Final Thoughts

With the semester coming to a close, I thought I'd step back a bit and sum up some of what I've learned via this blog.

Certain ad campaigns I've mentioned are still being talked about, specifically Year Zero (probably due to the album's recent release after a long period of anticipation). Ringtones are stillextraordinarily popular (Weather.com even offers them!). My Principles of Marketing professor just brought up the Geico Caveman pilot in class last week.

These are campaigns that work. Why? People are talking about them.

Advertainment is all about raising brand awareness and piquing your users' interests. The best way to measure that is to listen to conversations and watching the buzz.

With all the press on the limited attention span of people, specifically Gen-Y, it's difficult to approach them and hold their focus. The gamer generation (with their own website!) is used to fast moving visuals, so branding games or forcing them to be active in the advertising message by making a game out of it (as in The Lost Experience and the Nine Inch Nails album release) will make them not only able to stay focused, but eager to be focused. Personally, I feel there's no better way to reach this audience; Gen-Y seems to have developed filters to avoid being seriously impacted by traditional media.

Oh, and for those who were wondering? I got my glass in the mail a few weeks ago ;)

The ingenuity goes to 11!

In 1984, a movie was released that still is considered one of the "awesomest" rock n' roll movies. The title? This is Spinal Tap, of course!

As cheesy and over-the-top as it was, the ridiculousness is what propelled the movie to be known. Well, that, and the Stonehenge scene.

The movie may not seem to have much to do with advertainment, but this article from Yahoo! News proves differently.

Originally, the faux-rock band Spinal Tap was just a parody of metal. Now, director Rob Reiner has filmed a 15-minute mockumentary continuing the tale of Spinal Tap, explaining what has happened to the members in the 20 years since the original film and why they chose to reunite.

The reason? Live Earth, a concert to raise awareness and money for global warming.

Not your typical form of advertainment, but it's a great way to get people to pay attention to the concert -- which has generally gotten more attention for the music than for the cause. It's definitely an interesting way to raise even more interest and more press. There's over 1000 videos tagged with "Spinal Tap" on YouTube, so we know people still love them. I can't wait to see if their performance at Live Earth leads to more people tuning in... as well as raising the number of audience members at the TriBeCa Film Festival this year, where it will be premiering in the opening sequence. After all, just look at these guys:

Really now, who wouldn't expect them to be advocates for a cause? ;)

Soda-Pop!

Via MSNBC:

Growing up near the NYC/Long Island border, I was privy to both watching some awesome advertising schemes in the city and listening to some amazing pop punk music on the island. Cartel may not be not be a pop punk Long Island band (they're from Georgia) but they're in the middle of what could potentially be a pretty sweet campaign.

Dr. Pepper is starting a new campaign in Manhattan in which they pay for Cartel to, literally, live in a bubble while writing material for their new album. The catch here is that MTV gets to film the band's entrance, exit, and compile scenes for two more shows on the air.

While it's not specificially stated, I'm going to assume that Dr. Pepper is going to saturate the interior of the bubble with red merchandise as well as probably own most of the commercial blocks when video is aired. I can't think of anything else they'd get out of this.

I used to go to Warped Tour ever year and everyone always knew who sponsored that, just as people know who sponsors any concert they attend. No brand to my knowledge has ever sponsored this aspect of the music industry, and hopefully the publicity will propel Cartel to greater heights. Dr. Pepper's name will certainly be highlighted here, which is a great move for them. Overall, I think this could really work out well.

Race Across Europe

Via Adverblog:



BMW recently launched an advergame called PACE: Pursuit Against Europe.



I played the game twice -- rather, I attempted to play the game twice -- but failed to get any better at the whole driving aspect. The visual is absolutely gorgeous, I can't remember the last time I saw something online that was so visually appealing. There's only one small problem with it: Maybe it's just me, but with everything in greyscale, I found it next to impossible to see a turn coming up and kept getting caught in the... snow?





(screenshot taken from Adverblog)

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The premise (as far as I can gather) is that there's some sort of race? You start in Lisbon, then drive to Paris, Berlin... and that's all I know.


I really like the fact that you get to choose which BMW you drive and, for every course you complete you get "credits" based on your time. If you register, you get to not only continue onto more courses, but also trade in your "credits" at the BMW store and garage to add on technologies -- speed improvements, maps, etc. What a great way to get people to register, especially because it not only gets you further in the game but registration helps you improve your racing.


