoshopped as well as a chunk taken out of her hip and an obviously edited arm resting on her leg. The photo has since been taken down but blogs and news sources all over the Internet are reporting on this unfortunate photo edit.

While Photoshop is a valuable tool, it’s a blessing and a curse. I find it really sad that a model for Target’s junior’s line was the subject of this – we are showing young girls what is supposed to be a societal standard, when really, there should be no standard at all. Brands like Aerie and Dove are fighting against these standards, which may be a better thing to do when scandals and accidents like these occur.

It is interesting to consider whether Photoshop is actually helpful or harmful, especially in the fashion and modeling industry. I personally think that Photoshop is a greater harm than a useful tool. It can be helpful to a point – touching up lighting, adjusting colors and tones, and maybe even removing a stray hair. However, modifying people’s bodies for the sake of modification is unnecessary and gives an unrealistic tone to the photo, especially when modeling clothes for a retail website such as Target’s. Retail websites are supposed to show their clothing products on real people to show a real fit, especially if a consumer is ordering them online. Aerie has started showing each size of bra on different models to show a “real-life” fit for women and girls shopping there. I think all retailers could take a lesson from Aerie.

Cosmopolitan magazine did a “digital makeovers” project with hosts of the “Today” show to illustrate how Photoshop can be used unnoticeably. When you put the photos side by side, it definitely is noticeable. Cosmo’s editor in chief Joanna Coles said she calls Photoshop “tidying up”, and the photo editors gave a diagram of how they changed Al Roker, Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, and Natalie Morales with their editing skills. This was part of a campaign called “Love your selfie,” which hopes to inspire and empower self-confidence in people without needing Photoshop to do it.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I found this digital makeovers project shocking and effective as it showed just how many changes are made to photos that are published and how easily images like the ones Target had on their website are transformed. It just goes to show Photoshop has affected photography and photojournalism.

 

References:

The Ethical Adman (2014, March 10). Target’s pathetic Photoshop disaster [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://workthatmatters.blogspot.ca/2014/03/targets-photoshop-pathetic-disaster.html?spref=fb&m=1

Feldman, J. (2014, March 11). Target’s Latest Photoshop Fail Looks Pretty Painful. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/11/target-photoshop-fail_n_4940819.html

Murray, R. (2014, February 27). ‘Today’ show hosts get digital makeovers thanks to Photoshop. Daily News [New York]. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/today-show-hosts-photoshopped-article-1.1703667

Rose, R. (2014, March 10). Target Photoshops Junior’s Swimsuit Model With Disastrous Results. Retrieved March 11, 2014, from http://jezebel.com/target-photoshops-juniors-swimsuit-model-with-disastro-1540967946

Today (2014, February 27). See TODAY anchors get Photoshopped [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.today.com/video/today/54525815#54525815

Nielsen Report Provides Shocking Statistics about Digital Media Usage

On March 5, Nielsen, a market research firm, released “An Era of Growth: the Cross-Platform Report” that contained information on trends in digital media usage. The company performed this research with the intent to understand the consumer better and to gain information on electronic media usage, particularly with mobile devices. One of the most shocking statistics that Nielsen found was that the average American adults spends 11 hours per day with electronic media. Surprisingly, the top two activities that adults spend with electronic media is watching live TV and listening to the radio, closely followed by smartphones, internet on a PC, and timeshifted TV.

As noted earlier, Nielsen particularly surveyed mobile platform users, especially with video and internet usage on the go with a mobile device. A statistic that I found interesting from this was that smartphones are not specific to one gender – the report found that 50 percent of smartphone users are female and 50 percent are male. However, women tend to spend more time with apps and browsing the web than men do. This trend also followed over into the tablet market as well, as women were found to use apps on a tablet 5 hours more than men monthly, and two hours more on the mobile web via their tablets than men per month. I wonder why women tend to spend more time with their devices than men do.

