Advertising is everywhere

Brands are trying extra hard to capture our attention these days, even on airplane tray tables.

Facebook friendship advertising

A good read and some well-done Facebook commercials from earlier this year

Why did it take Facebook 11 years to advertise 'Friendship?' on Digiday

Generation Like

Check out this Frontline documentary titled Generation Like.

It's definitely geared toward people who work in marketing and market research, particularly with brands focused on acquiring young adults and children. Despite the media jargon, it still teaches you a lot about our generation and motivations online. Enjoy!

What do you strive to be?

What do you want your title to be in three years?

This is an interesting question that I've received a lot in meetings or training sessions over the past few weeks. Knowing the nature of the role you aim to be in is an important question to answer, but I believe there is a more significant question that this one doesn't encompass that everyone must answer to themselves first.

What do you strive to be?

Instead of looking at what you’re doing, it looks at the nature of how you will go about tackling it. What do you want your impression to be at a given work place? What impression do you want to make on friends, family and in relationships? What attributes do you strive to “own”? What type of person do you want to be?

For me, the answer to this is accountability. I want everyone I interact with to leave and know that I will follow through & get the job done. I value accountability over ambition because you can be a go-getter without delivering on every promise.

It is definitely possible to strive for more than one attribute as well, but choosing a primary and secondary quality helps you prioritize actions in many components of your life.

So what do you want to be? Actionable? A leader? Expert on a specific subject? Whether it’s a noun or an adjective, narrow in on some attributes and set goals around them. 

Save money on flights!

Best tip of the week I've seen on this Dot Complicated blog post.

For the possibility of saving money on flights, clear your cookies and browsing history. This will make a website think it is your first time checking out the flight, and not a repeat visitor that they can slowly hike the fare for. Try it out, or search across different browsers! (i.e. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer).

Esurance #FTW

Although Budweiser's Puppy Love was my favorite ad of the Super Bowl, I think from a Millennial perspective, the real winner of the Super Bowl #adbowl was Esurance (coincidentally, a Starcom client!).

Besides John Krasinski resonating with our generation, our inner competitive sense wants to keep tweeting after seeing the spot, thinking we are special enough to win the $1.5 million.

Looking at a small sample of those I follow on Twitter, specifically, a "friends list" of tweets I read the most, most of the tweets when the commercial ran immediately said #EsuranceSave30. Granted, there are a few outliers, but the call-to-action was clearly articulated and the consumer benefit was clear.

What's even better, from an advertising perspective, is that the conversation keeps going. MagicRecs on Twitter just sent me a message that many of my friends (especially those that tweeted) started to follow @EsuranceMillion on Twitter. Just a few minutes ago, I saw a tweet from a friend that said  "No phone today, so I guess that only means one thing. #EsuranceSave30"

Will we think of Esurance first when it comes to insurance? Maybe one day, so it's a great first investment in our age group. Allstate and Esurance for the win!

Screenshots of my Twitter list after the Esurance commercial

Consumer Electronics Show: closing thoughts

At the beginning of this month, technology, advertising and innovation aficionados traveled to Las Vegas for the annual International Consumer Electronics Show. Working at a media agency, many of my co-workers attended to learn about the newest opportunities in ad tech, and I followed the press throughout the conference to learn about products and innovation.

Wrap-ups and reporting covered top trends such as wearable technology, products for smart homes and other new ideas.

Here are three tidbits that caught my eye, as I continue to think about their lasting effect weeks after CES.

1. EyeLock: Myris
This is one of the most exciting devices I have heard about in awhile. This "Myris" device scans your eye, plugs into your computer through a USB port and removes the need for online accounts and passwords by using your eye as the password to everything. How amazing it would be to not have spreadsheets on spreadsheets of passwords!

2. Bended technology

Bended TVs were very popular at CES, and they even introduced curved smartphones. I don't understand the appeal of bended technology, or what value it provides to anyone except the "cool" factor. If you have any insight or opinion as to why a bended TV screen would be useful, please...let me know.

3. Home automation systems

Now that smartphones are the norm, "smart homes" and "smart cars" are next. If one device can be ultra-connected and targeted, why can't every major aspect of your life? Dish Network shared an  automation system in the "smart home" space that will allow you to see video footage of your front door from your TV screen. This could mean incredible things for security.

The wall gets thinner and thinner

My master's thesis explored the topic of the wall between news content and advertising, and how newspaper executives were adjusting their communication in the changing media landscape to address each other and business needs appropriately.

This morning I came across this New York Times article that discusses how Time-owned publications will be having the newsroom staff report into business departments, a big change in how journalism operates.

Time Inc. will abandon the traditional separation between its newsroom and business sides, a move that has caused angst among its journalists. Now, the newsroom staffs at Time Inc.’s magazines will report to the business executives. Such a structure, once verboten at journalistic institutions, is seen as necessary to create revenue opportunities and stem the tide of declining subscription and advertising sales.

