Fiat has recently introduced its new car, the Fiat 500 Abarth.  The car includes an all-new 1.4-liter MultiAir® Turbo engine, Abarth-tuned suspension and brake systems, race-inspired design, and technology features not traditionally included on a small car.  The new 2012 Fiat 500 emphasizes the brand’s legendary performance heritage to American streets.  

  

Fiat used American icon, Jennifer Lopez, to promote their product.  JLO embodies everything that Fiat is trying to stands behind.  She represents the American dream while also bringing recognition and loyalty to the Fiat name.  However, something about this commercial does not seem right.  Maybe it is the fact that Fiat never states any facts or information about the car.  Or it might have been that it is highly unlikely that a person as wealthy as JLO would be caught driving in a Fiat.  I cannot picture Jennifer Lopez driving her own car, let alone a $20,000 Fiat 500 .

They're back!  Yes, the rumors are true; Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-head have returned to MTV.  Even though the show has not aired since 1997 it is still going to be successful.  With reality and drama shows taking over television networks Judge's comedy will bring a much needed change.  Beavis and Butt-head is still a classic comedy show that focuses around stupid, immature humor.  The plots generally consist of Beavis and Butt-head watching t.v., looking to "score" with girls, and laughing.  There are no complex story lines or characters and Beavis and Butt-head are not role models for children.  However, this is what makes the show appealing and successful.    

Levi's is the original maker of the blue jeans.  Having been the first to introduce the world to the jean market Levi's has taken it upon itself to also become the revolutionist of jeans.  With the launching the Levi Curve ID system women are now afforded jeans that fit the multiple dimensions of their bodies rather than just their waist and length.  The Curve ID campaign is intended to attract women to the Levi brand by creating a pair of jeans that is designed for a specific shape, not size.  This campaign measured over 65,000 women around the world to develop a custom fit system based on the various fits of women’s shapes.  There are fits such as slight, demi, bold, and supreme so anyone can find their own fit. 

These advances demonstrate Levi’s attention to all aspects of their company. They show interest in making a quality product while reaching all audiences, especially the women target.  Levi’s uses the emotional type of advertising and in result touches the way women perceive their bodies.  For women who struggle with body image this breakthrough campaign will be remembered  because it leaves consumers wondering about their current situation.  Many young women will be wondering if the jeans they currently own cause any problem spots and more importantly, how Levi Curve ID will fix those problems.  Levi's wants to help change the world and will start by helping women feel good about themselves.  

http://www.levistrauss.com/about

Recently, MW3, or Modern Warfare 3, video game came out.  The makers of MW3 partnered up with Jeep to create the "toughest vehicle".  While the concept seems fairly well thought out, the outcome of selling a lot of these special addition Jeeps will he highly unlikely.  Even though MW3 is a VERY popular video game (it hold the highest number of sold copies in the first day) generally the consumers who  buy video games can not afford such cars, especially a 2012 special addition Jeep.

MW3 has been advertising to a broader range of people ranging anywhere from late teens to individuals in their early forties.  This has worked for the video game's sales and has increased the average consumer's age.  Even with MW3's popularity, sales, and market I still feel that buyers will simply not purchase a car simply because of a video game.  Really who wants to be seen driving a $25,000 video game car?

http://www.callofduty.com/mw3
http://www.jeep.com/en/callofduty/

Applebee's recently released a commercial with the message that Veterans and active duty military personnel eat free at Applebee's on Veteran's Day, November 11.  This is an emotional campaign that Applebee's is using in order to increase the number of people going to the Applebee's restaurant chain.  This is not new for Applebee's and after examing their website it is clear that giving back is one of Applebee's primary goals. 

Applebee's is not only taking the initiative by thanking Veterans with free food, but also encourages others to do the same.  Applebee's is trying to help sponsor the largest military thank you of all time.  They hope to thank all 24 million veterans and active duty military.  This is done though donations, Applebee's gift cards, and letters of gratitude from generous sponsors.  This campaign highlights how Applebee's cares about its country and those who protect it.  Nationalism can be seen throughout the campaign, but the best at the end where the traditional Applebee's apple logo is shown.  However, it is an American flag apple revealing how Applebee's is truely American.

Link to  website: http://www.applebees.com/thankyoumovement     

NIKE BASKETBALL

With the present NBA lockout the shoe world is forced to advertise and campaign their products differently.  Nike has chosen a clever slogan for their campaign: basketball never stops.  This is a very effective advertising strategy because this slogan appeals to the emotional aspect of Nike in regards to their basketball enthusiasts. The target audience is drawn to the message that even though their is a present NBA lockout Nike shoes allow the individual to continue to enjoy all the aspects of basketball.  Nike has chosen to highlight this advertisement with many of the NBA's greatest stars.  If Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudemire, and LeBron James will continue playing basketball than so can the viewer; hopefully in a pair of Nike's shoes.