I also thought it was interesting that the majority of smartphone users aren’t teenagers or young adults anymore, but rather people ages 35 – 54, something that I would not have predicted from my own observations. Something I could have predicted, however, is the television usage rates per age group. 45 percent of television users are ages 55 and up, while the lowest percentage are ages 18 – 24 and only 8 percent. I do wish that Nielsen could have included survey results from the age group 10 to 18 as well, as smart phones are very popular with teenagers and pre-teens and would’ve yielded interesting results to compare.

In the narrative precluding the statistics of the report, Nielsen notes that they are now able to measure audiences of broadcast and digital video on mobile devices with both linear and dynamic ad models. This is why these statistics are so relevant – because we are in a huge era of growth regarding the mobile platform, and as Nielsen says, “The quality of information is more important than ever.” This is relevant to advertisers, the TV and entertainment industry, the mobile device and technology industry, and above all, consumers, as we need to understand how we use these technologies and whether it is to our benefit or detriment.

 

 

References

Nielsen (2014). An Era of Growth: The Cross-Platform Report (Q4 2013). Retrieved from http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/reports/2014/an-era-of-growth-the-cross-platform-report.html

Petronzio, M. (2014, March 6). U.S. Adults Spend 11 Hours Per Day With Digital Media [CHART]. Retrieved March 7, 2014, from http://mashable.com/2014/03/05/american-digital-media-hours/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link

Ellen’s Selfie: Product Placement at the Oscars

If you tuned in to the Oscars on Saturday night or simply logged onto your Twitter account in the days following, you probably noticed a selfie taken by Bradley Cooper and tweeted out by Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres. The photo included many famous stars, including Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey, and Jennifer Lawrence. This photo was taken by a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, a product placed by show sponsors Samsung and their media buying firm Starcom MediaVest. Samsung and Starcom negotiated to have the Galaxy integrated into the show as part of their ad pact with ABC.

If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014

Four more years. pic.twitter.com/bAJE6Vom

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 7, 2012

Ellen’s selfie seemed spontaneous – she had talked about taking selfies at the Oscars in the days leading up to the event and she also discussed it being the most retweeted photo in all of Twitter. This photo had to beat out a photo tweeted by Barack Obama on the night of his reelection on Nov. 7, 2012, which currently holds 781,818 retweets but only had 779,295 at the time. The selfie reached 779,295 retweets within half an hour and had over 2 million by the end of the ceremony. The tweet actually crashed Twitter briefly due to the massive amount of attention it received. As of Wednesday afternoon, Ellen’s photo had 3,189,465 retweets. As you can tell, Samsung got a lot more than just product placement but also free publicity all over Twitter and major news networks thanks to Ellen’s retweet challenge.

The free publicity and word of mouth online commentary that Samsung has received thus far has been mostly positive. Kontera, a company that tracks social media content, said that 23% of commentary has been positive, 69% neutral, and only 8% has been negative.

Ellen taking a selfie on the night of the Oscars

However, questionable tweets that night from @TheEllenShow has viewers wondering what phone was Ellen using that night, as there were four tweets from an iPhone and five from Samsung. Do these tweets ruin the assumed validity of product placement? I think so. It undermines the point of product placement, as the promoter of Samsung’s products is also using the largest competitor of the Galaxy Note 3.

I think the product placement of the Galaxy Note 3 was highly effective for the most part. It was inconspicuously done and went off without a hitch – that is, unless you noticed where Ellen’s tweets were coming from throughout the night.

Another product placement at the Oscars on Saturday to note is that for Big Mama’s and Papa’s Pizza, the pizzeria that delivered pizza for the celebrities at the Oscars in the middle of the show. Coca Cola was a featured logo on the pizza boxes, and neither Big Mama’s and Papa’s nor Coca Cola paid for this placement. Coke wrote the pizzeria a thank you note for the free publicity, while Big Mama’s and Papa’s just seems to be thankful to supply and deliver pizza at the show.

https://twitter.com/BigMamasNPapas/statuses/440340855212089344

 

References:

DeGeneres (TheEllenShow), E. (2014, March 3). Twitter / TheEllenShow: If only Bradley’s arm was longer. .. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/TheEllenShow/statuses/440322224407314432

