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I wanted to take this chance to give a shout out to my fans. The 4 of you(hopefully), which I’d like to think includes Tamar, the TA’s and my roomie Mikey. Thanks for taking the time to read through my first attempts at blogging and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

This has opened my eyes to the world of blogging and how much fun it is to write your opinion down instead of just keeping it inside. Even though I’m sure my blog hasn’t received very much exposure, it has still been a good practice for me for when I start another one in the New Year.

You may wonder why my blog is called “?”. Simply put, I had no idea how to blog at the start, and I felt that my blogs title should reflect my views or how I feel. Looking back I see it probably wasn’t the most engaging titled, but hopefully the simple question mark was enough to attract someone to it. I’m going to pretend now that I did it in hopes of bringing people in because of all the “white space” around it.

Less is more.

Deuces,

Connor

Is it a catchy theme song? Do the characters need to be relate-able? Does it have to include a cast of old time favorites, or can they be mostly newcomers?

The hit TV show The Big Bang Theory has put these to a test. It features a group of friends who are not far removed from University yet still cling to many of the more ‘geeky’ elements of their youth. They spend certain nights playing old video games and others ordering from the same Chinese food restaurant that they have for years. Ability to relate to this things? Check. There are many things I still do that are not seen as ‘my age’, yet I continue to do them with pleasure.

The theme song brings a new twist on theme songs with its compelling lyrics that spell out why the TV show is called The Big Bang Theory. Have a look/listen:

Now look at the cast:

Do you recognize ANY of them? Well… maybe the blonde, but the rest of them were unknowns before the show started.

How has a show with stars who have yet to be dubbed “stars” manage to become so popular? In Cassandra’s Blog The Big Bang Theory she discusses the fact that she has seen way more ads for it recently, whether it is on the network or at bus stops. Cassie also lists the fact that the episodes are shorter and don’t have AS many cliffhangers, so its okay if you don’t feel like watching one.

While these are all true, I feel that its success has come from it having such a strong group of core viewers who have spread the word about the show. People have enjoyed it so much that they have managed to sit down their parents, siblings, friend and even neighbours, who too found it hilarious and showed it to people in their lives. The reason why I believe this so much, is that I’m one of those people.

In my house hold, when the show first aired, the only two people to watch it were my eldest sister and I. We found that its unusual form of comedy(comedy that makes you think for it by using science concepts as the butt end of most of the jokes) was enough to keep us coming back every week. Now, over 4 years after it first came out, my parents are now avid watchers, as well as some of their friends.

If you haven’t seen any episodes of The Big Bang Theory, yet managed to get to here without having pressed the red X in the top right of your screen, then I suggest you give it a try, if only to what the heck I was talking about.

In my older post “The Decision…Spoofed?” I spoke about what I saw as a failed marketing attempt by Nike, since they received incredible backlash for it from various locations. I believed this to be true… until I saw this new commercial :

Before I continue, you should know that both Michael and Lebron’s shoes are made by Nike.

This latest commercial is, in my opinion, one of THE greatest response commercials I have ever seen. Michael is known as one of, if not the greatest, basketball players to have ever played the game and for him to respond with something like that.. I’m speechless. One word: Brilliant.

Brilliant because both shoes receive the exposure. Lebron James’ is now seen as the pupil who didn’t follow in the great footsteps of the one who came before him, which A LOT of people can relate to. At the same time MJ maintains his image as a great player who worked for everything he did and fought for every championship, which A LOT of people strive for.

Whether or not Nike had been playing to do the MJ response from the beginning or not, it was brilliant. I am a HUGE fan of this commercial and have already spread it to many of my friends. Props to Nike on a situation well handled.

At this point, pretty much everyone has acknowledged the fact that Facebook and Twitter are not only social networking sites, but are also two of the heavier hitters(not heaviest, that would be youtube) in social media advertising. They have managed to place their brands in the consciousness of pretty much anyone who has access to the internet. What then, is there next step? Do they want to stay put being the middle men in some products cases, or should they attempt to expand and step into a different market, such as shoes?

The blog post Dislike from one of the top blogs world-wide, Gizmodo, examines this.

They’ve posted what are dubbed “concept shoes”. These shoes have the colors that are associated with Facebook and Twitter, as well as each brands logo. Facebook simply being the word “Facebook” and Twitter’s being their little bird.

While I’m not positive if these are truly concepts, or if it was someones way of taking a stab at the popular media giants, I feel like you would still have some people who would buy them. They could choose to market them in two different ways. The first one being that they could attempt to sell them in numbers at a cheaper price in hopes of enticing more consumers. The second, which I feel would work better, to limit the supply and sell them in ‘select’ higher fashion stores, where you would find the people attempting to stay ahead of the style curve, most likely someone attempting to be a hipster.

Would I buy them? No.

Do I think they will probably be made at some point? Probably.

Kevin Grewal mentioned in his blog post, The Decision, a new ad by Nike that was released in an attempt to ease their consumers negative views towards Lebron James’ decision to leave his home town.

It was a good preemptive strike for them to take in an attempt to settle the minds of countless customers and for them to be able to continue to use the marketing machine that is Lebron James. However, I’m sure they didn’t predict the backlash that their ad would receive.

Kevin pointed out that had they waited even a few more weeks, the fans would have been able to see what it was that made Lebron so great – his abilities on the court.

Instead they now face a backlash from the city of Cleveland that mocks the commercial they tried to put out.

