Cars

Keeping with the car theme because I have spent so much of my time recently searching cars I found this Hyundai commercial below. The commercial is taking common stereotypes and showing how they are wrong through the entire commercial. For example they show a yellow rose and say "roses are red" and they show a woman boxer and say "girls are weak." They are taking these stereotypes and showing how very wrong they can be, in the end of the commercial they show the new Hyundai product being promoted and say that "luxury is for an elitist few."

This commercial is genius! Many commercials have said in the past that their cars are luxury but for a better price, Hyundai took the next step and really made you believe that their car is luxurious for a better price because of all of the qualifiers they used in their commercial. Taking all the examples of things that are stereotypically not possible and defying that in a calming state makes the viewer feel at peace and more luxurious just by the feel of the commercial. All those qualifiers really give peace of mind to the viewer and make them believe that Hyundai actually has created a vehicle that is luxurious but also affordable.

A commercial is supposed to be able to tell a story without audio, this commercial in fact does so. In particular at the beginning in the desert there is beautiful colorful plants, something most of us would have never expected. It defies possibility and that is what makes Hyundai, Hyundai.

New Car

So I was recently in the hunt for a new car because my old car died. In my researching on cars I found an advertisement for a car that looked pretty cool and turned out in the end to be the car that I had just bought. I was looking at a Hyundai Sonata when I saw the advertisement for the Chevrolet Malibu on the side. My being a student I was looking for low financing over a medium to long length of time. Seeing this is on the side made me click on through.

To be fair it is not like I wasn't already curious about the Malibu, it was simply that seeing the advertisement sped up the process of me going to look at the Malibu. Also the advertisement got me off of the website with reviews on the Hyundai that I was looking at. So that advertisement did two things to help their company, it got me interested enough to click on the ad and it took me away from a competitor. 

Although I do think that they could have done better with this advertisement, it doesn't pop off the page and grab my attention, I just happen to read the advertisement banners on the side of websites and so happen to be investing my time in exactly what they were advertising. 

One of the things I find really good about this advertisement though is that the fine print isn't something that tells you that the ad is just a dream like most of the fine print usually is, but it is actually helpful and makes me want to click through even more. It tells you how the financing would work based on $1000 which makes it easier for everyone to understand. 

In the end I ended up with this sweet new ride and Chevy is able to say that their advertising works!

Facebook

So everyone is familiar with Facebook and for those who have one notice the many advertisements that are posted on the sides of the Facebook page. Usually they are things that make you question what Facebook was thinking when that advertisement was tutored for you. But in one of the few cases that have actually been something I was interested I came across this advertisement.

I look at a lot of CrossFit pages and this advertisement was clearly tutored just for me. I'm from Chicago, like CrossFit, and I do lots of races. So I clicked the link, something that I very rarely do, and now I am most likely going to be participating in this CrossFit obstacle course race in September. There are things like Bing's Decision Engine on the internet, essentially smart advertising. It adapts to your preferences and the Metro Dash races found Facebook to be a suitable place to pay for this type of smart advertising. Facebook's ad agency on their website has it set up so you can pay Facebook to advertise for you based on what groups, interests, locations, etc. that people have and only advertise to people with those characteristics.

So in the case of Metro Dash, they most likely paid Facebook for people who have their location set in Chicago, like the CrossFit page, or in their interests have CrossFit. The only reason why I know how the Facebook advertisement agency works is because for my last job I was assigned to find out how we could better advertise our company. In my research one of the easiest and cheapest ways to do so was through Facebook's advertising agency. Plus it is specifically tutored towards whatever we desire to advertise towards.

On a side note, CrossFit is an excellent way to gain fitness and can require less than thirty minutes of your time to do so. It is a class oriented way of working out so you always have people cheering you on to complete the grueling workouts. I highly recommend anyone looking to get a tough workout, but need a push to go try to find the nearest CrossFit gym to you.

Built Like a Volkswagen

I remember growing up and having a pinata at my birthday party when I was seven years old. My father had the pinata tied to a stick which he was just dangling while I had my eyes closed trying to hit it. I managed to hit my cousin with the bat in the process rather than breaking open the pinata. That experience made me appreciate this commercial by Volkswagen so much more.

So after watching the little kid with all his might try to break open the Volkswagen pinata I was able to laugh about it from two perspectives, my own experience, and how ridiculously impossible it was to break open the Volkswagen pinata. Even the father in the commercial became intrigued with the difficulty of what seems to be a simple task, to break the pinata and had to try for himself.