The one part of the commercial that I have a hard time understanding is why they would use Coach K for this commercial.  He is the Duke University head basketball coach and was the former Gold Medal winning Olympic coach.  However, he has nothing to do with the NBA lockout.  I'm not sure if Nike's underlying tactic is to try and entice the viewer to watch the college teams like Duke since there might be the possibility of an entire NBA season lockout.    

Nature is unique, authentic, pure, and also delicious like Nature Valley.  This can be heard in the the opening of Nature Valley's snack commercial.  Instead of appealing to the technological part of society, Nature Valley is appealing to the naturalistic part of society.  These would include outdoors people and people who want to eat natural.  From the beginning to the end of this commercial authentic photo shots of mountains, lakes, and valleys are used to invite the viewer to relax and enjoy all the wonders of nature.  In the commercial a couple is sitting in nature enjoying delicious Nature Valley granola bars.

This commercial compares the beauty of nature with the delicious taste of nature Valley's honey oat granola bars very well.  Nature Valley does a great job using natural tones, bird noises, and landscapes to create a relaxing atmosphere, encouraging the viewer to enjoy the natural aspects of life through a granola bar.  The granola bar is 100% delicious because it is 100% natural.  The target audience would see 100% natural and 100% delicious as very important because nature and taste are the key selling point of Nature Valley.  Plus its hard to beat 100% deliciousness.

         

Discount Double Check

In my last blog I discussed how the Wisconsin area in particular was capitalizing on Aaron Rodgers and the Packer's Superbowl success.  However, it is not just local businesses that are trying to incorporate Aaron Rodgers.  State Farm, a national insurance company, has a commercial poking fun at Rodgers' touchdown dance.  In the commercial Rodgers' championship-belt dance is the discount double check which is used to symbolize the saving that one receives from State Farm.  

This commercial is better than previous Aaron Rodgers' commercials because it incorporates more emotion.  Rodgers is not just sitting on the a chair, he is talking with an American couple.  They interact with the discount double check, or championship dance, while joking with Rodgers that if he was a quarterback then they would robots.  The commercial finally ends with what appears to be a die hard Packer's fan in the typical cheese head hat and painted body doing the discount count double check.  

This commercial engages the viewer by using a national celebrity while also incorporating important facts and information about how State Farm can save you hundreds of dollars.  I find it quite interesting how Rodgers is used by State Farm to create a humorous, but effective commercial.  After this commercial I want to go to a State Farm office to see if the State Farm agents actually do the discount double check.     

Riding Success

It seems like everyone is trying to ride the Packers' Super Bowl buzz as long as possible.  Attorney David Gruber has sought the help of star quarterback Aaron Rodgers with the hope of spreading awareness about his law offices.  However, this commercial was scripted, boring, and unappealing.  Aaron Rodgers and David Gruber stay seated in chairs during the entire 30 second commercial, only moving their hands slightly.  They appear to be reading from teleprompters and Rodgers constantly moves his head in a non-realistic way.  Even though this commercial uses a well known celebrity and gives facts about the company it still lacks any individualism that would make it appealing to the viewer.  The viewer is simply left with the idea that Attorney David Gruber's law offices are respectable because Aaron Rodgers was in one of their commercials, not because of the offices' previous work.      

NBA Greatest Team

Even the gaming world has come to realized the impact of a potential NBA lockout.  Instead of only marketing to the current NBA fan, NBA 2K12 has changed its approach.  In the game's new commercial, the "greatest team" question is presented.  The commercial begins with His Airness, or Michael Jordan stating how the '96 Bulls was the greatest team ever.  Everyone from current stars like Drake and Brian Wilson to billionaire owner Mark Cuban state their opinions revealing how their favorite team is the greatest team of all time.  Finally, the camera pans to MJ showcasing his 1996, 72 win World Championship ring.  The worlds greatest team is engraved on Jordan's ring.  If you did not know the 1996 Chicago Bulls won the championship, but more impressively hold the single season record at 72 wins and 10 losses.



This commercial does not advertise current NBA players or teams as much as the classic teams of the past.  Even the three different covers have retired players: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird.  NBA 2K12 has realized that the current potential season ending lockout could have impacted their sales.  In order to prevent losses they marketed in a different way, appealing to previous generations.  This smart tactic keeps the NBA fan interested in the game even with the NBA' current situation.  So even if their is no NBA season a passionate fan can always relive past highlights in the video game world.  Being from Chicago I know that the '96 Bulls are BY FAR the best team to ever set on the hardwood, and now anyone can pick up a controller and find out for themselves.      

This commercial begins by asking what seems to be a pointless question about someone who the viewer could really care less about.  The commercial is very monotone, completely unrealistic, and at some points boring.  Despite what appears to be all negative characteristics this commercial did what it was to suppose to do: grab the viewer's attention.  The ugly, balding Frank cannot use Kayak.com because he has previously given the creator of this travel website an "atomic wedgie."  Now Frank is stuck spending countless hours searching dozens of different travel sites.  


