My transition from a plannabie at Miami Ad School to planning at Y&R brought me home for a good 3 months. During that time I got to live as a teen again. Depending on my parents for housing, food and TV. While I was finally able to appreciate all that my parents gave me I came to another revelation. Mexican's are vastly different from Americans. While this observation could of been made by any person who knows anything about both cultures, I was able to see it, live it and be it. I dedicate this blog to all my personal observations of my family's culture and the one we all currently live in.
Whistling as Communication
If your a girl, you've experienced this a million times over. Your walking down the steet, by yourself or with your friend, and some ugly ass dudes always in their late 30's to 50's start whistling. While most, in American culture, believe this is the only use of whistling now for Mexicans it is a lot more useful. Mexican's as I found out use whistling more like a language. According to linguists, "whistling arose in cultures (which later influenced the formation of the Mexican nation) that occuped areas where daunting terrain and distance prohibited easy conversations. Since the past is ever-present for Mexicans, it makes sese that the Mexican propensity to whistle-talk is a breathing cultural artifact.
Whistle-talk is broken down like this:
A sharp tweet is to catch someone's attention
A longer version show's disgust for performances
An even longer note to annoy non-Mexicans
Five successive, rapid trills that offend
Now these whistles are used in tons of variations like the whistle to catch someone's is personalized for everyone in the family. We kids get a different one than my mother. Other reason's to use whistling vs. verbal language are: frequency of whistle's carry farther, learned behavior living in an ambiguous environment, discretion and it's a lot classer than yelling.
So what does this mean to us, planners, advertisers and clients alike? Well this could be an interesting way of creating an execution specifically to the Mexican culture. Can a "secret" non-verbal language like this be used as part of a bigger brand experience i.e. Axe, Bom Chicka Wah Wahs? Can bringing back the whistle in a postive way be important for certain products?
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Friday, May 4, 2007
Come on Down....
You’re the Next Contestant on the Price is Right!!!!!!!!!!
I LOVE the Price is Right. Who doesn't? I'm sure everyone has a memory of watching it and excitedly shouting at the TV in hopes the contestant on TV will take your suggestion on what number to pick. I began watching the show when I was younger during my summer vacations. Just recently, I've had the time to watch it again. What I've noticed the second time around is that this show has not changed one bit. It's 70's bright, glittery colors and graphics are as old and outdated as the microphone Bob Barker uses. The one with the skinny handle and long cable leading who knows where. The 80 games that are on constant rotation have not changed and neither have the cheesy prizes. Contestants still have a change to win old-fashion popcorn makers, silver dishware and 1990's floral living room furniture. The constantly changing Barker's Beauties seem to wear the same cheesy outfits since the start of the show in 1972. Yet none of this seems to matter.
The show has been on for 35 years making it the longest running game show in American TV history. The show has also had the pleasure of having the same host Bob Barker for the length of the entire show. Bob has won 17 Emmy awards, received a Lifetime Achievement award for host and has been installed in the TV Academy Hall of Fame. What makes a show that seems to be stuck in the past so popular? Well for one, they give hope. Hope to be a contestant for just being in the audience. Hope that a contestant doesn't need to super smart or witty in order to win. Hope getting the right price. It's about hoping you win the prize.
The element that has led to the success of this brand is consistency.
1. The charmingly Bob Barker
2. Barker's Beauties
3, Games
4. Announcer
5. Set Design
6. Barker's Beauties Outfits
7. Excitement (contestants & audience members)
8. Bob T-Shirts (contestants wear)
9. 'Have your pets spare or neutered."
10. Prizes ranging from living room sets to cold hard cash.
This consistency over 35 years has built a safe haven for all to enjoy. From stay at home moms, children to young to go to school, retired folks, college students and the unemployed. You won't find deception, drama, scandals, blandness or sexual references here. This type of behavior is only common around the soap operas, court and talk shows the game show is nestled in-between.