As a safe spin on the strategy, Time Inc. is making its former editor-in-chief Norman Pearlstine the "chief content officer" to oversee the change. Should be interesting!

The art of making decisions

A simple phrase on the radio caught my ear:
"The most important decisions are often the easiest."

As the campaign tagline for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, I am moved by this simple phrase that guides the power of making decisions. Naturally, I looked up Blue Cross Blue Shield's creative advertising agency of record, which is McGarry Bowen in Chicago. The campaign's video ads linked here are not my favorite, since I don't think they deliver on the insight as well as the audio spots do, but check them out and see what you think yourself.

The truth in this statement teaches a consumer more than how to overcome the overwhelming decision of where to get health insurance (wait, Healthcare.gov isn't working?). It allows individuals to relate to Blue Cross Blue Shield brand's position by considering the other decisions they make daily and in the grand scheme of their lives.

As humans and not potential consumers- where to live, what industry to work in, who to be friends with…should be simple decisions. These do not have to be complicated matters, because if you are truly confident and going to buy into your own decision, there will be no hesitation. This nicely-crafted tagline will stick in my brain as I strive to see the big picture in important decisions.

Inspirational Pantene commercial from the Phillipines

My friend Kalyn sent me the link to this Pantene commercial the other day. Running in the Phillipines, the spot is executed very well and portrays a male "boss" and a female as "bossy." 

Not only is the insight behind the commercial brilliant, but it's a great stand on a company exemplifying corporate social responsibility. 'Mad World,' a key song in the movie Donnie Darko, is a fabulous song choice too - even re-sang by a woman and not the Tears for Fears original. Take a look! 

Facebook advertising knows best

Facebook and keyword ad targeting are on top of it this week! They know I was at the SEC Championship game and have been researching bowl games, so even though Mizzou unfortunately did not win, I'm receiving ads for hotels in Pasadena.

After the outcome of this weekend's college football games, Mizzou fans WISH we could go to the BCS Championship - but looks like Auburn got it this time. Sorry, Westin and Starwood - go target someone else! 

A brilliant tagline

I recently saw a tagline for the popular app Snapchat - that said:
Snapchat is the fastest way to share a moment.

In a file on Snapchat's website geared toward parents, the website elaborates on this, and writes: 

"Snapchat creates a place to be funny, honest or however else you might feel when you take and share a snap with family and friends. It’s sharing that lives in the moment, and stays in the moment."

For having a 23-year-old CEO that rejected a $3 billion buyout from Facebook, I think they're doing things pretty smart. Positioning themselves as 'momentary' is a unique selling point against sending a photo from any time via a text message, and the tagline is memorable. As one of the app's users, and a photo-texter as well, I find myself sharing comical tidbits or quick moments out with others with the rest of my friends and family members on the app. 

Way to go on doing your research, Snapchat! 

My first hockey game

Last week, I was invited last-minute to go to a Blackhawks game at United Center with some clients at work. Of course I took up the free offer, especially having never attended a professional hockey game. This was the case because when I grew up watching more American sports, and never saw its appeal. A mixture of the Stanley Cup victory halo and an extremely loyal fan base in Chicago quickly proved me wrong, ans I was shocked at what I observed at the game.

Out of all of my Chicago sports experiences (the Bulls, Bears, White Sox and Cubs), I've never seen a more energetic fan base present. Every seat was filled, every fan wore a red Hawks jersey and everyone was engaged in the game. After every goal, the whole audience stood up to sing the Chelsea Dagger goal song, cheering like crazy. Although the game went into double overtime and ended in a shoot out, no one left.

Overall, I'm incredibly impressed with the Hawks spirit and don't attribute it to the Stanley Cup, but rather a loyal base of hockey fans in the Chicagoland area. My high school hockey team won the state title back in 2006, and because of the sport's niche appeal, people who follow it REALLY follow it. In the meantime, I'll be a Chicago fan more than a hockey fan, but will always recognize the momentum of a Blackhawks game and never turn down an invitation to one :).

Restroom mirror ads: they exist

Spotted in the Time Warner Center in New York city: mirror ads in restrooms. What stood out here:

• The ads were subtle yet noticeable. They weren't covering the mirror entirely, and still had a faded 'subliminal' effect.
• There were no patterns in the types of advertisers - everything from food, to business, to data, to the AARP. 
• Each ad only lasted about ~five seconds, running very quickly.

Check these out!

AARP screen advertisement

Who isn't thinking about big data in the restroom? Even Experian advertises here.

Effective planning: a "secret to success?"

