Some of the Superbowl ads, what do you think?

Some of the Superbowl ads, presented by Adweek. You can follow the stories on the Superbowl Adweek hub. Which one is your favourite and why? I kind of fancy the Coke polarbears. Maybe I´m just a girl, but it signals light and happiness, joy and play. Not too complicated, but still cute.  

2nd Story Software1

Agency: J.W. Morton and Associates, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Creative: One :30 in the fourth quarter. The makers of TaxACT will emphasize that the TaxACT Free Federal Edition tax-preparation software is free for everyone.

Acura 2

Agency: To be determined
Creative: Creative is not yet known.

Audi3

Agency: Venables Bell & Partners, San Francisco
Creative: The :60 above will air in the first break after kickoff. The 2013 Audi S7's LED headlights prove deadly for young vampires partying in the woods.

Anheuser-Busch InBev4

Agency: Anomaly, mcgarrybowen, Translation, all New York; Cannonball, St. Louis, Mo.
Creative: Two stylish :30s for Bud Light Platinum by Translation. One :60 for Bud Light by mcgarrybowen, one :30 by Cannonball. Two sweeping, historical, connected :60s for Budweiser by Anomaly, with the Clydesdales.

Best Buy5

Agency: Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Boulder, Colo.
Creative: One :30 focusing on a new product or service.

Bridgestone6

Agency: The Richards Group, Dallas
Creative: Teaser spot above. Two :30s in the second and third quarters. A football, basketball, bowling ball and puck made of Bridgestone tire material change the sports world. Tim Duncan, Deion Sanders, Steve Nash and Troy Aikman star, among others.

CareerBuilder7

Agency: In-house
Creative: The :30 above. The brand's famous chimps make a business trip hell for a sad-sack worker, who could use a new job.

Cars.com8

Agency: DDB, Chicago
Creative: The :30 above will air during the third quarter. A man sprouts a second excitable, soul-singing head after an inspirational visit to the auto site.

Century 219

Agency: Red Tettemer + Partners, Philadelphia
Creative: Teaser spot above. One :30 in the third quarter starring Donald Trump, Deion Sanders and Apolo Ohno, with Century 21 agents beating each icon at his own game.

Chrysler10

Agency: To be determined
Creative: One 60-second spot. Model is not yet clear.

Coca-Cola11

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative: The polar bears return—one rooting for the Patriots, one for the Giants. An introductory :30 in the first quarter will be followed by one of two different :60s in the second (one of them is posted above), depending on which team is winning.

Dannon12

Agency: None (crowdsourced by Poptent, San Clemente, Calif.)
Creative: One :30 in the third quarter for Dannon Oikos Greek yogurt, starring John Stamos.

Doritos13

Agency: None (consumer-generated)
Creative: Two :30s—the top vote-getters from among the five finalists in the brand's Crash the Super Bowl contest. One of the finalists is posted above.

E*Trade14

Agency: Grey, New York
Creative: One :30. The E*Trade baby reassures a new dad about planning for his newborn daughter's future, with help from E*Trade Financial Consultants.

General Motors15

Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, and Fallon, Minneapolis
Creative: Two Chevrolet ads from Goodby, for the Silverado and Sonic, and one consumer-generated spot (above) for the Chevy Camaro. Plus, one Cadillac spot for the ATS sport sedan, by Fallon.

Awesome advertising - makes me cry!!

This is from Affiliate Marketing blog by Geno Prussakov. Inspiring ideas!!! (Am I the only one who almost start crying when seeing clever things like these...??? haha)

#1 – WMF Knives

#2 – Coca Cola

#3 – BMW’s Response to Audi’s Billboard Challenge

#4 – FedEx Kinko’s (tippex and high lighter)

#5 – Lego

Perceptions in the advertising world...

Click on the picture to make it bigger. It doesn´t really fit into the window :)

The Australians love people screaming at them in the ads

When I first came to Australia, something that puzzled me was why the TV ads were so AWFUL. One after the other showed people screaming, shouting and singing badly towards me. I was in shock. Coming from a sophisticated advertising country like Sweden where ads are clever and subtle, fun and beautiful, I got headache from the Aussie ads. I had to turn the TV off. But they must be efficient and bring new business to the brands, because six years later they are still there. You get used to it...