So what does this mean for brands? Consistency is good. A safe place is what consumers want when most shows in daytime television show dysfunction in families (Montel & Maury Povich), argumentative TV hosts (Rosie from The View) or broken relationships fighting over money (Judge Judy, People's Court). A little hope that one day you can be a contestant on the Price is Right!
Bob Barker is retiring this month so lets make sure to pay tribute by spade or neutering your pet.
I LOVE the Price is Right. Who doesn't? I'm sure everyone has a memory of watching it and excitedly shouting at the TV in hopes the contestant on TV will take your suggestion on what number to pick. I began watching the show when I was younger during my summer vacations. Just recently, I've had the time to watch it again. What I've noticed the second time around is that this show has not changed one bit. It's 70's bright, glittery colors and graphics are as old and outdated as the microphone Bob Barker uses. The one with the skinny handle and long cable leading who knows where. The 80 games that are on constant rotation have not changed and neither have the cheesy prizes. Contestants still have a change to win old-fashion popcorn makers, silver dishware and 1990's floral living room furniture. The constantly changing Barker's Beauties seem to wear the same cheesy outfits since the start of the show in 1972. Yet none of this seems to matter.
The show has been on for 35 years making it the longest running game show in American TV history. The show has also had the pleasure of having the same host Bob Barker for the length of the entire show. Bob has won 17 Emmy awards, received a Lifetime Achievement award for host and has been installed in the TV Academy Hall of Fame. What makes a show that seems to be stuck in the past so popular? Well for one, they give hope. Hope to be a contestant for just being in the audience. Hope that a contestant doesn't need to super smart or witty in order to win. Hope getting the right price. It's about hoping you win the prize.
The element that has led to the success of this brand is consistency.
1. The charmingly Bob Barker
2. Barker's Beauties
3, Games
4. Announcer
5. Set Design
6. Barker's Beauties Outfits
7. Excitement (contestants & audience members)
8. Bob T-Shirts (contestants wear)
9. 'Have your pets spare or neutered."
10. Prizes ranging from living room sets to cold hard cash.
This consistency over 35 years has built a safe haven for all to enjoy. From stay at home moms, children to young to go to school, retired folks, college students and the unemployed. You won't find deception, drama, scandals, blandness or sexual references here. This type of behavior is only common around the soap operas, court and talk shows the game show is nestled in-between.
So what does this mean for brands? Consistency is good. A safe place is what consumers want when most shows in daytime television show dysfunction in families (Montel & Maury Povich), argumentative TV hosts (Rosie from The View) or broken relationships fighting over money (Judge Judy, People's Court). A little hope that one day you can be a contestant on the Price is Right!
Bob Barker is retiring this month so lets make sure to pay tribute by spade or neutering your pet.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Blocking You Out
Just as I finished my last post about brands building meaningful relationships with people or fear the rath of the people (formally: consumer).
Art Hijacks Internet Ads
Artist Steve Lambert and the non-profit “R&D For The Public Domain” Eyebeam OpenLab, coded a Firefox add-on that replaces ads on a website with contemporary art. While a prototype is up and running, they’re working to build a fully curetted art database.
The project will be supported by a small website providing information on the current artists and curator, along with a schedule of past and upcoming AddArt shows. Each 2 weeks will include 5-8 artists selected by emerging and established curators. Images will have to be cropped to standard banner sizes or can be custom made for the project. Artists can target sites (such as every ad on FoxNews.com) and/or default to any page on the internet with ads. One artist will be shown per page. The curatorial duty will be passed among curators through recommendations, word of mouth, and solicitations to the AddArt site.
Art Hijacks Internet Ads
Artist Steve Lambert and the non-profit “R&D For The Public Domain” Eyebeam OpenLab, coded a Firefox add-on that replaces ads on a website with contemporary art. While a prototype is up and running, they’re working to build a fully curetted art database.