Obama, B. (2012, November 6). Four more years. http://t.co/bAJE6Vom [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/BarackObama/statuses/266031293945503744

Oscars 2014 (2014, March 3). Oscar Selfie Ellen | The Moment the Most Famous SELFIE Ever Was Taken | Oscar 2014 [FULL] [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G87cwcR_58c

Silverman, D. (2014, March 3). Samsung paid big for Oscar placement, but Ellen used an iPhone backstage. Chron. Retrieved from http://blog.chron.com/techblog/2014/03/samsung-paid-big-for-oscar-placement-but-ellen-used-an-iphone-backstage/#21161101=2

Smith, C. (2014, March 4). Ellen DeGeneres’ Oscars selfie beats Obama retweet record on Twitter. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/mar/03/ellen-degeneres-selfie-retweet-obama

Vranica, S. (2014, March 3). Behind the Preplanned Oscar Selfie: Samsung’s Ad Strategy. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304585004579417533278962674

Milk Got A Life

The dairy industry’s “Got Milk?” campaign is one of the most famous advertising campaigns of the last twenty years. It was a transformative campaign, one that dealt with “the most boring project imaginable” and turned it into something well known and highly recognizable. However, the dairy industry has ditched the familiar “Got Milk?” slogan and has picked up “Milk Life” as the new catchphrase. However, can “Milk Life” save the dairy industry?

According to the USDA, per-capita consumption of fluid milk and cream fell by 25 percent from 1975 to 2012 and is on a continuing decline. Julia Kadison, the interim CEO of MilkPEP, attributes this decline to factors such as long-term unemployment, a declining birth rate, and the rise of substitute products for dairy milk like almond and soy milk. With these rates on the decline, “Milk Life” has not only big shoes to fill but also big improvements to make.

The new campaign has no celebrities or milk mustaches – it features regular people and a recent commercial shows splashes of milk propelling people through their daily activities. The previous campaign spent a lot of time on kids- MilkPEP sent a lot of posters to schools to promote to children. However, “Milk Life” focuses on parents and other adults. The new ads showcase milk in a hyper-competitive food and beverage marketplace. It points out that a glass of milk can have eight grams of protein.

Meanwhile, “Got Milk?” isn’t gone for good. The original commissioners of the campaign, the California state milk processor board, are continuing to use the ads and MilkPEP will continue to license the phrase. Jeff Goodby, co-chairman of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners who were the original creators of “Got Milk?”, says he’s not disappointed about MilkPEP adapting a new campaign. “ I think it’s an interesting experiment and I’ll watch it with fascination. They’re trying to embrace the sort of greater goodness of milk. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

I don’t think “Milk Life” is going to get the dairy industry anywhere. The health fad of soy and almond milk is too strong for dairy milk to overcome. “Milk Life” just isn’t a unique enough campaign that will draw people in, especially adults. I think the focus on adults will be one of the key differences and deciding factors of whether this new campaign will be successful or not. It was easy to focus on children with “Got Milk?” because they were drinking it in the cafeterias at school with the celebrity milk moustaches staring down at them. Kids were watching the “Got Milk?” commercials on TV. However, “Milk Life” is just like every other advertisements adults see, and I do not think it will be effective.

References

Victor, L. (2014, Feb 24). The dairy industry is axing ‘got milk?’. Time. Retrieved from
http://business.time.com/2014/02/24/got-milk-campaign-ends-in-favor-of-milk-life/

 

Game Over: The Flappy Bird Phenomenon

On February 9, 2014, “Flappy Bird,” a popular mobile game sitting at the top selling spot in both markets was taken down from the iOS App Store and Google Play. Dong Nguyen, the creator of Flappy Bird, announced on the 8^th on his Twitter that he couldn’t “take it anymore,” nothing that it was not due to legal issues, he was not planning on selling it, and he will still make more games, two of which are sitting at #4 and #18 in the iOS store, respectively.

This move was highly perplexing to many people, including game users and marketing analysts alike. Game users, who did not understand that they would still be able to play Flappy Bird once it was deleted, took to Twitter to complain, some of whom threatened Nguyen’s life.

