Miller Lite

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykvLiVqp8wc

When it comes to trying to exclusively target men, no one can beat beer commercials.  They do it better than almost any type of product, and almost all of their commercials appeal to men whether it be through humor or sex appeal.

Recently Miller Lite launched a new commercial for their vortex bottles.  The commercial features a guy in a bar.  When he asks for a beer the bartender asks if he wants a vortex bottle.  He then questions why he would want a vortex bottle, and then it is revealed he is wearing sunglasses inside and his "manliness" is questioned and made fun of.

This commercial is funny but it is also effective.  For one, it is sending the message that people who want to be manly should drink Miller Lite.  But also it does something else.  It promotes the vortex bottle and gets people to think about the bottle and to ultimately consider purchasing it.  For this I give Miller Lite credit, because the product itself is pretty unremarkable.

The vortex bottle is essentially just a bottle with grooves.  Though Miller Lite makes the claim that the vortex bottle improves the beer and makes it taste better and more smooth, it is really just a marketing ploy and does not enhance the beer at all.  Yet the commercial is giving attention to the vortex bottle and making it seem innovative.

Though this commercial may not make someone go out and buy the vortex bottles, it does cause them to take notice of this product.  This means that when consumers are at their local liquor store and they happen to be looking for what beer to buy, they might see the vortex bottles and think back to the commercial.  As a result, these viewers may give the vortex bottles a try.

Overall, this seems to be an effective commercial and Miller Lite does a good job of bringing attention to an average product like the vortex bottle.

Facing Uncertainty

http://www.adweek.com/aw/creative/ad-of-the-day/article_display.jsp?creativeId=274250

With the economic recession, fear about what people should do with their money is at an all-time high.  People are weary of who to trust.  Examples such as Bernie Madoff have proved that even some of the most reputable people cannot be trusted.

The financial group Barclays has played off this fear with their latest commercial.  In the commercial Barclays addresses the idea of uncertainty.  It does this by showing a number of amusing events such as someone walking into an elevator only to find that it is an empty elevator shaft, and someone walking on the sidewalk only to sink into undried cement.

The theme of the commercial is that much of whats ahead of people remains unknown and uncertain, but Barclays is a company with a well-known track record and has been around for 300 years, thus it can be trusted.

The commercial is very entertaining and captivating.  I am impressed by the fact that the commercial is able to take a boring topic such as financial advising into an action-packed and interesting commercial.  However, I do think more could have been done with the commercial.

For instance, only the last four of five seconds commercial mention Barclays or gives any information on the company.  And the information that it does give is rather limited.  If the goal of the commercial is to get people persuaded to make Barclays their financial adviser, the commercial should have given viewers  more information on the company.

Though the commercial is entertaining, it will not persuade many people to invest their money with Barclays because it gives limited information on the company.  In the end, Barclays chose to have an entertaining commercial instead of one that is informative.  And although it may have been entertaining, in the end I do not think it will give them the results they were looking for.

Old Spice, New Ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRAHa_Po0Kg
For years Axe ruled the deodorant and body wash commercials targeted at young men.  However, recently there has been another brand of deodorant who has their own string of ridiculous commercials to target young male consumers.  Step aside Axe, because Old Spice has now beaten you at your own game.

For the past two years or so, Old Spice has launched ridiculous ads targeted at male teenagers.  Recently Old Spice launched a new commercial with football player Ray Lewis.  The ad is even outrageous by Old Spice's standards.

The ad features Ray Lewis full of bubbles.  As he comes out the shower he begins talking about Old Spice and holds up the body wash.  However as he continues to talk, it becomes clear that outside his window their is a giant raven(ironic because Lewis plays for the Baltimore Ravens).

As the ad continues Lewis throws a saddle onto the giant raven.  He then jumps onto the Raven and flies it into outer space, all while he is covered in bubbles.  The commercial makes no sense and is for lack of a better term, dumb.

But that being said, it nailed its target audience.  This commercial, like all Old Spice commercials is memorable.  And guys will definitely find it funny.  For instance as I was watching the commercial my roommate came up to me and asked me to play it again and began to crack up.

Old Spice also made a very smart move in having Ray Lewis promote the product.  Lewis is known for his tough guy exterior, and is one of the most identifiable football players.  Male viewers will immediately recognize Lewis and his persona matches the persona Old Spice tries to convey.

