#11

Blog 11

A “Day in the Life” of the target audience of AIRFRANCE

1. Gender Split: Female

2. Age: 30s-40s

3. Marital Status: Single

4. Job: Business

5. Car: Blue Audi

6. Urban/Rural: urban/suburban

7. Grocery Shopping: Whole Foods – eggs, bread, fish

8. Favorite Clothing Brands: Macy’s, Nordstrom

9. Favorite Music: pop

10. Favorite Movies: romantic comedies (ex. Roman Holiday)

11. TV: talk shows and travel channel: The View, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations

12. Alcoholic Drink: red wine

13. Non-Alcoholic Drink: milk

14. Favorite Type of Eatery: European restaurant

15. Fragrance: Chanel

16. Sporting Activity: tennis

17. Vacation Destination: France, Italy, Western Europe in general

18. Dog or Cat: Cat

19. Kid’s Names: Emily, William

20. Mac or PC: Mac

In the AIRFRANCE ad, the model seems to share a resemblance with Audrey Hepburn, suggesting that the target audience is older and tend toward the romantic.  The gold and high class flare of the add suggest a wealthier audience, but not super wealthy, more upper middle class.  The ad also is advocating travel, suggesting the viewer's interest in new experiences and adventure.  Additionally, the ad has a fancifulness to it that seems to be for the purpose of attracting persons from "ordinary," "average" lives and promising something better, as in a form of escapism.  Such a draw to escapism over reality, while also a clear draw on money, may imply that the target audience is wealthy enough to travel yet does not often do so for pleasure.

Post #10

Blog 10

            A product that launched and quickly failed, according to Drake Baer and Jay Yarow at Business Insider, was Coors’ 1990 extension: Coors Rocky Mountain Spring Water.  The famous beer company was apparently trying to keep up with a social trend of less heavy alcohol consumption (“Coors enters,” 1990).

            In a Yahoo Finance article, Thomas C. Frohlich elaborated on why the product failed with consumers, as, “Coors Rocky Mountain Sparkling Water used a similar name and label to that of Coors beer, which may have confused and even spooked consumers” (2014, para. 12).  In this case, consumer behavior was that of confusion, as the Coors brand had long been tied to beer and alcohol consumption, an adult product. And now, with a non-alcoholic product for all ages, the change in message and tone was conflicting.  Consumers’ perception of the brand was tainted by preexisting knowledge and perceptions of the brand.  People seeking to buy bottled water might overlook Coors brand in a store because they see the brand and just think “beer,” and so would not linger on the product.  As such, consumers might be subconsciously ignoring the product because they do not realize its actual purpose.  People might also not be open-minded enough or have the time to learn and be educated on the new product.  In addition, while bottled water was popular, consumers were meeting their needs elsewhere and so had no motivation to try something new such as Coors’ bottled water.

            And, for consumers of Coors’s alcoholic products, the sudden appearance of bottled water may have altered their perceptions of the Coors brand.  The change may have seemed shocking.  To them, the company may have appeared flaky and lost in identity by changing their already established tone/persona.  Consumers may have then established mistrust with the brand, and have seen the brand as betraying the product they had been loyal to.

            Perhaps with more advertising and a redesign of the product to differentiate the bottled water from beer would have led to greater success among consumers, and greater consumer motivation.

References

Baer, D. & Yarow, J. (2014, July 31). 22 of the most epic product fails in history.

Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-product-failures-in-business-history-2014-7?op=1

Coors enters bottled water market. (1990, January 16). The New York Times. Retrieved

from http://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/16/business/coors-enters-bottled-water-market.html

Frohlich, T. C. (2014, March 4).  Worst product flops of all time.  Yahoo Finance.

Retrieved from http://finance.yahoo.com/news/worst-product-flops-time-194331439.html

Blog Post 9

Blog Post 9

            The political campaign was an interesting workshop assignment.  The cause: the allowance of electronics in all college classes, a current matter that is of great interest and relevancy to local college students.  Party name: The Screensaver Party, a name that was both relevant to the subject we were advocating and created a heroic air to our cause.

            In developing the propaganda campaign, media channels were narrowed to social media.  It was felt that that would be the most effective and influential method in getting the party’s cause across.  According to “Media and Political Campaign Ads,” the Internet, “…may be the most powerful marketing tool in modern society. Through the Internet, candidates and other leaders can reach most of the country's population in just a few hours.” (2011, para. 2).  As such, online social media provides almost global access and allows flexibility in how the cause is presented, be it through images, videos, audio, etc.  We decided that our party would benefit from first creating various accounts, ranging from Facebook to Twitter to YouTube.  The next step in our campaign would be to recruit viewers/followers, which could be accomplished by providing informational media and finding groups that shared the same interests.  Then, we would spread our message by creating viral images, hashtags, videos, and memes that would promote out party’s cause.  Our message would highlight modern technology and progression, as well as the positive benefits on the environment.  After our social media campaign gained momentum, we would then seek other media such as news channels, print, and television time slots to further our cause and reach out to a greater range of demographics.

            Memes were a key part of our campaign as it was an inexpensive yet effective way of sharing our message.  It incorporated pop culture and humor into our message, making informational, educational, and entertaining.  Such iconic imagery also makes the campaign feel modern and familiar.  This adds to the perception people would have of our party.