Some marketers speculated that this may be a ploy to create what they call a “Disney vault” effect – it increases demand for the app right before it is removed in order to maximize profits of a “dying” product. Paul Tassi checked the App Store yesterday and saw Flappy Bird had 75,000 reviews. He checked again today and saw that it had 146,000. Tassi attributes this jump to a large number of new downloads, most likely because of the news that the viral game would be removed and many people wanted to check it out before they could no longer do so.

Flappy Bird became a sensation, as players took to Twitter to complain about the difficulty of the game that inspired their addictions to playing it. People created memes and YouTube videos addressing the difficulty of the game. Speculators claim that this attention along with much negative criticism inspired Nguyen to delete the game.

If attention was what was bothering Nguyen all along, deleting the app was surely not a way to resolve that problem. Nguyen has gained over 60,000 Twitter followers in the past 24 hours, which is five times the amount he previously had. He also will continue to make revenue from the app as long as players keep the game on their phones, so deleting it does not solve the money issue. He also will continue to make money with his other games that are sitting in the top 20 apps in the iOS store right now.

Personally, I am confused on what his motives for deleting the app were, and I think most people out there are too. Tassi says, “Perhaps it’s more accurate to view Nguyen as a lottery winner rather than a talented author or singer who finally hit the big time. He bought a ticket by making his simplistic game, and through nothing short of magic and luck, it exploded. And I don’t think I need to tell you that many people who win the lottery end up having their lives ruined by the windfall.” I agree with this viewpoint because it seems that is what is happening to Nguyen – his app went viral, became wildly successful, and now is affecting his life negatively.

I also think this scenario illustrates the problems that come with the Internet and technology. Threats to kill Nguyen show how addicted players are to Flappy Bird – granted, I’m not sure how many of these threats should be taken at face value but I think that threatening to kill someone is a serious claim no matter how funny a Twitter user thinks he or she is. This futher perpetuates the stereotype of addictive technology. It also shows how technology can have such a negative effect on someone, as Nguyen is obviously undergoing a painful situation and had to resort to deleting a multi-million dollar game because of the problems it was creating.

 

References:

Langer, E [EliLanger]. (n.d.). Tweet List [Twitter page]. Retrieved February 9, 2014
from https://twitter.com/EliLanger/timelines/432588181611892736

Nguyen, D [dongatory]. (n.d.). Tweets [Twitter page]. Retrieved February 9, 2014, from
https://twitter.com/dongatory

Tassi, P. (2014, February 8). ‘Flappy Bird’ Creator Says He’s Taking the Game Down.
Forbes. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/02/08/flappy-bird-creator-says-hes-
taking-the-game-down/

Tassi, P. (2014, February 9). ‘Flappy Bird’ Creator Follows Through, Game Removed
From App Stores. Forbes. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/02/09/flappy-bird-creator-follows-
through-game-removed-from-app-stores/

Tassi, P. (2014, February 9). The ‘Flappy Bird’ Shutdown is a Diabolical or Accidental
Genius Act of Marketing. Forbes. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/02/09/the-flappy-bird-shutdown-is-
a-diabolical-or-accidental-genius-act-of-marketing/

In-App Ad Revenue: Making Bank on a Free App

The popular game app Flappy Bird was pulled from the app store today, February 9, 2014, after the game creator said that the revenue from the in-application advertisements was ruining his simple life. Flappy Bird is said to have made up to $50 thousand per day in ad revenue. After discovering a simplistic, free game app could make so much money per day, I wondered how app monetization and mobile advertising works.

According to TechCrunch, there are four ways an application can make money. These ways are to sell your app for money in the app store; to offer a free, subscription-supported app; to offer in-app purchases; or to offer a free app with in-app advertisements. TechCrunch says what it really boils down to is how you want to be paid: by app users or by advertisers. The future of app monetization truly lies in in-app advertising because free apps are much more likely to be downloaded than paid apps and 80 percent of the free apps in the Android marketplace utilized in-app advertising as their business model. The U.S. IAB Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence revealed that global mobile advertising revenue jumped 82.8 percent from 2011 to 2012. Numbers for 2013 are not yet available, but I would guess that the upward trend continued last year.

