Friday, May 28, 2004

Fabulous Fridays

+ Ads have branded big names on our brains- This article takes a look at the claim made by Deutsche Bank in the US stating that TV advertising doesn't work for mature brands. Yet the author of the article,Richard Tomkins, doesn't quite agree. Here's an excerpt:
People absorb information both actively and passively. Some knowledge you seek, other knowledge you absorb through "implicit" learning without even knowing it is happening. According to Heath, brand communications fell mostly into the second category: although often ignored at the conscious level, they were absorbed through an automatic, subconscious mental activity known as low involvement processing.

The way long-term memory worked, the more often an idea was processed alongside a brand, the more it became associated with that brand. "And because implicit memory is more durable than explicit memory," Heath said, "these brand associations, once learnt, are rarely forgotten."

So, even more shocking than the revelation that TV advertising does not work is that it does - and without our even knowing it. Just as we always suspected, we are being brainwashed.
Brainwashed. Heh. But it is a good point that you cannot just stop advertising on TV. Plus, as Tomkins points out in the article, if your competitors continue advertising on TV and you pull the plug, they are going to have an advantage over you. And beyond TV advertising, brand choices are also ingrained from a young age depending on what products your parents used, friends used, and many other aspects. Stating that TV advertising doesn't work and claiming it to be a fact, well, that's just not looking at the big picture and is a rather silly remark to make.

+ Catfight between Miller and AB- Exerpt:
Miller Brewing Co. has gone to court to stop its competitor Anheuser-Busch Cos. from advertising activities that Miller claims are damaging its sales.

Miller filed a motion for a preliminary injunction Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

The motion alleges that St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, maker of Budweiser, has included in its recent "Unleash the Dawgs" campaign numerous activities that hurt Miller's sales.

Distributors allegedly are placing 3-by-5 stickers on Miller Lite products that contain phrases "Queen of Carbs" and "Owned by South African Breweries," according to the motion.

Miller also provided photos to the court of Miller Lite with stickers that bear the Bud Light logo and say, "All light beers are low in carbs. Choose on Taste."
I find this hilarious. Can you take a competitor to court because their advertising is hurting your sales? Isn't that a part of the world of business? Maybe it's just worded incorrectly- and the big issue is that they are stickering (yeah I just made up a new verb!) product that isn't theirs. I can see that being a more legitimate complaint. But it's still amusing.

+ Room at the top(free reg required) takes a look at Kate Stanners- one of London's top female creatives- "What has been described as the advertising industry's dirty little secret - the fact that creative departments are 83% male, a figure which, depressingly, is slightly up on the ratio 15 years ago - seems to make no sense at all. It is a question that pursues Stanners, who at her previous agency, St Luke's, and at her newly formed company, boymeetsgirl, has made advertisements for five different beers (the Jeff Goldblum "Anagrams" Holsten Pils campaign in the early 1990s was hers), Chrysler Jeeps and many other perfectly macho products." It's sad really. The fact that it's 2004 and we're still stuck with disproportionate gender figures in creative departments. I do think it's true though that it is harder for women to balance the work and family in an agency setting...the hours alone can be tough. It's something to work on.

+ Cleavage exploitative of and degrading to dental nurses.In New Zealand an ad for Cool Charm deodorant takes place in a dentist office, where the dentist is having trouble getting his patient to open wide enough.

+ DMC has released a viral for the the International Fund for Animal Welfare, created together with Velocity and produced by Maverick Media. Upon seeing the ad, it made me think of Trigger Happy TV.

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