Advertising

Welcome tailgaters and avid consumers of foods containing immense amounts of protein. In today’s ad watch, we’re going to take a few moments to enjoy some of the finer things in life. Specifically, we’re going to focus on the luxuries of conveniently wrapped and easily accessible meats from a variety of farm animals who in turn came from potentially debatable origins. Yes my friends, its time to brush up on your weenie whistle skills and rev up your Weinermobiles, for we’re going to take a look at some of Oscar Mayer’s most recent advertising campaigns. (Interesting fact: Did you know that the Weinermobile actually has a “hot dog smell” button? Me? Of course I knew.)

Over the past six months, Oscar Mayer has pushed out a handful of advertising efforts in both social media and television formats that have succeeded in being both amusing and informative. These aforementioned campaigns have come from talented agencies such as McGarryBowen and 360i. While all of these efforts have focused on the convenience and deliciousness of Oscar Mayer’s vast array of meat products, the general themes from the ads have varied. For example, the commercial seen in the top right of this post concentrates on a grandpa who takes being literal to a whole new level of beautiful awkwardness. Mostly, I think this man needs a hug, as he’s clearly a little too impressed be a luminous transparent container of ham. Okay, it wasn’t exactly gleaming, but it might as well have been. After all, this was the only thing that could impress straight-talking grandpa.

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Dominated by a furious second-half comeback, a 37 minute power outage, and what Kanye West would undoubtedly call "one of the best halftime performances OF ALL TIME," the general consensus is that Super Bowl XLVII was not nearly as much of a coup for on-air advertisements as 2012's event. Whereas the previous two years featured equal parts impassioned and hilarious ads, the tops trend for 2013 was tame, safe ads featuring fairly common themes.

“Jake Silver” – A Look at the Stats

By my unofficial count, there were 64 non-NFL and non-CBS ad spots in this year's game. Some observations:

  • 27% of ads were for car companies (quite similar to last year's 25%)
  • 40% of ads were for food/beverage products (way up from 20% last year)
  • 21% of ads featured consumer products/services (similar to last year's 16%)
  • Five movie ads were broadcast, including one promoting the new Fast & Furious franchise entry (which now has as many episodes as Spider-Man has comic books)
  • Just three ads—5% total—were for online specific-platforms/services, down even from last year's meager total of 8%

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Oreo Super Bowl Blackout TweetThis year’s Super Bowl was filled with unexpected surprises; from a Destiny’s Child reunion to a stadium blackout, it’s safe to say that Super Bowl XLVII was undoubtedly memorable. While the nation twiddled their thumbs yearning for the start of the third quarter, Oreo’s advertising team went straight to work. Amid all the Super Bowl blackout hype, Oreo seized the opportunity for a marketing miracle. The quick-witted team at Oreo tweeted this ad while the rest of the nation, struck by boredom, sat on the couch updating their Twitter feeds while waiting for the lights to turn back on. The tweet read, “Power out? No problem!” reminding all followers and Oreo lovers out there that although you can’t watch the game, you can still dunk your Oreo.

How brilliant is this? Oreo understands today’s society and its need for instant gratification. Since our eyes weren’t currently being focused on the game, Oreo knew that they were most likely focused somewhere that we can find the most up-to-date news, thoughts, opinions and jokes about Beyonce’s ability to drop jaws, and the lights inability to turn on. AKA, Twitter. The ad was simple yet creative, and its timeliness was nothing short of impressive. The tweet resulted in over 15,000 retweets, more than 5,000 favorites and a plethora of replies from followers who complimented Oreo’s speedy marketing skills. The company also posted the photo on their Facebook page, where it received over 20,000 likes.

The ad showed the nation and Oreo’s competitors that they are creatively savvy and able to spot an opportunity as soon as it presents itself.  The lesson learned from Oreo’s marketing masterpiece is to always pay attention to the social media conversation to capitalize on real-time events. Most importantly, however, advertizing and marketing professionals should always be prepared to seize these opportunities.

The Ravens won the championship, Beyonce dominated the stage and Oreo ruled social media. So Oreo, here’s to you. I’ll dunk to that.

Watch Oreo’s other noteworthy Super Bowl ad here. End of Story

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There you are, bored on any given weekday night with nothing more to watch than yet another rousing episode of American Idol or House Hunters. While the seemingly endless supply of everyday individuals who think they can carry a tune or afford a 4000+ sq/ft house with granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances and a multi-head shower deeply intrigues me, there are times when I find my attention hungering something with a little more intrigue. Thankfully, locked away within a secret bunker deep inside the innards of an advertising agency, there dwell creative visionaries whose very jobs are to create a vacuum in which we’re all socially sucked in. And I applaud them.

Beginning in November, creative agency BBDO Atlanta unleashed a television ad series starring Beck Bennet and a boisterous variety of adorable kids, answering questions designed to highlight AT&T’s prominent features/services. These commercials don’t hurl facts and figures into your face, nor do they serve up steaming piles of propaganda for your unwanted digestion. Instead, Beck posts a basic question to some articulate adolescents, and their adorable answers create and instant chuckle fest. You forget that AT&T wants you to know about their network speed or sizable download capabilities, and instead just learn that a robot shooting lasers from two eyes instead of one is more powerful, or that fastening a cheetah to grandma’s back might make her faster. Hey, I don’t make this stuff up. But I wish I did.

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The Power of HabitsEvery time a new year rolls in, we expect it to be different than the last. You’re probably saying, “this year is the year I’m going to lose weight” -- or perhaps you want to eat healthier, be more organized or spend more time with family. Unfortunately, according to a recent study by the University of Scranton, only 8 percent of people actually achieve their New Year’s resolutions. I’ll admit, looking back, I can’t remember a time I actually achieved a resolution myself. But why do we fail year after year?

Chances are the goal of your New Year’s resolution is to eliminate a negative habit or to form a new, positive one. Charles Duhigg, New York Times reporter and author of The Power of Habit (2012), argues that the problem is that people don’t fully understand how their habits work. Habits, he argues are composed of three parts: cues, routines and rewards. The cue can be a time a location or an emotional state – anything that triggers a certain routine. The routine is the behavior itself. Finally, there’s a reward which serves as the ultimate motivation behind the habit (but not always the motivation you would expect).

Duhigg gives an example his own (former) bad habit of eating a cookie every afternoon. He noticed that he craved a cookie around 3:00 p.m. every day and figured out that the “cue” was time.  His routine was to go to the cafeteria around that time and buy a cookie and talk to his colleagues. By analyzing the routine, he realized that the “reward” was not actually a cookie, but socialization. To change the habit, at 3:00 p.m. he would walk around the office and talks to his colleagues instead.  Now, he has a new habit of walking around the office at that time and his urge to eat a cookie has completely disappeared.

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