I am a big charity bug. I love charity and when big companies do little things to solve big problems, I love it even more! This week I've seen a number of adverts on television that showcase companies doing something other than promotion - they're raising awareness for good causes. It's nice to see that it's not all about profits for some companies - although effectively, by taking the time to do charity work it will boost their corporate image and alter the public's view of them; increasing the number of sales etc - equalling in more sales = more profits. I digress, despite the over thinking, it is still nice to watch and take part. Below are the latest charity efforts I've seen.
So innocent smoothies have decided that they are teaming up with 'AgeUK' to create the lovely idea of providing hats on their bottles which inevitably provide donations to the charity which ensures health and well being of the elderly population. Knitting is a hobby we connect to our Grandmothers so I like this idea to knit your own little bottle hat, which will actually be sold to a delightful shopper whose 25p of the £1.25 they spend on the smoothie will be donated to AgeUK - great! It's an inspiring way to connect consumer to brand and develop the relationship as well as instilling the idea that innocent drinks care about our older generation. N'aww.
Yes, a dog one (what else do you expect from me?). Pedigree are donation 'One Million Meals' to homeless dogs across the country. It's an emotional advert; here I'll let you watch it as I won't do it justice with words.
I am crying now, writing this after watching it. If it doesn't touch a piece of your heart when you watch it, then you need to visit the doctor's as I think you may possibly be a robot. It's an incredible project that Pedigree are initiating and supporting. Dogs are harmless, defenseless animals that can easily be mistreated and misguided so it is nice to see a big company changing the harsh realities some of these poor animals face.
^^ Read some of the incredible stories of the little doggies by clicking on the picture above ^^
These are just a handful of quotes from my housemates describing the torture of the new Andrex television advert. Watch it here, as long as you're not pregnant, have heart problems or easily distressed by annoying rubbish adverts;
I know, it's come as a surprise to you, because we know how I love dogs.. and this is a dog advert. But my gosh, even my love for the canine critters cannot stop the hatred for this ad! It's just so, stupid. The narrator of the advert, her voice is so mono-tonal and boring! I understand she's meant to sound serious as the irony of the advert is of a phobia of used bog rolls. But deary me, even she sounds like she hates the advert too. The concept of the ad - the whole roll-o-phobia idea - is creative and someone got paid a lot to think of it, but it's not been executed well. Andrex adverts are usually cute and sweet with all the little pups running round with toilet roll, but this is grey. Grey - stuck in the middle of white and black - undefinable, lost and miserable. Grey isn't a favourite colour of anyone.
The original cutesy adverts of Andrex
Andrex, if you're reading, please revert back to what you know. Don't venture out into the grey unknown to dismal boring adverts! Keep toilet roll fun and cute because that's exactly what it's not! The whole Roll-O-Phobia makes us think of sitting on the toilet and the crisis of sitting and acting before planning and researching the toilet roll scenario and then had to either shout for help or quietly pull your pants up half way and locate some roll (we've all done it). So let's think of puppies in word association with roll - not the haunting idea of roll-o-phobia!
As you know from my previous posts, I am a dog woman. I love dogs. So you can picture my elation when I discover O2's latest campaign is based on the great canine creatures!
But to my dismay, they began the campaign with a cat. A cat. "Be more dog" with a cat. At first, I wasn't a fan, I don't like cats, cats don't like me - it's a mutual understanding - a hate hate relationship. But then I saw the real reason why they chose a cat to star in the add - because dogs are amazing and cats should clearly be more like dogs because then that would make them better too! How it relates to a mobile network company, I have yet to figure that out. Watch the identity crisis here;
I like this advertising campaign, it's creative and weird - a bit like me. The tagline 'be more dog' denotes that you should act without thinking, be bold, be brave, be stupid, be dog like, not in the sense of pooing on your kitchen floor or licking your privates, but in the sense of irrationality rather than cat like laziness. Today I saw a television advert of someone blowing a hair dryer into a dogs face and the dog was trying to bite the air. Unfortunately, I can't find it online to share it with you, so watch out for it on TV because it's a funny one. If you have a dog, try it. They all do it, it's comical! My dog acts like she's on a photo shoot when I do it to her! I'm hoping that with this 'be more dog' campaign, I'm going to see a lot more quick quirky video footage of doggies doing silly things.