Sometimes, I wonder what the world has come to when news and articles online have to write up that a COO's "path to success" is holding effective meetings (see: this OpenForum article). Is this something new? Are that many individuals in the weeds with a lack of effectiveness and efficiency that this even needs to be reported?


Don’t get me wrong, Sheryl Sandberg is one of my corporate role models and I respect her views, work ethic, how she manages her role at Facebook and manages others.

My takeaway of the article is that Sheryl cares about others’ time and is forward-looking by discussing action items and next steps. She moves on and avoids clutter, not needing to save agendas from meetings and touch-bases that will never be brought up again.

I'm upset rather than inspired when seeing articles like this because I'm sure many corporate leaders user these tactics; this isn't a "secret to success." Have so many leaders in corporate America been unproductive that the media needs to highlight when someone is?

While Open Forum and 99U (where this was published) probably have good intent in posting such items, I urge reporters to look into more interesting story angles for America's businessmen and women. Furthermore, I hope business leaders don't drag out their meetings and that reporters' impression of them is productive regardless, so someone's effective meeting strategy doesn't have to be framed as mind-blowing news.

Let Instagram ads begin

Officially seen my first ad on Instagram, even if it was self-promotion and/or a test. Talk about a seamless integration, but I look forward to seeing if any advertisers using these sees a return on investment.

The offering was open to brands that already have a large following on the platform, listed in this article on CNN Money. Will you be more likely to buy a product if they post hip photos on Instagram? 

My favorite Super Bowl ads so far #SB47

Note: this is not an in-depth advertising analysis of advertising strategies and goals, but rather- my personal opinion of which advertisements might succeed!

1. Best Buy - Infinite Answers
This commercial featured Amy Poehler asking "infinite questions" to the Best Buy associate. The questions we're hilarious (What is LTE? Can this read 50 Shades of Grey to me?) and didn't even need a celebrity to capture the point. Good purpose, good humor.

2. Audi - Bravery
Audi invested a lot of money in the Super Bowl, with a sponsorship and the 1:00 prom spot. I like this one because it seems very on strategy, showing the courageous teenage boy with its "Bravery defines us" tagline.

3. Toyota Rav4- Wish Granted 

Another pretty long spot, but I think it was very cohesive. Watching the tire blow up at the beginning caught my attention, and the follow-through on the wishes  with "Your wish is my command" was cool. There were some other things thrown in that made me stray away from thinking it was a Toyota ad, like camera time spent on the Satellite Radio, but the family along with the "Let's go places" tagline made it pretty enticing. 

4. Taco Bell - Viva Young

I could tell this spot was for Taco Bell when I heard the Spanish "We Are Young" playing and thought of the Live Más tagline. This commercial exceeded my expectations because it is directly aimed at its target. After it ran, the positive Twitter response was all from young men, meaning it accomplished its goal. The old people were funny, and the target thought they were funny too. The song was cool, the production seemed intense and I enjoyed it!

5. Wonderful Pistachios- Crackin' Style 

This commercial is just plain hilarious. Psy's Gangnam Style was HUGE this year, and I was surprised in the first half when no one had done a spin on it. This spot takes a lesser known brand and is making a name for it with a celebrity endorsement that drives a stronger connection with a food, since you can't get the picture of these pistachios out of your head. 

Other highlight:

Not a commercial, but HOW ABOUT THAT BEYONCE HALFTIME SHOW? Despite the conversation about her killing it, check out the following series of tweets in 30 seconds JUST when Destiny's Child came on!

Now, I'll head back to reading Twitter's reaction to the #SuperBowlBlackout and enjoy the rest of this 30 minute break!

Pleasantly surprised by Minneapolis

Earlier this month, a group of Mojo Ad students, two TAs and a professor went on an advertising agency tour of Minneapolis. Each year, Mojo has the opportunity to expand our reach to another market and students have the chance to explore a city they could potentially work in. Since I didn't go on last year's Chicago trip, I had the option to go on the trip under one condition...if I planned it.

We all know that I don't say no to:
1. The opportunity to plan a vacation
2. Anything where expenses are covered!

So Minneapolis in the middle of the winter, here we came! Ginny, the Mojo operations TA, and I spent months making the trip as perfect as it could be. Ginny planned meals, I coordinated agency visits and became acquainted with the talent department of pretty much every advertising agency in the Minneapolis metropolitan area. We arrived on a Sunday evening and could not wait for what the trip had in store, even amidst the -10 degree weather with wind chill.

Our first day of agency visits, we already had an awesome grasp on Minneapolis. I was pleasantly surprised by the city as a whole, especially coming in with low expectations. My brain tiers larger cities like Chicago and New York City in one group, mid-tier cities like Kansas City, Milwaukee, St. Louis and Minneapolis in another and smaller towns like Columbia and Champaign in the last. While I anticipated Minneapolis to be the size of St. Louis, it felt more like Philadelphia with its large size and energetic feel.