It's a great way to showcase the brand, but I've gotta ask: Who plays advergames? Who buys BMWs? Do these answers match?


Then again, it's always good to open young consumers to your brand early, so perhaps todays advergamers and tomorrows BMW drivers? I'm sure BMW hopes so.

Cute. Interesting. Not Fantastic.

Trident Chewing Gum recently launched a new site to promote the Trident Splash (Soft Splash? Splash Soft? The name is on the screen briefly throughout the visuals but not long enough to stick in my head), to which my friend sent me the link. The setup is actually really interesting; the premise is that the viewer is watching a "scientific" DVD based on the pleasurable experience of chewing gum. There's a short movie, and you can skip around between chapters, as well as some bonus content - a quiz as well as some other random information relating to mastication.

My only problem is probably that, other than the quiz, there's little actual interactivity. However, I do love the use of DVD-style advertising; I've never seen any sort of advertainment like this before. The site features Warnings and Copyright information, as well, just as though the viewer is watching a movie.

The site itself doesn't make me want to run out and chew Trident, but the constant watching of a number of people chewing the gum makes me crave something to chew on -- food, gum, whatever. Of course, it's possible that this is just a side affect of me writing this entry close to dinnertime!

New Advertising Reminiscent of Old Advertising

USA Today just ran an article about advertainment.

The gist of it is... well... remember my post about Geico's cavemen television show premise? Imagine that. But with about five other shows doing the same thing. Except this time, it's more about some SERIOUS product placement.

I'm talking Gillette producing a show dealing with NASCAR drivers -- who, of course, are almost all completely sponsored by Gillette. Toss in the "storyline" of racecar drivers teaching celebrities to drive and, well, I guess you have a hit? Hey, people do enjoy watching "Dancing With the Stars," don't they? Same premise. More advertising! And in this case, who's really surprised to see advertising on NASCAR? Here, it works.

I think the best way to go about it is to look at Axe's actions. The fragrance's approach is subtler and much more interesting. Rather than produce a show all about Axe, the company is running commercials during the show. Commercials for Axe, starring the show's own characters.

Personally, I love Axe's way of promoting the brand. It's kind of a throwback to a time when Shirley Jones and David Cassidy sang the Rice Krispies song during a commercial break on The Partridge Family, or having a commercial in which the announcer says, "Meet Clark Kent, star of Superman." Granted, Clark Kent is a character played by George Reeves, but if you're watching Superman then you want your commercials to be Superman.

Right?

(For an amazing clip of Jack Benny talking about his sponsor, click here )

All links obtained on TV Party; RAM format only, sorry!

OK.... Go!

VH1 recently released a list of the 40 Greatest Internet Superstars. Number 8 would be a band by the name of OK Go. The reason?

"The video features boy band dance choreography on treadmills. Choreographed by front man Damian Kulash's sister Trish the band practiced 16-20 times before they landed the single take that became one of the most watched clips in you tube history. The video made for only $4.99 (the cost of the videotape), the video became one of the most downloaded videos in you tube history." (taken from the VH1 list linked above)

In early 2002, when I first heard a demo of "C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips," I knew this was a powerpop band to be reckoned with. I couldn't have been happier to see that they had taken advantage of the then-still-thrilling YouTube and created the greatest form of advertainment I can think of: A viral video that only gets funnier each time you watch it... and never fails to amaze the viewer. Even when said viewer can, um, now do the dance, too.

Thanks to the You Tube videos, OK Go has now become known as "that band." You know, the band that makes awesome music and is obviously having a fantastic time doing it. The band that has a game on their website in which "OK Go has been kidnapped by a brutal band of Swedish nycleharpa players, intent on destroying the will to rock and replacing it with the will to play medieval stringed instruments. It's up to you to save the band by chasing down the kidnappers and ramming the crap out of their van."

Whether or not people are actually buying the records, people are talking about the band. I've seen the video on teen chats, weight loss forums ("Man, I wish I had that stamina when I go to the gym") and music boards. For a self-proclaimed Internet-promoted band, what else could they want?

All of the band's videos can be found here. "Here it Goes Again" is the treadmill video mentioned on the VH1 list.