These ads are not the ones that get presented in the industry papers or showcased on YouTube, so I can´t find more than this. I will update when I find more :)

Clever BMW campaign

On the Audi billboard: "You move, BMW. The entirely new Audi A4"
BMW response "Checkmate"

Six psychological reasons why young people Love Music

I found some interesting research on Psyblog that I wish to share with you. It explains why young people like music so much, and gives us an understanding on why jingles are important and effective in advertising, if used in the right way. 

"Music grabs our emotions instantly in a way few other art-forms can manage. It engages us on all sorts of different levels. A few bars of a song can take us back decades, to a different time and place.

So what are the universal psychological functions of music? Lonsdale and North (2010) asked 300 young people about their main reasons for listening to music to see which came out top. Here are the answers, in order of importance, counted down from six to the number one spot.

6. To learn about others and the world

Languishing down at number six was the way in which music teaches us about the world. Music tells us stories about other people and places and it gives us access to new experiences. Music can teach us how other people think and even suggest how we might live.

Psychological research backs up the importance of the information music sends out to others about our personalities. In one study participants could broadly judge another's personality solely on the basis of their top 10 songs (see: personality in your mp3 player).

Music is also sending us a message about the state of the world. Dodds and Danforth (2009) downloaded the lyrics to almost 250,000 songs composed between 1960 and 2007. They found the lyrics got steadily more depressing up until 1985 and then levelled off around 1990. This decline was seen across all musical genres.

5. Personal identity

In at five is identity. The type of music we like expresses something about ourselves. Even the broadest genres like rock, classical and blues begin to give us a picture of a person. We also seem to discover ourselves through music: it can teach is who we are and where we belong. Through music we can build up and project an image of ourselves.

One general trend in popular music is towards greater narcissism. A study has examined the lyrics of the top 10 songs in the U.S. between 1980 and 2007 (DeWall et al., 2011). This found that lyrics related to antisocial behaviour and self-focus increased over the period. On the other hand, over the same time, lyrics related to positive emotions, social interaction and a focus on others have decreased.

4. Interpersonal relationships

The fourth most important function of music is its social dimension. Music is a point of conversation. We listen to it while we're with other people and we talk to them about it. It's a way of making a connection.

There's little doubt that music and love are inextricably linked and we use one to get the other. One study tested whether exposure to romantic music makes a woman more likely to agree to a date Gueguen et al. (2010). The answer is, emphatically, yes. The percentage of women who agreed to a date almost doubled from 28% to 52% after they had been played some romantic music.

The song that did the trick? "Je l’aime à mourir" (I love her to death) by Francis Cabrel (the research was conducted in France).

2= Negative mood management

Tying for the second spot is negative mood management. When we're in a bad mood, music can help us deal with it. When your mood is low, there is something cathartic about listening to sad music. Somehow it helps to know that you're not alone. We use music to relieve tension, express our feelings and escape the realities of everyday life.

Music certainly seems to help us cope with life's slings and arrows. There have been many studies on those about to undergo painful medical procedures. These find that music helps people get through this stressful and anxious time (e.g. Good et al., 2002).

2= Diversion

Also coming in at number two is diversion. Music relieves the boredom of the commute, or of a lazy Sunday afternoon. It's something to do when we don't know what else to do.

A word of warning though: don't use background music while you're trying to do something complicated. Research shows that it reduces performance on standard cognitive tests (Cassidy & MacDonald, 2007). Music is a distraction and this research found that the most distracting type is depressing music.

1. Positive mood management

Right up at the top of the charts is positive mood management. This is rated people's most important reason for listening to music: making our good moods even better. It entertains us, relaxes us and sets the right emotional tone.

Music makes us more hopeful, even after things go wrong for us. In one study byZiv et al. (2011) participants were falsely told they'd done badly on a task. Those who were played some positive music afterwards, were more hopeful about the future than those left in silence."


Here is a happy song :)

Brands are letting YOU advertise and sell to YOU

One campaign that I never saw coming was the Coke bottles with your name on. I know, the insight that people wish to be called by their name has been around from Dale Carnegie´s How to win friends and influence people and most likely further away in history than that, but it still puzzles me.

When you buy a bottle with your name on you are not getting approached by anyone, so there is simply a brand that is talking to you, not a person. But as a brand strategist I should know better... Today brands are people. They are friends, they are a part of our family. Connection with brands we love will awaken the same parts of the brain that are lit up when we think of our family; it´s a fact. I still wouldn´t have gotten the idea of Coke bottles with names, so good on the strategy people who did :) It´s been hugely successful!