Everyone in Minneapolis LOVES Minnesota. It's very livable with an active LightRail train system, apartments downtown and in the suburbs and a rich history. We noticed this firsthand staying in the Mill District and visiting a flour exhibit at a nearby museum. The city was also very sustainable, with a lot of bikes, unique internal design and cool architecture. Any city with a body of water takes a step up in my book, so the fact that we were by the northern most lock on the Mississippi River was also pretty cool.

Economically- Best Buy, Target, General Mills and other company headquarters are there, so plenty of jobs exist. We quickly learned that the advertising agencies are like an incestuous family, with turnover and employee circulation within the same few, large agencies. Each advertising agency had its own unique culture, feel and high spirit amongst the employees. It was easy to observe the impressive creativity the companies had and they were nothing but welcoming to our group of Mizzou journalism / strategic communication students.

Leaving the trip after three days of business, I would happily return to Minneapolis again - especially during the summer when the arts & festival scene pops up. Overall, it was a successful trip logistically and opening my eyes to a city I never expected to love!

The group on the Carmichael Lynch rooftop by the Minneapolis skyline

We found the skywalks that make the whole city of Minneapolis stay out of the cold outside!

The Mill District from the Mill City Museum, with Pillsbury across the river

Anna, Kathryn, Sam, Grace and I at the Mall of America Nickelodeon theme park, where we went on a roller coaster in our business casual attire. 

A view of the river from the Guthrie Theater, where we saw Long Day's Journey Into Night.

We are brands

If the above Facebook screenshot doesn't show you enough, college students aren't people. They're brands. We're instructed to brand ourselves to not only obtain jobs, internships and leadership positions, but to advertise what we are involved in.

At first, some see this as bragging. Oh, person X wants to show everyone that they're involved on campus so they put up pictures from it. After almost three years at Mizzou, I see it as the standard, more of a requirement. Word of mouth advertising is no longer done by conversation, but by our social media outlets. If you are a campus group with an upcoming event and don't have your whole organization change their profile pictures to reflect it, you're bad at publicizing events. Judged.

Seeing my own profile look like this a few weeks ago made me feel ridiculous. Where is the me in here? But pondering the concept, I noticed that this IS me. I give a vast amount of my time to these groups, and want the best people to continue their success in the future. So I sacrifice branding myself on one outlet and brand them for a few weeks. And if one more person applied for Homecoming Steering Committee or remembered to register for Relay For Life, it has succeeded.

So next time you're publicizing something, understand that it's the norm to create profile and cover photos to get the word out. College students become invested in their activities and to an extent, want their friends to know what they're involved in. We spend so much time on our Facebook pages, why not advertise things we like there? One Facebook study cited by Mashable declares that Facebook profiles do in fact accurately predict job performance. After being forced to do it so many times, I think that someone willing to change a profile picture to recruit for an organization knows how to make sacrifices, is confident in his or her social skills and loyal to groups. Now, go sign up for Relay For Life of Mizzou!

eCommerce

Yesterday, I came across an infographic on Mashable called "Why Mobile Commerce is On the Rise." The first thing that came to my mind was "Ugh. Who in their right mind can't wait enough to shop that they go online- from their cell phone- to buy things? How ridiculous."

Then I realized: I'm the ridiculous one. This was the exact same first thought that sparked in my mind when I learned about online shopping. I remember telling my friends in middle and high school how crazy I thought it was to buy something you could not try on or have a tangible connection with before purchasing, and look at where we are now. It's not about enforcing your own ideology- it's moving where the world is taking us.

Culturelabel.com reports that mobile commerce will see an estimate of a 99 fold increase in six years, and 79 percent of large online retailers still don't have a mobile optimized website. Think back to five to 10 years ago, when big retailers were still creating their websites. The internet revolution is happening all over again, but now with mobile devices.

So although I think M-commerce sounds crazy right now, I just have to accept the fact that it is what's going to be normal in a few years. Thinking eCommerce was crazy, then buying practically everything I could think of on the internet freshman year of college shows what a quick change one can make to follow society with purchasing habits. Change happens fast.

Remember six years ago, when we didn't have YouTube? Now mobile YouTube is the No. 1 most visited website on phones and YouTube is one of the top three sites on the internet. Just a few years ago, tablets, iPads and Kindles were released, and now the iPad 3 is taking over and it's becoming normal to carry a keyboard and an iPad around the School of Journalism. So rather than being intimidated by these statistics, let's be early adopters and keep them going. Radio media didn't rebuttle against TV when it came out, print newspapers still exist regardless of having online as an option, and I won't always be buying commercial items on my phone. But we should be fascinated at how far we truly have come to appreciate how nice it is to have the option.