Everyone else has the privilege of being able to compare not only dozens, but hundreds of travel sites with Kayak.com.  This is the easiest and most efficient way of searching online.  Kayak.com's search one and done makes travel planning even for the non-technological people easy.  Even though most people do not generally spend countless hours a year researching and planning vacations, Kayak.com is still available to everyone....except Frank.

Link: http://www.kayak.com/

Size Sassy

Even though this commercial is short and directed at a female audience, I could not help but find this advertisement interesting.  It begins to a vibrant, "foot-tapping" rhythm where a beautiful women is shopping for pants.  This is when a female's voice, softly appealing to women all around the world states:

"Wouldn't it be nice if we focused less on the number and more on how the fit makes us feel? Take the Special K challenge and slip into size sassy in two weeks."

Special K is trying to appeal to women who do not yet feel sassy, but have the desire too change.  In less than two weeks, according to Special K, all women can slip into becoming the beautiful and now "sassy" women in the commercial.  This advertisement makes becoming sassy as easy as slipping into your favorite pair of jeans.  And why is it that easy? The answer is simple: Kellogg's Special K cereal.

To leave the viewer in a good mood children's voices from the underlying song are heard saying: "Hey we're gonna have a good day" as the brand's slogan, what will you gain when you lose?, appears on the screen.  This song choice was interesting.  The song originally is by Nappy Roots and talks about having a good day because no one is getting killed that particular day.  This kind of happiness is a little different than being sassy because you ate Special K cereal.  Nevertheless, the upbeat song and underlying message was the right choice for the commercial.  The viewer is left wondering if Special K can really make everyday a good day.
  

Jordan and Beer Pong

Jordan has once again marketed its brand in an entirely new and creative way.  Instead of its usual athletic, sporty, and active campaigns, Jordan is now advertising to entirely different type of athlete: a beer pong player.  I was unaware that an individual needed a pair of Air Jordans or a Jordan t-shirt to play beer pong, but after seeing this poster at Footlocker I now know that a "real" beer pong athlete does in fact need Jordan merchandise to compete competitively.  

This marketing strategy at first seems odd, but after closer review it is very clever.  The Jordan company is trying to appeal to the more unconventional athlete, not the typical athlete.  However, beer pong is a continuously growing "sport" that occurs on every college campus and at many high school parties.  I might even go as far to say that there are probably more beer pong players across the country than basketball, baseball, or football players.  Therefore, advertising to this large group of people is actually very logical.  Why not appeal to all different types of athletes.  Maybe one day Jordan will be able sponsor his own beer pong league and team.     

Do you finally want to see the aftermath of the 4 million viewed Heineken, The Entrance, commercial? Wait no longer because the Dutch Brewing Company has followed up its successful advertisement campaign with numerous spin-offs for the additional characters.  Not only can you discover the full story now, but you can do so with "The Golden Age" beer. 

Even a Kung Fu master uses Heineken.

With the aid of a Heineken any gift can become perfect.

Women are drawn to a sophisticated man with  Heineken.

Both the old and new enjoy Heineken.

A single man with the aid of a special beer, not a martini, has impacted the lives of many different types of people. While these advertisements may seem pointless or irrelevant, some of them are quite amusing.  They also emphasize Heineken's underlying message that their beer can positively impact the lives of people from all different backgrounds.  Heineken is an unbiased beer that everyone across the globe will enjoy.  "Open your world" with a Heineken.

   

IPATH is a skateboarding shoe and clothing company that was founded in 1999 and continues to flourish as one of the top skateboarding shoe and clothing companies.  I knew I was going to choose IPATH from the start because I started skateboarding the same year that this company was founded.  Symbolically, this was the beginning for IPATH as a quality skateboaring company as well as the beginning of my path.  This is also a brand that most represents my ideals and future aspirations.  I hope that one day I can start my own, distinct skateboarding company while following similar IPATH principles.

IPATH has always been oriented around an individual’s creative nature with the idea that skateboarding can be used as a form of self expression.  Staying true to yourself while following your own path is IPATH.  As a skateboarder, I can confidently tell you that in order to succeed one must stay true to one’s self.  I use my skateboard and shoes just like a painter would use his paint brush or a musician would use his instrument to create something that is a direct reflection of my creative personality.  I have personally skated in numerous pairs of IPATH shoes and have loved them all.  Instead of the over-tech look of the past that many of its competitors use,  IPATH’s shoes are created around a raw, but simple design.

IPATH cats (original shoe still manufactured today)

I am in fact quite a simple person.  I enjoy simple , organic concepts.  This is what also helped me choose IPATH.  IPATH, unlike most of its competitors, strives to make environmentally friendly products out of hemp, cotton, and other similar materials.  The environment is something that I am quite passionate about, so the fact that IPATH uses organic materials as an alternative in order to ensure the survival of the world's ecosphere made me realize how similar I am to this company.  Like IPATH, I will work hard and dedicate myself to accomplishing my goals while remaining true to my beliefs.  Follow your path!

A little bit of IPATH's creative skateboarding:

Link to IPATH website: http://web.ipath.com/advocacy
Link to IPATH store: http://ipath.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc