I love this advert. Anyone who can link a dog happily wagging its tail to the conducting of lifes brass band…..love it!
One of my favourite adverts ever!
It’s effectiveness can be found in the simplicity of its message. Every time I see or evben hear this advert it makes me smile. 5 alive have been rather quiet with regards to television advertising recently and an upbeat clever and entertaining advertising campaign was the best way to re-enter the highly competitive and cluttered television advertising arena, whilst entertaining and engaging the television viewers. It is refreshing to have an advert on television that you enjoy watching!
A new twist to shock advertising.
This post started off as an apology, an apology for my lack of commitment to this blog in the last week, and then I realised that if I was to apologise for not doing my blog, I should really apologise for not going to the gym, and calling my mother enough, and seeing so and so….the list goes on. It got me thinking about how the perception of students is maybe, a little unjust. There of course those students who do indeed laze around all day, wasting time and wasting space. There are however students how work equally as hard as they would within a full time job, for little recognition.
a) You learn in a job. You learn in University
b) You get paid quite a bit but may not necessarily know EVERYTHING in your job. You have to PAY QUITE A BIT for not necessarily knowing everything about the industry you interested in by chosing going to University.
C) You learn from experience on a job, with maybe some theoretical training if desired. You learn from text books and, maybe some case study experience at University and are expected to find your own experience.
I have worked out, and this has admittedly changed a little since I have been in my final year, that I work the equivalant of 8.30-6pm days, 5 times a week and get paid for only, on average, 12-19 hours of these 48 hour week.
Ok…so I know I am a bit late but, I wasn’t going to write a blog on Valentines Day now was I!! We once used to blame the media for the pressurizing us into believing that the more you love someone the more you should spend on them (and there was me still believing that money can’t buy you love or happiness?!). However, nowadays, it seems to be increasingly the case that many of us are happy to not ‘celebrate’ Valentines Day. it is more the case now that there is a fear of social judgement that, to not celebrate Valentines Day is just a way of covering up the fact that you don’t want to ‘deal’ with the effort of Valentines Day. This brings about many aspects of the Self Concept theory, and our ‘actual self’ fighting our ‘ideal self’. These can both change depending on whether people are in a public or private environment. Privately, many truly are satisfied with Valentines Day being personal and not necessarily extravagant, but does this apply when the same person is put in a public and social environment, when comparisson can take place?!
Is the stress of Valentines Day all just too much? Should we take advice from the Headteacher who has banned the sending of Valentines Day cards this year at their school for fear of the children being upset from rejection, or not quite getting as many cards as another child? I mean…what really is the point of Valentines Day? Everybody, whether single of not, dreads or at least stresses about it…don’t they?
Political advertising: Whilst studying Political Communications I cannot help but compare it to the communications used in the commercial arena. It is so easy to compare political parties, groups and figures to commercial products, services and brands, yet it is interesting to see how politics has managed to get it so wrong. Marketing is applicable to any industry yet politics seems to only borrow from the communications aspect of marketing and neglects to adopt the initial stages such as thorough research, planning, segmenting and targeting. Apparently it is that fact that politics caters for the masses (that’s the excuse anyway) that deems these initial stages of marketing to be not ‘ideal’, efficient or ‘appropriate’. Instead, politics would rather place their fate in the hands of Jedward using adverts like those shown above. ‘We are not as bad as them’ is NOT a Unique Selling Point! Coca Cola cater for the masses, globally in fact, as to many commercial brands however comparative advertising is used minimally in the commercial arena as those involved are aware of the damaging affect that it can have on the brand. This is what I believe to be the problem with politics; there are no honest, down to earth and clearly communicated values and the perception in voters mind (its positioning) is negative fuelled by a lack of trust (not helped by expenses scandals!). Would you buy a product, or even consider buying a product that you wanted to be reliable, last and serve you well for four years if you didn’t trust aspects of it? Didn’t think so.
Planestupid.com polar bear advert: I remember reading about this advert and seeing it whilst doing some seminar preparation. I then saw it again in the cinema and it took my breath away. Yes, it’s a bit gruesome but sometimes the truth is! My dissertation is looking into how the environment of the cinema has an effect on whether we watch adverts or not and watching this in the cinema was completely different to when watching it on a computer screen. The sounds are so much louder and the massive screen leaves no room for visual distractions. I think we all need to be shaken up to the truth sometimes and I can tell you now, you could have heard a pin drop in the cinema after that advert. For once, every single person in there had shut up and paid attention and isn’t that the first step to getting the message through to people….
I’m one of those people that watches Top Gear by accident. Don’t get me wrong, I like it but I couldn’t tell you when it was on or anything. Anyway, I caught it the other day, when Richard Hammond was reviewing the LFA; the supercar by Lexus and was suddenly rather interested. I’m not about to declare my passion for supercars, but it did make me think about some of the areas I am investigating whilst studying Brand Management, in particular, brand extensions. We learn about how it is important that the brand values and brand identity ‘fits’ into the new desired market as well as understanding that that there are ‘no go’ areas for brands to be extended into. On the surface, Lexus appears to have successfully combated its own stereotype, however as the video goes on we learn that although Lexus have maintained their core brand values and successfully transferred them to the ‘supercar’ market, they have failed to reposition the brand correctly for this new market. As Richard Hammond states at the end of the video, with minimal excitement…”its a Lexus”. A £340,000 one at that!
I’m not going to lie…I have never really understood the point of blogs and I certainly never thought I would be writing one. Why on earth would anyone want to just type away their thoughts an opinions, why not speak to a real person? (I am all about the interaction with people!). However, I have recently been sent links to the blogs of people that I know and, whether I clicked the link through procrastination or genuine interest, have always enjoyed what I have read. I then begun to reason how hypocritical I had been in my previous thoughts. I am student, facebook is my ultimate tool of procrastination, and to think, why on earth would anyone want to know my ‘status’ for the day, hour or week…..but they do. I know for a fact that I am not the only person who finds themselves surprisingly interested in peoples regular updates of their mood or situation. I mean, look at the success of Twitter!! I therefore thought that, although people may not be greatly interested in what I have to say…if they were to stumble accross my thoughts I would like to think that they could enjoy my blog as much as I have enjoyed the blogs of others. So, what have i got to lose eh?