Not only do they have to deal with that, but they also have to deal with the fact that it was made fun of on Southpark. SOUTHPARK! Southpark managed to make Nike’s use of rhetorical questions funny, at the same time as they were able to compare Lebron to BP’s C.E.O(which is not something anyone wants).

Should Nike’s marketing department have foreseen these likely scenarios? Probably. Did they? Not that we can see. I assume that they figured any form of retort would not have been able to achieve as much exposure as their advertisements on T.V. They seem to have miscounted YouTube….

The Call of Duty franchise has been one of the premier first person shooter franchises over the past few years. Their previous release, Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2, won numerous awards including Best Game of the Year from multiple sources. Their newest thriller, C.o.D: Black Ops had quite the reputation to uphold.

While I have yet to play or buy the game, I know I will. The success that the game will have will be because of how well its past ones have been accepted. They have successfully created a game that is ahead of the competition in graphics, content and play style, and that is unquestionably one of the best video game experiences.

The newest trailer released on YouTube is not the most detailed, but it does what it has to, to remind viewers of what they get out of their games – the ability to go to war, but not die. You are given an experience where you are able to be that “guy who saves the world” but you put nothing at risk

When I was shopping for my first laptop a little over a year ago, I was faced with the ultimate choice – Mac or PC? This is a choice that every first time laptop user has to go through.

In order to figure out which one is ‘right’ for us we turn to many different sources in our attempt to get the DL on each product and hopefully figure out which is superior. In my journey I asked friends how they felt about the different kind of computers and I found those who had PC’s swore by them and those with Macs said they’d never go back. I slowly realized that just by asking my friends, I wouldn’t figure out which was ‘better’ because everyone liked what they had.

The next thing I did was turn to the internet. I googled(searched) for hours trying to find anything that separated the two. But, just like with my friends, every article I read was biased. At this point I was starting to pull my hair out.

Ya, ya, ya. I know, this is just as bad as all the biased articles I had read, but it was amusing and in was finally a way for PCs to fight back against all the “I’m a PC , and I’m a MAC” commercials.

What I decided from my digging around was that Mac’s and PC’s fill the same need. PC’s have been widespread for longer, so they are more universal and are larger in the business community. Mac’s offer a fresh look and have programs that are more for the casual computer user.

The difference: Branding and what you want from your computer.

What I decided?

Need I say anymore?

Most companies feel that by using the literal translation of what they said in English, their adds will be successful in countries not dominated by English speakers. Many companies over the years have managed to misuse translators and have caused themselves some pretty intense ridicule.

This site brings to mind fifteen of these mishaps. It’s quite surprising to see that companies such as KFC, Coca-Cola and GM are among the ones listed, seeing as they are all multi-billion dollar corporations. You’d expect with all their money that they’d be able to hire a competent translator.

Here’s a sample:

1)GM attempted to sell their Chevy Nova’s in South America, but couldn’t figure out why their sales didn’t meet expectations. The answer: In Spanish, “Nova” means “it won’t go”. Try selling a car thats name says it doesn’t work ANYWHERE and you won’t have sales.

The fact that these companies have even made such blunders leads me to wonder: Is it really so hard to show your ad to a few people from the market you are releasing it in and see how they respond and what happens to those responsible for ads that have translated in a…. less than enthralling way?

Is Axe’s new shower tool a perfect substitute for loofahs that we have seen for decades?

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Yes.

So how has it managed to become something that almost every man, and most women, are capable of recognizing? How has it become a product that men aren’t afraid of having others know they use? Because of the design and how it has been marketed.

Loofahs have predominantly been ‘girly’ colors, which have left men out of the loop for fear of being ridiculed for having one in their shower. Axe has recognized this and changed the design every so slightly. It now is almost completely black, with either a deep red or darker blue. This right away makes it more ‘manly’ and acceptable by men all over.

Simply changing a products color does not necessairly its appeal. Axe has taken it to another level. With ads like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bevJr3Ra84Q, they have managed to created a social acceptance of the product for men through comedy. In this video they refer to the black loofah as a “ball detailer” and go on to use sexual innuendos to demonstrate how it cleans a mans genitals. The amount of innuendos is off the charts. I wasn’t able to count them since they came up left right and center.

The ads do work, even if some people are only buying the detailer as a joke for someone else, it still gives them sales. Yes, Axe has created a ton of buzz for their product, but deep down we all know that it is just a black loofah.

I was scrolling the Tourism British Columbia website when I came across a promotional YouTube video they made. It was titled ‘British Columbia: An all-season destination'(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsI7WXQda9w&feature=player_embedded).

Up until this point I haven’t put too much thought into how our west-coast province was perceived by ‘outsiders’. Do they see the simple things that we take for granted, like our great coast line, rivers, vineyards and even our nightlife or are those bypassed by thoughts of B.Cs mountains and the recent Winter Olympics that forced everyone in the WORLD to think of BC as a place of snow(even though we had next to none)?

The video I posted above tells us that those at tourism B.C believe the latter. Why else would their pitch be that we are ‘An all-season destination’? The aftermath of the Olympics left our province with the choice of continuing to market us as a winter destination, or to attempt to show the world that that is only a small chunk of what makes British Columbia “the most beautiful place on earth”.

The video that was made has the right idea, it shows everything from whale watching to mountain biking, from dinners on beaches to mother nature, but I feel that this one is too long. I did see that in commercials they shortened it down to 20-30 second clips. Definitely an A- from overall.

PCEEEEEE