 

Here are some ways Facebook displays ads on their mobile app.

I also thought it was interesting that Facebook is now considered a mobile ad firm, as 53 percent of its revenue now comes from mobile advertising. Facebook has 945 million mobile users, and from those users, Facebook made $1.37 billion in revenue last year. Obviously from this information, there is a tremendous amount of money in mobile advertising and it will only grow as advertisers find new and innovative ways to promote themselves in apps and online. Facebook introduced a new feature for mobile devices in the fourth quarter last year called mobile app re-engagement ads that got users back into apps they downloaded but then forgot about. The re-engagement ads were much more successful than expected and are predicted to become much more successful in 2014. Facebook pulls in over $.80 per user in the Asia-Pacific region from ads, which shows how easy it is for to make money from mobile advertisements.

Facebook is not the only app experimenting with new advertisements – Tinder, the online dating app, is throwing in fake profiles to test as advertisements. The fake profiles are characters from popular shows on FOX, such as The Mindy Project. Twitter’s new approach for mobile ads brought in over 70 percent of their global income last year.

Screen captures of the fake profiles on Tinder by FOX from The Mindy Project.

One reason mobile advertising revenue is growing is because mobile usage rates are surpassing that of laptop and PC usage. An eMarketer report found that U.S. adults are spending 19.4 percent of their time on mobile devices, which is more than they spend on PCs or laptops. Infrastructure is better and mobile ad selling is also up, which helps both advertisers and ad creators become more comfortable with the system.

There is obviously big money in mobile advertisements and I know that if I ever create an app, monetization in the form of ads is one of the first things I will address. It’s intriguing that mobile ads create so much revenue and that app users never actually realize they’re making money for a company. I know I had no idea that there was so much money to be made in that market, but I suppose if there’s an area I should invest in, mobile advertisement is one of them.

References:

Constine, J. (2014, January 29). Facebook officially a mobile ad firm with 53% of ad revenue now coming from its 945M mobile users. TechCrunch. Retrieved from http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/29/facebook-is-a-mobile-ad-company/

Danova, T. (2014, January 6). Mobile Insights Mobile Advertising Tinder Apps For Mobile-Social Apps, Advertising Is Winning As The Money-Making Revenue Model. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/advertising-is-the-most-lucrative-revenue-model-for-growing-mobile-social-apps-2014-1

IAB (n.d.). IAB Global Mobile Advertising Revenue Report. Retrieved February 9, 2014, from http://www.iab.net/globalmobile

Kantrowitz, A. (2013, December 16). Mobile-Ad Revenue Explodes, Finally. Ad Age. Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/digital/mobile-ad-revenue-explodes-finally/245694/

Tassi, P. (2014, February 9). ‘Flappy Bird’ Creator Follows Through, Game Removed From App Stores. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/02/09/flappy-bird-creator-follows-through-game-removed-from-app-stores/

Snapchat for Business: Confide

Most people are aware of the popular app Snapchat, which revolutionized the idea of confidential picture messaging and contributed to the rising rates of “sexting”. However, now an app that has been dubbed “Snapchat for Businesses” called Confide is revolutionizing the business sphere with confidential messaging using technology similar to Snapchat.

Confide is considered an “off-the-record” messaging app in which businesspeople can keep their information safe by messaging it to others and having it disappear in a timely manner. The purpose of this feature is so that sensitive deal negotiations or legal issues do not end up in the wrong hands. The description for Confide on the iTunes App Store states: “Spoken words disappear after they’re heard. But what you say online remains forever. 

We think this is crazy.” There is a market for this type of application, as investors garnered $1.9 million in seed funding. Investors included venture capital firms such as Google Ventures, First Round Capital and investors including Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, “Entourage” creator Doug Ellin, and Billy Bush, the host of “Access Hollywood.”

The idea for Confide came about as the two founders, Howard Lerman and Jon Brod, were exchanging information about a potential hire. Brod was concerned about an email being accidentally forwarded or seen by someone other than its intended audience, as it was an important and honest reference he was giving out. The two then played “phone tag” for several days and then once they reached each other, discussed the need for “self-destructing messages,” according to Forbes.