Talented pooch
Tell me what cat do you know that can do tricks like these?
These adverts don't make me want to go out and be on O2, but it does enhance the company's likability. To me, it's always been a great brand and respected too. Now I love it a little more, as now we have the same interests in dogs. woof.
I've got to say, this is probably my all time favourite advert, ever. 2012 bought us the great London Olympics, The Queen's Jubilee and an array of fashion and films, but nothing could top this fine creation of Think Box Advertising. It has laughter, it has romance, it has empathy, sadness and a dog. It is just pure cute. The concept that a ratty old dog's toy actually has meaning to a dog, that humans don't tend to comprehend is such a valuable idea for a short film as this is in essence what it is as opposed to an advert. The video isn't selling you a product, or informing you of a sale or it's new line of wooden pegs, the bottom line is that it is an awareness and promotional piece but I think everyone will enjoy watching it. You wouldn't believe that it was an advertisement by an advertising agency because of the videos content, but that's what makes the difference. It's point is to show you the effect of advertising, and how at Think Box they obviously have an array of creative and magical ideas for advertising at their disposal.
What I think I like the most about this advert is the personality of the dog and the friendship of them. The whole idea that the pair get up to all sorts of naughty together. It's almost nostalgic of our own childhoods with our best friends and the mischievous activities we'd all get up to in our summer holidays - except it's a dog, with his favourite stuffed toy. I was never an animal person until my parents bought a dog home the summer of 2011, when I fell in love with the toy poodle/border terrier cross puppy!
My little treasure Tinkerbell
I think adverts that involve animals and small children will always inspire affection and empathy in a person. It tugs on our heart strings and the nurturing side of our minds - an effective way to inspire irrational thinking which in turn will more likely grab the viewers attention and get them to act or respond to your advert the way you want. Any advert with an animal in, I'm more likely to watch as opposed to channel flick to find something to watch for the next 5 minutes of the advertising slot. It's a known fact that animals and young children are just hilarious and are always going to be way more popular on television and now social websites too such as YouTube than other thing we can record to produce a humourous 30 second video. Take this for example. The next 3 videos are my all time favourite watches on YouTube. In any awkward situation I will spring these up on my smartphone to inspire a light bit of humour.
The Ultimate Dog Tease
Myotonic Goats
Tickling Slow Loris
Ah, I cried with laughter watching these videos. I hope that they will now inspire you when you next encounter an awkward situation. But returning to topic, the Harvey and Rabbit advertisement really shows you how advertising can be a form of art as well as marketing. It's a creative piece evoking all sorts of emotions inside a person - which is effectively what art does. It's pieces like that which makes me proud to be a marketing and advertising graduate.
It's the latest advert from the marketing team at Very.co.uk and I LOVE it. The music, the camera angles, the slow motion, the concept, the actresses/models.. oh and I suppose the clothes too.
It is uber modern and trendy much like the target audience that the clothing is aimed at so they've created a great advert here. The idea of 'doing whatever you do in style' resounds with me, and this tagline fits the advertisement campaign perfectly! As these stunning women, with "blue steel" poses are orchestrating mundane everyday activities but obviously they're super models - denoting that you, and me, sat here in my jeans and hoody, should actually be reading this in high heels and a full face of make up - because we should do it in style! I have an A Level in Media Studies, so I'm kind of a little in awe at the way that this advert has been created and edited. It's like they're exploring and moving around a still image which I know is probably how they've created it as they have the technology to do so now with funky cameras these days. So it's great to see this technology being put to innovative use by advertising the new 'definitions' clothing line at very.co.uk as it is applicable and relatable: defining clothing adverts. Watch the full length TV ad below.
Oh it just gives me chills. Just hearing that first note of the advert's music makes me watch with eyes as wide as a bush baby's! However, I don't think that the clothes are the striking part of the ad, the uniqueness of it subtracts attention from the main point; the clothing line. Despite this, I would likely take a peek at this new clothing line on Very.co.uk purely because of this ad (and I'm a little ad boffin). If you know anything about the way that they've created this advert, please do inform me! I'd love to find out how they created it.