The project will be supported by a small website providing information on the current artists and curator, along with a schedule of past and upcoming AddArt shows. Each 2 weeks will include 5-8 artists selected by emerging and established curators. Images will have to be cropped to standard banner sizes or can be custom made for the project. Artists can target sites (such as every ad on FoxNews.com) and/or default to any page on the internet with ads. One artist will be shown per page. The curatorial duty will be passed among curators through recommendations, word of mouth, and solicitations to the AddArt site.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
People (not consumers), Building Momentum (not awareness)
I came across this article today about old school vs. new school of planning....
I think it explains very well where advertising is heading. People aka consumers are so savvy to being marketed to that the upping the frequency of ad messages just doesn't cut it anymore. It's like my friend, the wonderful, wise Erin says its about starting a conversation and I wholeheartedly agree. It's about starting a meaningful relationship that engages people in a two -way conversation. It's about giving people the ability to interact with the brand. To get to know it without being intrusive and just taking up valuable time in a person's life.
momentum versus awareness
I’ve been thinking about the value of brand momentum versus raising awareness. The old marketing/advertising model looked at reach and frequency as successful ways to raise awareness of your brand. If ‘x’ amount of people are exposed to your brand, ‘y’ amount of times, they are more likely to engage with your brand. So, the equation looked like this:
x (amount of people exposed) ‘times’ y (amount of times) = awareness
A CMO can take this soft data and defend the current marketing campaign to the CEO, CFO, etc. The problem with this model is that it focuses strictly on traditional advertising mediums such as TV, print, radio and traditional interactive. All which are one-way form of communications and doesn’t factor in engagement, interestingness, etc.
That’s where marketing 2.0 comes in with brand momentum.
From CP+B’s Hoopla,
“momentum is a better goal to strive for than awareness…Momentum, if sustainable will roll over everything in its path.
How do you know if your brand has momentum? The answer to this is…you just know. People are talking about it without being prompted. New stories are being done about it. Independent websites spring up, where enthusiasts swap tips about it…”
Get the picture? It’s about connecting with people (not consumers) and building authentic relationships and holding conversations (not advertising) with them. This is similar to the transmedia planning model Faris talks about and what Leland just wrote about.
Also, marketers are looking into the momentum effect to measure campaigns on social networking sites.
The “Never-Ending Friending” study identified a metric dubbed the “Momentum Effect” by Marketing Evolution, a marketing, measurement and consulting firm. The metric attempts to quantify the impact of a brand within a social network beyond traditional advertising impressions to encompass the viral power of consumer-to-consumer communication.
“We looked at awareness levels, responses to an ad, the number of people who came to the custom community–and asked what the exponential value of the conversation happening in the social network is,” Browning said. In other words, what value can be placed on the brand chatter among friends in your network?
Read the rest of the Mediapost article here.
We can start by replacing traditional advertising lingo with different phrases and goals.
Raising awareness -> Brand Momentum
Targeting individuals -> Engaging a brand community
Does your brand have momentum?
Posted at 5pm on 04/30/07 | no comments | Filed Under: advertising read on
I think it explains very well where advertising is heading. People aka consumers are so savvy to being marketed to that the upping the frequency of ad messages just doesn't cut it anymore. It's like my friend, the wonderful, wise Erin says its about starting a conversation and I wholeheartedly agree. It's about starting a meaningful relationship that engages people in a two -way conversation. It's about giving people the ability to interact with the brand. To get to know it without being intrusive and just taking up valuable time in a person's life.
momentum versus awareness
I’ve been thinking about the value of brand momentum versus raising awareness. The old marketing/advertising model looked at reach and frequency as successful ways to raise awareness of your brand. If ‘x’ amount of people are exposed to your brand, ‘y’ amount of times, they are more likely to engage with your brand. So, the equation looked like this:
x (amount of people exposed) ‘times’ y (amount of times) = awareness
A CMO can take this soft data and defend the current marketing campaign to the CEO, CFO, etc. The problem with this model is that it focuses strictly on traditional advertising mediums such as TV, print, radio and traditional interactive. All which are one-way form of communications and doesn’t factor in engagement, interestingness, etc.