When asked about the uses for Confide and secure messaging, Brod and Lerman discussed the various audiences who may utilize it. This includes drug dealers and criminals, unfortunately, but also in Hollywood, where phone tag episodes are common and confidential messages can be delayed because of busy schedules. Brod and Lerman also plan to sell premium services to power users in order to monetize the product.

Some of the main concerns with Snapchat are screenshots and the security of the photos sent, as Snapchat stores all photos on servers. Confide has addressed these issues, and uses end-to-end encryption, does not store messages on servers, and has “unparalleled” screenshot protection. The text-only app allows users to reveal only 25 characters of the message at a time by dragging their finger over it as the message quickly expires, allowing very sensitive information to be sent without any risk of revealing it to another person.

The use of  “Snapchat for business” is an intriguing thought for me. It makes me wonder if it is truly necessary- will enough people use it and trust it enough to send things via “disappearing messages”? Or will it fall by the wayside as businesspeople stick with what they know – good old-fashioned phone calls? It will be interesting to see how popular Confide becomes and if the founders of the product figure out a solid way to monetize the app so not to let down their investors.

References:

Bercovici, J. (2014, February 4). Snapchat For Business? It’s Called Confide, And It
Exists – Forbes. Retrieved February 9, 2014, from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2014/02/04/snapchat-for-business-its-c
alled-confide-and-it-exists-now/

Confide: Your off-the-record messenger on the App Store on iTunes. (n.d.). Retrieved
from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/confide-your-off-record-
messenger/id779883419?mt=8

Beats by Dre – Now Coming To Your App Store

The online music streaming industry has some tough competitors: Pandora, Spotify, iTunes Radio, along with others such as Songza, IHeartRadio, and last.fm. However, a new competitor has come to the industry and Dr. Dre isn’t afraid of a little competition (and possibly a saturated market). The strategies of Beats Music are these, according to the New York Times: “Be a smooth, entertaining and convincingly human guide to the cluttered universe of digital music, and exploit the power of its headphone brand through aggressive marketing.” I’ll be keeping tabs on this campaign to see if it truly does increase the sales of Beats headphones.

Beats Music is really not much different from Spotify. Users can pay $10 a month to have access to playlists and a basically unlimited amount to recorded music. However, Beats Music comes with a little twist: its design. The Beats Music app is made for mobile use and has graphics and an easy-to-use, customizable interface that designers claim will help attract listeners. It also has an increased focus on what song will play next. It will apparently have a spot-on skill for curating custom playlists, using algorithms similar to what Spotify or iTunes Radio use.

The app also comes with an automated listening game called “Right Now”. In this “game”, the user creates a Mad-Libs style sentence saying “I’m at the (place) and feel like (activity) with my (person) to (genre of music).” It’s almost a musical status update that creates a playlist to fit your activity, place, person, and ideal genre. According to reviewers, the playlists that come from these sentences tend to set the mood well but are no better than or worse than those created by Songza.

The Beats Music project has $60 million dollars invested behind it, and is connected to Beats Electronics, the maker of the Beats by Dre headphones. The marketing campaign also has an impressive amount of money put behind it, as it includes an integration with AT&T, plugs on the Ellen Show, and a Super Bowl ad starring Ellen.

Something that interested me most about Beats Music is how confident the producers of this app are that it will be successful. I’m slightly skeptical about online music streaming to begin with – is it really worth the price? And since we all know Dr. Dre does headphones, can he do a better Spotify? I just downloaded my free trial and am looking forward to finding out.

References:

Sisario, B. (2014, January 11). Beats Music Enters Online Streaming Market. New York
Times. Retrieved February 7, 2014, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/arts/music/beats-music-enters-online-
streaming-market.html?_r=0

The Ellen Show. [TheEllenShow]. (2014, February 1). Watch Ellen’s Beats Music
Commercial. [Video File]. Retrieved February 7, 2014, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_eiTQy1QZw