*if you wanted to know the song for this advert it is 'Fineshrine' by Purity Ring*
I much prefer this type of advert that Very.co.uk has produced as opposed to their previous campaigns involving Fearne Cotton and Holly Willoughby. The whole advert idea of being intergalactic and saving women from 'relaxed dress fridays' at work by helping them choose what to wear was all a bit drab. It was cliche and similar to other adverts, what is it with space and aliens in 2013 adverts? I hope that Very maintain this outstanding level of advertising in their future campaigns as it's so much better!
Now I'm sure everyone knows the household name of 'Coca Cola', I'm even certain that if I were to show only half, no 1/3 of the logo to a group of strangers on the street, they'd all recognise the brand immediately. This celebrity-like status is largely due to the incredible efforts of the marketing and advertising team at Coca Cola HQ. Because, in reality, all it really is, is sugary brown liquid. So, how does everyone on planet Earth know this brand so well? Advertising, cramming images, videos, social media down the neck of society so we keep on buying the stuff. I for one know the damage that Coke does, you only have to google 'effects of coke' on Google to see the rotting images of teeth. However, I think the advertisers have it all wrong - they should really be selling it as a penny cleanser.
Despite it's reputable rust removal effects, the advertisers at Coca Cola HQ disguise these hidden product talents by reminding us that Coca Cola isn't just a drink - it's a source of happiness, with taglines such as
'Coca Cola: open happiness'
'The Coke side of life'
'125 years of sharing happiness'
And we all know that it was in fact the corporate giants at CCHQ that tailored Santa's RED suit. I bet that you're also one of those people, or know one of those people that say "ah it's not Christmas until you see the coke advert" or just has to update their Facebook status to let all their friends know that they've seen it! The CCHQ have even cashed in on this belief by supplying 'coca cola trucks' around the big cities of the UK to give away free cans of the brown glug and you can have a picture with the truck too! Okay I admit it, I'm guilty, I posed there Xmas 2012 at Meadowhall Sheffield.
Okay, if you're still reading this, I'm now about to make my point. Coca Cola have now gone one step further than any other household brand with their marketing campaigns. Summer 2013 gave us our own personalised Coca Cola bottles and cans! Wow. Now to some people, it's seen as a fun, innovative and creative use of advertising and developing that brand relationship management that Coca Cola has so well defined the last 125 years. But to others, skeptics like me, it's pretty much an invasion of personal privacy; if you're lucky enough to have your name appear on a bottle or can that is. The 'Share a Coke' campaign hosts 250 popular British names, clearly 'Freya' isn't as popular as 'Graeme' or 'Lukasz' (both names I regard as spelt incorrectly). It's gone so far as to even create a tour. And it's all in the name of buzz marketing. Social media marketing on steroids. You can tweet them, facebook them, instagram them, or visit their website.
You may interpret this as a skeptical dig towards 'Coca Cola' and their historical advertising but actually I admire CCHQ for their creative and innovative advertising and marketing campaigns. I believe that they pave the way for commodity products to become infamous celebrity status icons! The fact that the brown/black sugary beverage can have this much impact and interaction with people and their everyday lives fascinates me. So, to conclude Kudos to Coca Cola! Congratulations to 125 years!
I feel awful for admitting this, but I was convinced that I would find some terrible bullying comments on the Simply Be YouTube video adverts. But to my shock, and pride, there were none. This evokes a sense of pride and happiness that the women advertising these clothes aren't being tormented or cyber bullied because they aren't typical stick then cucumber diet yoga models, instead representatives of real life every day women. I disappoint myself that I would even expect abuse in the comments section of their YouTube videos it's most likely due to the stigmatism behind the ideology of what's seen as 'beautiful'.
As you can see, their advertisements convey the 'everyday' woman by their actors in everyday situations;
meeting friends at the cafe
cooking dinner
nattering on the sofa with mates
going on a night out
This kind of company needs an online presence as well as television advertisements due to the fact that it is advertising a brand that is only available to order. So after watching the advert, you have to proactively engage with the brand and its products by going through a process to receive it. Therefore, after a bit of YouTube exploration, I found that they have videos of 'how to' and 'advice' with their Simply Be stylists employees. As they save money by not having expenditure on stores and storage and staff etc, they should spend more on advertising and marketing.
These YouTube videos don't have many likes, comments or views - due to the fact that they aren't known about. I suggest a marketing campaign informing their current and potential clientele of the other services they provide which will inevitably develop their relationship management with their customers - providing a return on their proactive order process.