That’s where marketing 2.0 comes in with brand momentum.
From CP+B’s Hoopla,
“momentum is a better goal to strive for than awareness…Momentum, if sustainable will roll over everything in its path.
How do you know if your brand has momentum? The answer to this is…you just know. People are talking about it without being prompted. New stories are being done about it. Independent websites spring up, where enthusiasts swap tips about it…”
Get the picture? It’s about connecting with people (not consumers) and building authentic relationships and holding conversations (not advertising) with them. This is similar to the transmedia planning model Faris talks about and what Leland just wrote about.
Also, marketers are looking into the momentum effect to measure campaigns on social networking sites.
The “Never-Ending Friending” study identified a metric dubbed the “Momentum Effect” by Marketing Evolution, a marketing, measurement and consulting firm. The metric attempts to quantify the impact of a brand within a social network beyond traditional advertising impressions to encompass the viral power of consumer-to-consumer communication.
“We looked at awareness levels, responses to an ad, the number of people who came to the custom community–and asked what the exponential value of the conversation happening in the social network is,” Browning said. In other words, what value can be placed on the brand chatter among friends in your network?
Read the rest of the Mediapost article here.
We can start by replacing traditional advertising lingo with different phrases and goals.
Raising awareness -> Brand Momentum
Targeting individuals -> Engaging a brand community
Does your brand have momentum?
Posted at 5pm on 04/30/07 | no comments | Filed Under: advertising read on
Monday, April 30, 2007
Manipulators & Deceivers
When your so vested in your industry, starting out, waiting to get IN, you tend to forget. Forget what? Forget what the rest of the world thinks of you. I quickly realized it today. In my daily routine of checking my 5 e-mail accounts, 2 advertising trades, 50 advertising blogs and daily news sites I came across this:
"And Then We Came To The End," by Joshua Ferris, a former adman, who explains his old job as follows: "We were the hired guns of the human soul. We pulled the strings on the people across the land and by god they got to their feet and they danced for us." Welcome to the working week!
Joshua Ferris, a former employee of Chicago's Davis Harrison Dion found a gold nugget. While I'm trying to get IN, I lost of what others think of the industry I'm trying to get INto. Ad people are clumped in with used car salesmen. We lie, deceive and manipulate to get sell products people don't need. Somewhere in the dark, locked place in my mind I know this is partly true BUT it does not lessen my desire to get IN. This does give me a reality check.
In the ad industry, there is talk of a thick, viscous, cluttered world. There are models being constructed right now to decrease this in fear of a complete block out of ad messages all together by consumers. One is a movements to make commercials base their success and length of stay on tv by ratings like TV shows. But this is only half of it. What I've realized is that the number of messages out there don't really matter. What matters is the quality of the message. What you say and how you say it. If your product is there just as a filler or to make useless noise then it doesn't matter.
This book is a reminder that it is important not to throw more fuel in the fire. I am here to help quiet it down.
"And Then We Came To The End," by Joshua Ferris, a former adman, who explains his old job as follows: "We were the hired guns of the human soul. We pulled the strings on the people across the land and by god they got to their feet and they danced for us." Welcome to the working week!
Joshua Ferris, a former employee of Chicago's Davis Harrison Dion found a gold nugget. While I'm trying to get IN, I lost of what others think of the industry I'm trying to get INto. Ad people are clumped in with used car salesmen. We lie, deceive and manipulate to get sell products people don't need. Somewhere in the dark, locked place in my mind I know this is partly true BUT it does not lessen my desire to get IN. This does give me a reality check.
In the ad industry, there is talk of a thick, viscous, cluttered world. There are models being constructed right now to decrease this in fear of a complete block out of ad messages all together by consumers. One is a movements to make commercials base their success and length of stay on tv by ratings like TV shows. But this is only half of it. What I've realized is that the number of messages out there don't really matter. What matters is the quality of the message. What you say and how you say it. If your product is there just as a filler or to make useless noise then it doesn't matter.