Overall, this Old Spice commercial will connect with male audiences.  It will stick out in their minds and eventually lead them to remember Old Spice when passing body washes and deodorant at their local convenience store.

"That's logistics"

        

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRAHa_Po0Kg

For years UPS’ “What can Brown do for you?” was one of the most identifiable slogans.  However, UPS has decided its time for a change and now has a new slogan. 

 Their new tagline is “That’s logistics”.  The slogan itself does not exactly roll off the tongue.  To combat this and try to make the slogan more catchy their commercials feature the tagline being sung to the tune of “That’s amore”.

Somehow throughout the commercial the saying “That’s logistics” becomes catchy.  In the commercial they show UPS packages traveling throughout the globe as the song plays.  The commercial itself is interesting and fun to watch.  It captivates the viewer and keeps them interested.

 Not only that but UPS did a very smart thing in the commercial.  First off the message of the commercial is something that resonates with viewers.  The commercial is telling potential customers that UPS is always figuring out logistics with packages and therefore can be relied upon.

This is then giving audiences a very positive image of UPS.  Also, many people are fond of the song “That’s Amore” and find it to be very nostalgic.  By using this song in their commercials UPS is making itself more memorable in people’s mind.

Though these commercials are good, they may not necessarily be persuasive enough to get someone who was not already a UPS customer to use UPS.  However, at the very least UPS made these commercials memorable, and they will stick out in viewers’ minds.

Diet Mountain Dew

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf8zmzp2rKo

Recently, I came across a commercial for Diet Mountain Dew.  I figured the ad would be ridiculous because most Mountain Dew commercials tend to be crazy; however, I was still not prepared for what I saw.

The commercial starts off with two guys sitting in their office drinking Diet Mountain Dew.  They begin to talk about how unexpected the flavor is and how good it is.  Within seconds they begin to say that in the few moments they have been drinking it they both have gotten a bald eagle tattoo, and rip off their shirts exposing their tattoos.

As if this situation was not ridiculous enough, a woman walks into the room takes of the sip out the diet drink and makes a loud eagle noise which breaks all the glass in the office.  To say that this commercial is unbelievably ludicrous, is an understatement.

However, at the same time it was a smart commercial on Mountain's Dew part.  In today's society people are becoming more and more health conscious.  As a result of this trend, Mountain Dew is probably trying to promote its diet version so that way that will not lose any customers and may even gain some new ones in the process.

Yet, by promoting their diet drink Mountain Dew still has some problems.  For instance, the majority of people who drink Mountain Dew probably are men.  Though men may be health conscious, they are also weary to drink diet drinks, because they feel that it is not manly.  This idea has been exemplified by coke creating Coke Zero as an attempt to have a no calorie drink that appeals to men.

Keeping this in mind, though the Diet Mountain Dew commercial is ridiculous it is trying to show that Diet Mountain Dew still packs a punch and is a manly drink.  Overall, though the commercial may be considered dumb, I believe it is an effective ad.

Discovering Peggy

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/creative/new-campaigns/e3i4a25a9f106904fc1a83b09f1d61936e8

We've all been there.  As soon as something goes wrong with your credit card or you wish to change your account, you're on the phone with the credit card company for what seems like an eternity.  With their new ads Discover tries to make light of situations like these.

In their ads they depict customers from a different credit card company all trying to have a conversation over the phone with "Peggy."  It just so happens that Peggy is a big bearded man with a thick accent whose office is in the middle of nowhere.  Peggy is not able to answer anyone's question competently and frustrates the customer in every commercial.

Unlike their previous ad campaigns, with the "Peggy" commercials Discover tries to implement humor into the ads to resonate with customers.  The purpose of the ad is to show how mediocre customer service is at other credit cards company; whereas Discover offers great customer service.

The ad itself is genuinely funny and it is a concept that most viewers will be able to relate to.  However  not all demographics may find the ad funny.  It seems that most people who would find this commercial funny would be in 18 to 35 demographic.  Yet, older audiences may not find this ad particularly funny because some of the humor with Peggy tends to be more dead-pan and simple.

So although the ads may get some people to consider making Discover their credit card company, it seems that these ads won't necessarily get older customers to go out and leave their current credit card providers for Discover.