Glenn's Favorite Advertisements

This is my assignment for the Ten Remarkable Ads of the Year. This assignment is for Professor Kim’s Survey of Advertising (ADV 2374) on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 11:00 AM. I hope you enjoy all of these advertisements as much as I do!

Heineken 'Give Yourself A Good Name' (Boss's Daughter)

This commercial was created for the Heineken Beer distributing company in the Spring of 2010. The product being advertised is Heineken beer. This commercial markets this product as a means to make good things happen, such as ending up with your boss’s very attractive daughter. The commercial portrays the beer as the way to have a good time.
I found this ad when I was watching the NBA last year on ESPN. I repeatedly saw the same commercial throughout various sporting events throughout the spring and into the summer. This ad is aimed at the male demographic ranging from age 20-40. The ad shows an upscale bar with very classy looking people, so the commercial seems to appeal to a wealthier clientele as well. The psychographic audience the ad was trying to appeal to males who lead a classy lifestyle and work for jerky bosses and hang out after work with their co-workers at a nice bar. In general, it was appealing to young, successful, hardworking, classy males.
Some other competition lie in the hands of other beer distributors such as Budweiser, Miller and Coors. All of these are competitive brands that Heineken has to compete with for the same consumers. The strengths of this ad are in the construction of the ad. The ad has very attractive actors in it, particularly the boss’s daughter. Furthermore, the advertisement has a great background song and portrays Heineken as a classy beer that you drink with classy people. The weakness of the ad is that all of the positive aspects about Heineken need to be inferred by the consumer. It does not say why Heineken is a good beer or if it tastes good. Instead, it portrays the image that Heineken will help you pick up pretty women and do mischievous things to important people.
The advertisement portrays the strength of the brand by promoting the brand in a very classy, upscale environment. It furthers this image by dressing the actors in fancy suits, and making the boss in the commercial seem like a very important, busy, intimidating man, which perpetuates the image that classy people drink Heineken because it is a classy beer. The Target audience would respond well to this ad. I know from personal experience that my friends and I all discussed the ad amongst ourselves because we all found the daughter in the commercial to be extremely attractive. Furthermore, it appeals to the male demographic because it has good music, pretty women and beer; aspects of life that the target audience clearly enjoys.
All in all, this is one of my favorite commercials of all time. The way the commercial is shot with the geeky, yet lovable looking guy picking up the boss’s daughter endeared me to this brand. I also love the music in the background and the short simplistic message of the commercial. In my opinion, this commercial is a masterpiece.

Old Spice Commercial: 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like'

This commercial is for the Old Spice Company promoting their body wash product. The product being advertised is a body wash soap that is advertised as making men smell more manly. I saw this advertisement for the first time when I was watching the Super Bowl in February.

The Demographic target for this commercial appears to be males and females of all ages. The commercial is marketing the product in a way that females buy the product for their ‘man’, which we can infer as being one’s significant other or even family member. However, the ad also appeals to the male demographic as well because the product is designed to make males smell manlier. However, the psychographic target audience is males and females who care about smelling good and looking good, as demonstrated by the extremely chiseled and handsome African American man prancing around in his towel throughout the commercial.

Brands that compete with Old Spice and sell a similar product are brands such as Axe, and Tag. The strengths of this advertisement lie in its humor. The ad is very well designed, in the fact that the transitions between the scenes all take place at once. The commercial is very eye-catching because it involves a very handsome and chisled man along with great scenery on the beach. However, the weaknesses lie in the lack of description of the product in the advertisement. Again, the commercial does not describe why the product is good it merely sells the product as making you smell manlier.

This advertisment conveys the strength of the brand because of the man who is represnting the brand. The ‘Old Spice Guy’, as he is commonly referred to, comes off as a strong, handsome, and well-spoken individual. As a result, the brand comes off as being a strong brand. The Target audience would respond well to this advertisement because the members of their target audience (males and their female significant others) want to smell manlier. The male culture emphasizes being manly over many other aspects of life, so smelling manly is important. This advertisement does a good job of pointing that out.
Personally, I really like this commercial because the way it was filmed. It is unlike any other commercial out there, and utilizes humor and cool camera work to make an incredibly unique commercial that appeals to the target audience.

