E-Trade Baby Commercial

My parents love this commercial, so it is for them that I am adding it to my blog.



The goal of this commercial is to convince people that E-trade is so easy to use, even a baby can do it. Whether that is a believeable message, because I've never seen a baby quite so gifted, is to be determined by you.

The Plumber Ad

This is the single best plumber advertisement I have ever seen. There are not too many businesses that would be able to duplicate this, and it is certainly something you would remember. The one problem I would highlight is it does not relate to the brand name. The customer may remember the truck with the toilet, but not the name of the company.

The Retail Experience

One part of advertising that many small retailers may over look is the experience the customer has while in the store. I'm not just talking about what color you paint the store, I'm talking about everything that the customer sees, hears, smells, and feels while shopping.

One of my favorite parts of Ad Age is their three minute video news briefs. This past friday they talked with a high-end fashion store in NY that has differentiated itself by providing the history behind a piece of clothing. All of the clothing at Operations has a history behind: Fireman's Jackets, Railroad worker pants, watchmaker shirts. The owner explains that what sells their product isn't the style of clothing. A type of clothing can be duplicated easily. What sells the product is the history and the authenticity it adds to every piece of clothing.

3 minute Ad Age

The main part of this clip that I picked up on was that every salesperson is trained on every item. They all know the history of the piece. That is quite a bit of dedication to training, and a large investment into each worker. But that point of sale marketing is what makes the difference in their store. I would love to know if a short synopsis of the history of the piece is included in every purchase. That way the customer could become a brand advocate and tell the story of the piece more easily.

Operations does have a website, though it does not look like any of their clothing is available for sale on it. http://www.operationsny.com/

A Job for Everyone

Monster.com is an interesting advertising challenge. They have to convince employers to place job listings and advertisements while convincing job seekers that their site is the best place to find a job. Unfortunately, Monster.com has been overtaken by spam and quite a few scam jobs. I've yet to find a better option so far though.

Creature Carnival

If you are a frequent YouTube visitor, like I am, you may have noticed this commercial which has appeared on the front page of YouTube all weekend.



Spore is a new computer game from the same makers as the Sims. It's not my cup of tea. It seems a bit too much like the old old SimLife I use to play when I was 10 years old. What I did find interesting about Spore is how much it reminded me of this nonsensical commercial from Coke:



See a resemblance? I certainly do. This Coke Commercial is at least a year and a half old though. It did not make much sense to me, and I only remembered it when I saw the spore commercials. What would have made more sense, would be for Coke to re-release this commercial to tie it into the promotions for Spore. Enjoy a nice cold coke as you play your video games! Combining advertisements creates a type of Synergy from Co-Branding. As you saw in my post last friday, Co-branding can make two mediocre ads suddenly stand out from the crowd.

City-Centric

Cities are busy, vibrant places. They are also cluttered with advertisements on nearly every surface. These ads work great with the citiscapes around them!

The advertisement on the right is great because it took cooperation between two large brands, and both of the ads benefited from it!

Neither of these billboards is spectacular on their own. The light blue colors and the collection of advertisements around them detract from them. The addition of one long tube makes all the difference on whether they get noticed or fade into the background.

I'm really disappointed that ATT decided to drop the Cingular brand. Some of their best advertisments were built around the obnoxiously bright orange and the X shaped little man. This advertisement stands out from its background due to the color first and then because a large portion of it is laying on the ground. The picture of the lady standing beside the calls portion really shows how large the advertisement was to begin with.

This final advertisement is built around a subway entrance. It stands out from its environment, but I'm not sure that ad does much for the mini-cooper. It is still a creative use despite making the car seem a bit like the clown car in the circus.

Silly Big Mac...

Thanks Imajin for this great print ad!

Come to your Senses...

This is one of those commercials where I'm not quite sure how it promotes the product, but it made me laugh anyways.

Mile High Advertising

If you flew during this Labor Day weekend, you may have seen a SkyMedia advertisement. The New York based Brand Connections (of which SkyMedia is a subsidiary) has an exclusive license for selling ads on the tops of tray tables. It is truly an ingenious concept. The tops are laminated, for longevity and can still allow space for the in flight beverage holder. According to SkyMedia's website 98% of airline passengers were exposed to the message while 92% of those who used their tray table recalled the advertisement! The company also limits the ads to one advertiser per flight, though I'm sure they charge a premium for the privilege. Where else do you have an audience that is captive for hours at a time?
Fedex, Tylenol, Ford, GM and yes, even Pepto-Bismol have taken their ads to the sky (Just to name a few). I applaud the folks at Brand Connections for reaching high.

Thanks to Search Marketing Communications for the heads up.