In his latest blog post, Roger Dooley from Neuromarketing blog talks about how personalization is effective in direct mail. “Starting a letter with “Dear Roger” instead of “Dear Friend” responds better every time (if the recipient’s name is Roger, that is!).

One of the world´s first viral campaign was OfficeMax video generator, Elf Yourself. The site, powered by JibJab animation software, lets visitors upload a photo of one or more faces, which are then attached to dancing elves in a music video.

Dooley comments: “As crude as the animation is (it uses just one photo for the whole video), our brains are fooled by the video trickery and we find it hilarious to see ourselves and others engaged in wild dance moves. The viral success of the site is testament to how effective the personalized videos are. It’s also been a boon to OfficeMax, generating hundreds of millions of brand impressions and creating a strong, positive linkage between the brand and the light hearted site. Reportedly, just under half of the users of Elf Yourself consciously associate the OfficeMax brand with the site.” 

But I would say half of hundreds of millions is pretty good...

More from Neuromarketing blog: “An article in The Psychologist, Doppelgängers – a new form of self? by Jeremy N. Bailenson, surveys a variety of research that demonstrates how inserting a person’s image into an ad can change their behaviour: 

- To explore the consequences of viewing one’s virtual doppelgänger, we ran a simple experiment using digitally manipulated photographs (Ahn & Bailenson, 2011). We used imaging software to place participants’ heads on people depicted in billboards using fictitious brands, for example holding up a soft drink with a brand label on it. After the study, participants expressed better memory as well as a preference for the brand, even though it was obvious their faces had been placed in the advertisement. In other words, even though it was clearly a gimmick, using the digital self to promote a product is effective.” 

Research on trust always show that we trust advice from friends and family the most, so what can be even more effective - YOU telling yourself what to do and buy. Clever.

One campaign that I believed will be followed by many similar ones, shows real Australians in the TVC. The Australian insurance company AAMI invited late last year their Facebookers to star in its TV ad. The TV ad featured the Facebook profile pictures of 80 viewers, aired on 23 November during NCIS LA on Ten, and will be broadcast in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Tasmania, as well as regional NSW and Victoria.

Sibling agencies Badjar Ogilvy and DTDigital worked on the campaign. Ogilvy creative technologist Tim Devine, said to Mumbrella: “We’ve created an experience that will one day be common place; a simple engagement that seams together multiple channels. TV is still a real-world experience, as opposed to YouTube, and people still get a kick out of being broadcast around the country.”



The original ad, with actors: http://youtu.be/y0Kh8wyJHwA

When will we see Coke bottles with faces on? When will the TV be clever enough to address me personally? When will I start finding this extremely creeeeeepy....? :)

Another brilliant ad built on smart strategy

This ad is also a favourite of mine. It cleverly taps into the insight "People are afraid of buying cider because they think it´s going to be sweet" (at least I think that´s what the planner at BMF realised). So funny! Love the rabbit :)

One ad I like and one I think is rubbish

I love watching cinema advertising, mainly because you can follow people´s reactions to the ads and their message. One ad that I believe is meant to be funny is not laughed at at all; in fact, I hate it and so does the cinema audience according to the look of their faces. Maybe I´m missing something, since it won Mumbrella’s December Ad of the Month". But... "reader´s votes" aren´t always representative, especially when the readers all work in advertising :) The ad is for Compare travel insurance, created by agency Blow Communications.

 

On the other hand, I like this ad, for Tennis Australia, played during Australian Open (M&C Saatchi). It´s sweet, it connects people and you get what it´s about. I assume it taps into the insight that we have a tendency to want to be doing what we watch being done. When we are emotionally involved, we kind of walk into a story - from a book, at the cinema or TV. Spend an hour watching Australian Idol and you want to sing. Watch the biggest loser and you want to exercise. Watch The Notebook and you want to find The One. This ad wants us to not just watch tennis, but get the idea that we want to play tennis as well, and that it´s not impossible. We can all do it. Together. I haven´t seen it in the cinema yet though. Guess it would not stir up any big reactions; it´s not a belly laugh ad. And I´m not sure it is the best media channel for that kind of ad anyway, since people are just letting themselves have a moment off, relaxing, and don´t want to be told to be active. We´ll see. I better go and see a movie soon :)

 

The future of retail - how will our shops look like in the future?