2010 Toyota Prius ‘Harmony’ Commercial

This advertisement is for the Toyota Prius, a hybrid car with extremely low carbon emissions and high gas mileage.
The product being advertised is a hybrid car with extremely low carbon emissions and high gas mileage that also looks trendy and comfortable. I first came across this advertisement when I was watching network TV back home over the summer.

The demographic for this commercial appears to be males and females alike ranging from ages 16 through 90, because that is the age group of people who can still physically drive. Despite its large demographic target, the psychographic target is a lot smaller. Hybrid cars tend to appeal to the kind of person who cares deeply about the environment and takes the initiative to make a difference The psychographic target audience clearly are those people who try to lead ‘green’ lives and care about our planet. Brands that compete with the Toyota Prius are other hybrid cars such as the Lexus Hybrid, Ford Fusion Hybrid and the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid.

The strengths in this advertisement lie in the layout and design of the ad. The ad is very well-flowing and uses great cinematography and background music to show the uniqueness and style of the car. Furthermore, the commercial is shot using humans dressed up as flowers blooming in the spring which creates a very unique commercial. Not to mention the commercial lets the consumer know that the car has low carbon emissions which helps the planet. The weaknesses lie in the fact that the commercial does not show the interior of the car or the safety ratings of the car and focuses more on the gas mileage and the exterior of the car.

The commercial conveys the strength of the brand by showing how it has a unique relationship with the green community because of how eco-friendly the car is. The Target audience responds in a very positive manner to this commercial because it covers all of the bases for the target audiences concerns. For example, it conveys the sleekness of the car and its eco-friendly conditions as well.

On a personal note I love this commercial because of the distinctiveness of the commercial. The way the commercial is filmed with the flowers blooming in the spring time as the car drives by is very eye-catching. Combining these amazing camera angles with the soundtrack and the sleekness of the car makes for one great advertisement.

Levi’s Secrets and Lies (Live Unbuttoned) Commercial

This commercial is for Levi’s Jeans. The jeans being advertised are supposed to make you feel and look good. The first time I saw this advertisement was when I was in high school watching television at home. Based on the age of the actors in the commercial, it is safe to say that the demographic target audience seems to be males and females ranging from 16-30. Moreover, the psychographic segmentation appears to be appealing to the kinds of people who value the way the look, and lead alternative/rebel lifestyles. For example, the couple in the commercial come off as a bit promiscuous and trendy, as demonstrated by them lying to one another and claiming that they were in a band and worked for a record label.

Some of the competitors that Levi’s faces are other jean companies such as Seven Jeans, Calvin Klein Jeans, J. Crew and even Wrangler. However, Levi’s is clearly trying to market to the more alternative jean wearing crowd. The strengths of Levi’s lie in its history. Levi’s is arguably one of the premier and most famous American jean companies with several famous commercials in its past. The jeans are worn and promoted by several celebrities and are relatively affordable. However, its weakness’s lie in the fact that Levi’s does not appeal to everyone. This commercial is trying to appeal to a very alternative kind of person, and not all jean wearers (including myself) consider themselves ‘alternative’.

The advertisement does a great job of conveying the strength of the brand because it makes the brand appear as a brand that rebellious people wear. The target market audience that Levi’s is trying to reach is clearly of the ‘rebellious’ type. The commercial conveys this strength by showing how rebellious Levi’s wearers are, by breaking in to random peoples apartments to hook up.

This advertisement is well designed in its appeal to the target audience. The commercial is a bit risqué and sexy, which appeals to the rebellious nature of the audience. Furthermore, they do a great job of using attractive looking people and the element of shock and awe to grab the consumers attention.