This book is a reminder that it is important not to throw more fuel in the fire. I am here to help quiet it down.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
I'm Back...
SO like my fellow planner Erin, I am starting my version of a planning blog. This is about finding my way in an ever-changing world.....
In reading an article about the value of MySpace to marketers and brands, I found a golden nugget,
"advertising and marketing is a co-creation process in which a brand can have a meaning it wants to convey through advertising, but consumers create that meaning when they see the brand in a context that generates meaning."
IF brands are not placed in mediums that consumers 1) are welcoming to messages 2) and placed in the appropriate environment it will lose value and meaning to consumers. The brand becomes part of the clutter that is currently affecting the industry. To better serve the brand, a clear and 3-dimensional picture must be painted of the consumer including appropriate outlets they interact with on a daily basis. In doing so, we can find opportunistic ways a consumer can create meaningful experiences with the brand.
Another example of why its so important to understand consumer in & out
"When Burger King finally landed on the target segment it wanted to win with most -- 18- to 35-year-old males -- and what was most important to them, the fast-food giant never looked back. It tapped into its roots while embracing innovation across all of the four P's.
Tactics such as SubservientChicken.com reignited the brand's relevance to a younger crowd while spurring epic levels of internet chat. The creative rebirth of its kingly (if creepy) brand icon through such savvy promotions as the much-sought-after Halloween masks and its XBox partnership helped give Burger King relevance."
In reading an article about the value of MySpace to marketers and brands, I found a golden nugget,
"advertising and marketing is a co-creation process in which a brand can have a meaning it wants to convey through advertising, but consumers create that meaning when they see the brand in a context that generates meaning."
IF brands are not placed in mediums that consumers 1) are welcoming to messages 2) and placed in the appropriate environment it will lose value and meaning to consumers. The brand becomes part of the clutter that is currently affecting the industry. To better serve the brand, a clear and 3-dimensional picture must be painted of the consumer including appropriate outlets they interact with on a daily basis. In doing so, we can find opportunistic ways a consumer can create meaningful experiences with the brand.
Another example of why its so important to understand consumer in & out
"When Burger King finally landed on the target segment it wanted to win with most -- 18- to 35-year-old males -- and what was most important to them, the fast-food giant never looked back. It tapped into its roots while embracing innovation across all of the four P's.
Tactics such as SubservientChicken.com reignited the brand's relevance to a younger crowd while spurring epic levels of internet chat. The creative rebirth of its kingly (if creepy) brand icon through such savvy promotions as the much-sought-after Halloween masks and its XBox partnership helped give Burger King relevance."
Sunday, March 11, 2007
I suck I know....
I've been meaning to post but with me finishing my Miami stay in two weeks its been a little hectic. I've been working long and hard on our end of the quarter project, Office Max. Our question to answer is how to you get new customers, like you, into OM to buy ink? Any suggestions?
Anyways today I saw it all today.
1 - A dog (yorkie, I think) in a stroller WITH a polo and a sailor hat. Hmmmmmmmmm
2 - A couple having lunch on Ocean drive with their dog. Normal scenario, right? Ummm NOOOOO not when the dog is sitting a chair like a human. He had his legs to the side and almost positive his front legs on the table with shorts AND sunglasses. Yes, sunglasses the cool tinted, wire frame ones.
I've seen it all.......!
More support why I dislike dog parents and little dogs.
Post pics soon.
Anyways today I saw it all today.
1 - A dog (yorkie, I think) in a stroller WITH a polo and a sailor hat. Hmmmmmmmmm
2 - A couple having lunch on Ocean drive with their dog. Normal scenario, right? Ummm NOOOOO not when the dog is sitting a chair like a human. He had his legs to the side and almost positive his front legs on the table with shorts AND sunglasses. Yes, sunglasses the cool tinted, wire frame ones.
I've seen it all.......!
More support why I dislike dog parents and little dogs.
Post pics soon.
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