With more and more of us shopping online, how will the old malls and shops survive? This is the future of retail, according to PSFK. PSFK Future Of Retail Report 2011 [Preview]

View more presentations from PSFK

Another story on the future of grocery stores from Businessweek: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/06/0608_grocery_innovation/1.htm

How to market to stubborn rebels who will not be told what to do!

I was working on an anti-smoking campaign a while ago and one thing was clear: smokers do NOT want to be told what to do or that anything bad will happen to them. Partly, it´s because a lot of smokers will have a rebel personality – which turns them into smokers in the first place – and partly, it´s because they love their smoking so much they don´t want to hear the truth about it, and be put in a state of guilt. They´d rather close ears and eyes and open their mouth for another ciggie as soon as an ad is on. How to get pass that??

Roger Dooley writes on his Neuromarketing blog about an interesting experiment, targeting people who believe they are invulnerable – standing over all risks, immune against threats.  

According to Penn psychologist Adam Grant, even among health care professionals hand-washing practices leave a lot to be desired, and a hospital wanted to change this situation.

Grant conducted an experiment by placing a sign next to a hand hygiene area. One version of the sign read, “Hand hygiene prevents you from catching diseases,” while another version said “Hand hygiene prevents patients from catching diseases.” And the results give us as marketing strategists a hint on how to best make these stubborn rebels to do what we want them to do.

Dooley says: “The key to selling these “invulnerable” customers is to point out the risks not to them, but to others. Those others could be family members, for example, or others they endanger (like the patients in the hospital study).”

I believe this has nothing to do with altruism, but with the fact that these people simply don´t want to be told what to do. They can take information in, but not as a demand. When you say “This prevents YOU from disease” you sound paternalistic and bossy, and a lot of people hate that. When you on the other hand give them facts, you open up for them to draw the conclusion themselves.

When it comes to smoking campaigns, I believe an effective way to reach into the smokers mind and get pass the defence system they have against authority is to give them facts and figures in a low key way rather than the full on way they are presented today, and to point out how their children are getting affected by the smoke in this very moment.

http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/invulnerable-consumers.htm

For details, see Science Daily and the original paper. HT to Wray Herbert

Happy Dragon! But where are brands when the Chinese celebrate?

7% of all Australians are Asian and many of them are from the 23rd of January to celebrate the year of the Dragon!  

A man I know sent me a little fact sheet on what this year will be like, and wow, what a year we can look forward to! I can´t wait for this: 

Qualities:                 Active, Dynamic, Scrupulous and Lucky.

Defects:                   Demanding, Impatient and Intolerant.

Work:                      Not knowing that a chore is thought impossible, the Dragon will succeed where others have failed.

Cannot live without:  Space, Oxygen, Fresh air and Liberty.

Adores:                    Being called upon to help when things go wrong.

Hates:                     To wait calmly and patiently.

(Source: Chinese Zodiac Signs, Treasure Press 1982.)

He added some advice from his grandmother: "For good luck, my hair has been trimmed and I won’t be working on Monday. I will not sweep the floor and I will buy some new clothes to wear."

I like this; I can take Monday off and go shopping! Fabulous. 

For brands... At the moment it is "back to school" time in Australia and my TV is filled with ads  for school shoes! Pencils and other important things are put on display in the shops. But where are the Dragons (and no, I don´t mean the rugby team...)? Australia has a large Chinese population; in the 2006 Australian Census, 669,890 Australian residents identified themselves as having Chinese ancestry, either alone or with another ancestry. Most Aussies are white and there are a lot of kids (all on my Bondi Beach on school holidays....) but there are other influential groups here as well. The successful Coke campaign proved how appealing it is to be SEEN, and the more brands can find sub groups and meet people as individuals, the better. 

I´m looking forward to an active year! We are leaving the year of the Rabbit, a sign that symbolizes such character traits as creativity, compassion, and sensitivity. Rabbits are friendly, outgoing and prefer the company of others. They also prefer to avoid conflict. In confrontational situations, Rabbits approach calmly and with consideration for the other party. Rabbits believe strongly in friends and family and lacking such bonds can lead to emotional issues. I can´t help but thinking this is how the Western world has been approaching the economic situation and employers the job market.

The Dragon is the opposite - a Strong Dominant sign and if the Chinese astrologers are right, big things are about to happen :) Good fortune. Strength. Luck.

Happy Dragon everyone! (if that is how you say it...)