This advertisement is for the Call of Duty videogame, a military first person shooter videogame designed and created by ActiVision. The function of this product is a videogame with lifelike military/US Navy SEALS scenarios. The videogame can be played as a solo game, or over the Internet with voice communication through microphones with friends. I first came across this commercial less than a week ago when I was watching television, because the videogame was released in the past 10 days.

Despite the fact that most would assume that a shooter-style, military videogame would appeal to mostly teenage boys to men in their 30s and 40s, that is quite simply not the case. This commercial is incredibly unique in the way that it has people from across all demographics portrayed using military weapons; as if they were acting out aspects of the game itself. The demographic audience is men and women of all ages over 17, because the rating of the game is Mature which means no one under 17 can purchase it. The purpose of this commercial was to show that, “There is a soldier in all of us”. This statement is proven by showing people of all different backgrounds, celebrities, athletes, fireman, hospital workers, etc participating in the game. However, the psychographic segmentation is not as inclusive, as the target psychographic segment that this advertisement is going after are people that enjoy videogames, and do not have moral values that prevent them from playing violent videogames. All in all, this psychographic segmentation target audience needs to be able to separate real violence with virtual violence.

There are several competitive videogames that Call of Duty is working against. For example, some similar videogames are Halo Reach, Medal of Honor, and Grand Theft Auto. All of these videogames are competition for Call of Duty because all have received numerous awards and praise from the gaming community. The main strength of Call of Duty: Black Ops is the reputation that the Call of Duty series has. Call of Duty has come out with numerous award-winning games, such as Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty Modern Warfare, and numerous others. However, one of the main weaknesses of this brand is that it does not possess as large of a cult following as a videogames such as Halo, or Madden.

This advertisement does a great job of conveying the strength of the brand with this commercial. The commercial shows people from all reaches of the social ladder playing this videogame. Furthermore, they even recruited famous people to be in the ad, including Jimmy Kimmel and Kobe Bryant. The fact that these two celebrities use the brand helps to convey its strength. The target audience responds well to this commercial because the advertisement has great action shots, as well as celebrity appearances and is also quite comical. I loved this commercial because I am a fan of the product and the brand, and I thought it was hilarious that Jimmy Kimmel and Kobe Bryant play this game as well.

E-Trade Commercial: "Super Bowl Clown"

This commercial is for the E-Trade company, a stockbroker website. The function of the product is a stockbroker website where people can sell stocks and bonds through the Internet. I first saw this advertisement watching the Super Bowl this past February.

This advertisement is aimed at a very specific demographic. This demographic has to be older males and females, ranging from ages 25-90. Basically, this advertisement is aimed at anyone who is competent enough to have any knowledge in stocks and bonds, and trading them, or anyone who has any knowledge in finance or economics. This probably means they have some sort of college degree. Furthermore, the psychographic market segmentation is targeted at people who value economics and finance, and who care about making money through investing.

Some competitors of E-Trade are companies like Fidelity and Scott-Trade, who offer similar services to E-Trade. Some of the strengths of this brand lie in the fact that it has received national recognition for its product. Furthermore, the product being advertised is cheap and fairly easy to use. Not to mention, it is convenient and E-Trade can easily be accessed over the Internet and via smart phones. Furthermore, E-Trade has critically acclaimed research analysts. However, some of the competitors, such as Scott-Trade, offer trades at a cheaper rate than E-Trade.

This advertisement conveys the strength of the brand because it shows the incredible growth of the company and the incredible amount of money people are earning using the company. For example, the commercial cites the fact that 1000 new E-Trade accounts open a day, and that E-Trade accounts earn 8 times the national average. Obviously, the numbers speak for themselves and convey the strength of the brand.

I believe the target audience would respond well to this advertisement. Obviously, the target audience is an informed demographic, because it takes a smart person to be able to manage a stock portfolio. This commercial is great because it gives concrete numbers and examples of why E-Trade is a good product. Not to mention, the talking baby in the commercial is humorous and draws the target audience in, grabbing their attention.