            Overall, our political campaign could have a wide influential range with minimal resources.  Perhaps with more time and resources, we could further enhance and fine tune our campaign to make it even more accessible and powerful.

Link to Campaign Slideshow

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bBoxXN6EgDFuIsu7hWJ_kLHeCqONwb1pQhh1IpIInJc/edit?usp=sharing

References

Media and Political Campaign Ads. (2011). In Gale Student Resources in Context.

Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=SUIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=SUIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ2181500137&source=Bookmark&u=san13255&jsid=0e863bc5fb62ef166033e154961462b6

8

Blog 8

            One current environmental campaign using digital technologies is the National Wildlife Federation.  I decided to look into this particular organization’s campaign because I have an interest in wildlife and animal conservation.  According to their website, at www.nwf.org, the National Wildlife Federation works to protect and advocate for wildlife and habitat for the future.  They untie people with an interest in the outdoors and their inhabitants, and allow them to organize, motive, and learn.  Their campaign to get their message across to people and to connect with people uses modern day technology and platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr, mobile apps, etc.

            Through social media, the National Wildlife Federation shares stories and pictures of relevant subjects to their cause.  For instance, on their Facebook page is a post on dolphin deaths due to oil spill.  This helps support their cause and shows the problems they are addressing.  In addition, another example includes videos on their Youtube channel featuring “Zombies vs Wildlife.”  Here, they are able to educate, inform, and entertain, as well as attract viewers and increase their publicity by using pop culture.  By using social media in ways such as this, they are able to reach out to their audience and interact on a daily manner, where the audience can comment or “like” or “retweet,” and spread the news.  In addition, people can feel good about themselves by sharing in this environmental goodwill.  This free publicity allows the National Wildlife Federation to engage and influence people with great convenience and relatively minimal effort.  It is direct interaction that gets people to help spread advertisements.

            The National Wildlife Federation is also campaigning directly through people’s phones and electronic devices by using mobile apps.  According to PR Newswire (2015, February 25), the National Wildlife Federation will release three mobile aps.  PR Newswire says, “In partnership with MAZ, National Wildlife Magazine, Ranger Rick, and Ranger Rick Jr., will have universal digital reach via the Apple App Store, Google Play, and Amazon Appstore on mobile and tablet devices as well as HTML5 web reader” (2015, paragraph 3).  This is a key advancement in the National Wildlife Federation’s digital campaign as it allows them to progress forward with their readers and make it more available on a wide range of platforms.

            Overall, the National Wildlife Federation is actively advancing its digital campaign and using it in an expansive and diverse way.  This will help them in staying relevant to viewers and help them to more effectively advertise their environmental cause.

References

National Wildlife Federation.  (2015). Facebook.  Retrieved from

            https://www.facebook.com/NationalWildlife

National Wildlife Federation.  (2015).  Twitter.  Retrieved from https://twitter.com/nwf

National Wildlife Federation.  (2015).  Youtube.  Retrieved from

            https://www.youtube.com/user/NationalWildlife

National Wildlife Federation Launches Three Apps Powered By MAZ. (2015, February

25). PR Newswire. Retrieved from http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=SUIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=News&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=SUIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CA403056833&source=Bookmark&u=san13255&jsid=e67de592a3191976182c14277a9897bf

Who We Are.  (1996 – 2015). National Wildlife Federation.  Retrieved from

            http://www.nwf.org/Who-We-Are.aspx

#7

Blog 7

            Today in class we explored several ads and looked at the various ways gender stereotypes were applied.  One particular ad that stood out for me was the Rose Petal Cottage commercial.  The ad was almost the epitome of the little girl stereotype: lots of pink and pastels, tinkling upbeat music, and an emphatic message on how happy being a good little housewife makes a girl, from washing laundry to cooking to taking care of the baby.  The only thing missing seemed to be a little boy coming home from work and the little girl rushing over to serve him his meal and press his coat.  The gender stereotype was strongly communicated as it toted its housewife lifestyle as the idealistic future all young girls dream of.  And, just in my personal experience, I have never seen anyone smile so much at getting to do laundry.  It just felt ridiculous because the commercial seemed to be taking such exaggerated stereotypes seriously.

            This ad feels offensive and a misuse of the ad’s power.  When people see the ad, they are giving it their attention and potentially opening themselves to the ad’s message.  And, when the ad carries such a negative message (especially in its very specific lyrics), that housework and childcare is what females are for and it is what they want, it affects how women/girls view themselves and how others view them.

            In class we also discussed how the commercial could be changed to be less gender stereotyped.  Ways the class came up with were to get rid of the music and lyrics, get rid of all the pink, and include a more diverse group playing with the toys, such as boys and girls and even adults.  In addition, the toy set could include things outside of the house, such as in the yard or from work.

            This assignment reminded me of the GoldieBlox &Rube Goldberg “Princess Machine” (2013) video, which can be found below.  This commercial takes the usual gender stereotypical toy commercial and turns it on its head.  Instead of girls obsessed with housework, babies, clothes, or makeup, the commercial shows girls being inventive, creative, and independent.  While playing with dolls, pretending to do housework, and etc. are all fine to do, this change up shines a positive light on what else a girl can be, thus breaking the normal stereotypes.  It allows people to be exposed to and open their mind to individuality and empowerment.

GoldieBlox &Rube Goldberg “Princess Machine” video (November 26, 2013):