The father then failed miserably just like the kid, talk about embarrassing. It was pretty easy to tell it was a Volkswagen because they made sure that there was a big logo on the front of the pinata pointing out that it was a Volkswagen. It was a rather large logo as a lead in towards how the pinata was "Built like a Volkswagen." This meaning that the Volkswagen vehicles themselves are very strong and dependable. They are very difficult to destroy and will be "hanging" around forever.

"At the scene of a child's birthday party, the strength of the 2011 Tiguan is demonstrated when even a father cannot break the SUV-shaped VW pinata." This is the description of the commercial provided by VW and they couldn't have described it better. It puts the strength of the SUV in a fun light, full of surprises just like a pinata is. A great way to show the vehicle in a unique way.

The audience being sought by the commercial is a young family. This is a great way to capture future clients because once they become a VW owner, it will be easier in the future to keep them buying the product so long as a sufficient job is done creating the vehicle and brand itself.

D ROSE

My favorite basketball team in the world is the Chicago Bulls. I've been a die hard fan my whole life. I was lucky enough to see them draft a local hero in Derrick Rose who led the team to the Eastern Conference Finals. His new stardom has led to many commercials including this one by Adidas. The commercial is called 9.8 because that is how many ounces the new basketball shoe that Adidas weighs. They talk about 9.8 from beginning to end, they say all the things that we would expect from a commercial with a basketball player.

First Derrick Rose says it is not the amount of time left on the shot clock which would be most people's first guess, then he says it is not the number of times he would light you up on the court. It finally says that 9.8 stands for 9.8 ounces, how much the new and lightest basketball shoe weighs.

This is important to any basketball player because the lighter the shoe is, the less weight there is that they have to push off with. It can lead to higher elevation and Adidas is trying very hard to promote that as the significance as to why their shoe is the best. It is the lightest and with Derrick Rose sponsoring it, it makes the shoe cool.

Also showing Derrick Rose at his old street basketball court and his barbershop, it makes him see more real and that the consumer can better relate to him. If this superstar who is also just a normal guy at the same time wears these Adidas shoes, I should too.

Doritos Crystal Ball

Here is the Doritos Crystal Ball commercial where the employees in an office setting are asking their luck upon a crystal ball. One employee asked the crystal ball if there will be free Doritos in the office today, he then proceeds to throw the ball at the vending machine and HORRAY FREE DORITOS! Not exactly free, but he's not paying cash for them and got what he wanted. It's ironic because he was asking fate if he would be able to get Doritos but in the end took action himself.

The taking action to get Doritos is trying to get customers to go out and take action to grab delicious Doritos. The commercial is very smart because it involves Doritos as the center of action for the ultimate goal. Also the entire vending machine is full of Doritos so no other food can take away from the Doritos.

Another smart thing about the commercial is that it is in an office setting and can be seen as Doritos being a great snack for during the work day. This commercial was very creative so it makes people think about it and it is very shocking when the employee throws the ball at another worker, possibly his boss. The shock value of the commercial also makes people talk about Doritos.

The also flash the logo across the screen halfway through the commercial. This is another smart way to remind the consumer that the commercial is for Doritos, a problem that actually happens a lot in commercials. They try to be super creative, but people don't realize what the commercial is for. Doritos makes sure that no one forgets what this commercial is for.

Jumeirah Hotels

So after watching Rory McIlroy dominate the US Open (golf) last weekend I was asking myself, what is that company that he is always sporting on his shirt and hat? I had to do a little research as to what is Jumeirah. It turns out it is a hotel chain, not the biggest chain by any means, but very fancy hotel brand. I went and found a print advertisement pictured below.

So the advertisement says "Because making an entrance is important." It features an elegantly dressed woman with what seems to be a puma on a leash walking into a very fancy hotel lobby. There is lots to pick apart in the advertisement so I'll start with the quotation. Clearly they want people to focus on the elegance that the hotel brings, not only in the quality of an entrance they make, but by the people that stay there.

This woman is very different than any woman I have seen in hotel advertising, I've seen beautifully dressed but not with the way she makes her entrance. With the uniqueness of the puma in the picture, it brings to question how unique this woman is and the hotel where she chooses to stay. It is great advertising because it includes the greatness of the hotel and how they actually look, along with the culture they try to make as part of the experience of staying in one of their hotels.

Seeing a hotel lobby so fancy makes me wish I could stay there and the puma chained in the picture makes me think what kind of "wild" fun I could have while at the same time remaining classy and elegant like the woman featured in the print advertisement.

So thank you Rory McIlroy for making me see how intriguing this chain of Jumeirah Hotels is. And congrats on your first Major win.